Motherhood Monday: Making Mornings Less Chaotic

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Jimmy Dean, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #RedboxBreakfast http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

Weekday mornings are not always fun in this house.

The alarm clock goes off — or the canine alarm clock starts up with the shrill barking that means she’s either hungry or has to go out — and there’s no chance of rolling over and hitting snooze.

This photo pretty much says it all: Blurry, bleary and in no mood to get up and go!

But get up and go we must. There’s school, work, errands and a whole day’s worth of living to do. From Monday through Friday, we don’t have the luxury of relaxed mornings. It’s go-go-go from the time our feet hit the ground.

Marlene Green’s pin on Pinterest.

Mornings used to be really hard around here. We were constantly in a rush. Doing everything last minute. Running out the door without any time to spare.

But after the Christmas break from school, we decided to make some changes in our daily routine to make our mornings run more smoothly.

You read that right. Making mornings less chaotic requires changing how you do things throughout the day, not just in the morning.

Having quick and handy breakfast options on hand, like these delicious Jimmy Dean Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches, is just one part of the taming the chaos of gaining extra time in the morning. We stock up on these at Walmart.

Here’s our list of things that have to get done every morning before Jackson and Bruce leave for school and work and before I start my workday here at my home office.

1. Wake up.
2. Have breakfast and coffee.
3. Feed McCoy and take her out for a short walk.
4. Get dressed.
5. Teeth brushed, hair combed.
6. Lunches packed.
7. Beds made (wishful thinking!)

Since I work from home, I will often leave my primping until after Bruce has left to take Jackson to school. But it’s still a lot to get done in an hour or less, especially when you have a kid who likes a little lazy time in the morning before getting going.

Jackson isn’t hard to wake up, and he’s not a grump in the mornings. But like me, he needs a little time out of bed to wake up.

Bruce likes to sleep later than we do, but when he’s up, he’s ready to spring into action. Jackson and I need our juice and coffee before we can even start about starting the day.

So getting up just a few minutes earlier is one of the changes we made. It’s worth it to me to have 10 or 15 minutes to myself first thing in the morning to drink coffee and check email and read my favorite blogs.

We’re also waking Jackson up a few minutes earlier, too, so he gets some couch time before breakfast and getting dressed.

My son would to watch TV or play video games in the morning, but we’ve banned all electronics distractions in the morning. We will let him read a bit while he’s hanging on the sofa with our dog, McCoy. But he only gets electronics time if he gets ready for school with time to spare. And lots of mornings he does.

Our tight morning schedule doesn’t leave much time to prepare breakfast. But I want Jackson to eat something so he’s sharp and well fed for school. Some days, if we have time, Bruce or I will scramble Jackson an egg. But weekday breakfasts are mostly grab-and-go: cereal, granola bars, cheese toast, frozen pancakes and the like.

We really love the Jimmy Dean Redbox Breakfast biscuits and sandwiches because they’re quick — less than 2 1/2 minutes in the microwave — and filling and portable. Jackson loves cereal, but I like for him to have protein in the morning so he’s not just running on empty carbs. The Jimmy Dean Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches are one of our favorites, and we also like the Sausage, Egg and Cheese Croissant Sandwiches and Muffin Sandwiches.

After breakfast, we send Jackson upstairs to his room to get dressed, brush his teeth and do his hair while we’re packing lunch and getting ourselves ready.

He used to pick out his clothes in the morning, but that always took too long. Or he’d waste precious time searching for a particular shirt or pair of pants. Now, we pick out his clothes at night and lay them out on his Sinclair dinosaur chair. No more whining in the morning that he can’t find something to wear because it’s all there.

Another thing we’ve started doing is bringing in his backpack, lunchbox, coat and water bottle as soon as we get home from school. On the ride back home from school in the afternoons, Jackson usually snacks on what’s left of his lunch. He had a bad habit of leaving his lunchbox and school stuff in the car. Now, it’s his job to carry those things inside immediately after school. He hangs up his coat and backpack in the mudroom/laundry room, and I’ll clean out his lunchbox.

Later, when we’re wrapping up from dinner, Bruce or I will pack his lunchbox for the next day. Then, we only have to load in the perishables in the morning. I’m pretty sure this is part of parenting and lunch packing 101, but until recently, we weren’t doing it consistently. And it was making our mornings busy and hectic. (Now, we still love pizza Fridays at his school when we don’t have to pack a lunch. Gotta be honest; there are mornings when I wish every day was Pizza Friday!)

This new daily routine is working well for us. Our mornings are less chaotic and more enjoyable. They set the stage for a good day, instead of a crazy, hectic one.

A lot of mornings, Jackson has extra time to read or play before he has to leave for school.

On those days when we sleep late or just can’t get it together, I’ll wrap up a Jimmy Dean Redbox Breakfast biscuit in parchment paper so Jackson can eat it in the car. (Here’s a tip: you can actually wrap the biscuit in parchment before microwaving. Just follow the package instructions, adding a few extra seconds at the end to ensure the biscuit is heated through. Fast food from your freezer!)

Once Bruce and Jackson have hit the road for school, then I can take time for a second cup of coffee, breakfast and a little HGTV.

I may become a morning person after all!

The post Motherhood Monday: Making Mornings Less Chaotic appeared first on Atta Girl Says.