Create Happy Morning Routines for You and Your Kids

Think of the morning as the springboard for the rest of the day. A calm, harmonious, loving morning experience at home sets the tone for what follows for the children and parents. Both children and parents feel better and do better, demonstrating a higher level of productivity and morale when the morning is a sane, loving experience. On the other hand, a stressful, strife-filled morning drains parent and child when the day has barely begun. The children and parents then perform at lower levels, despite the fact that the parent's intention pushing and fuming was to get as much accomplished as possible.

There is a better way. Make it your first priority to maintain your peace and poise throughout the morning routine. If the children dawdle or delay, keep your cool. Remember your purpose: to make this the happiest, most productive day possible for every family member. To achieve this objective, absolutely nothing is more important than you relating to your family members in a calm, confident, and harmonious way at the start of the day.

Understand that children under the age of six actually need to experience about 45 minutes of bonding with their home and parents before entering the workday schedule. So factor this into your morning plan. And have a plan! Be clear about the steps everyone needs to take and do as much preparation the night before as possible, including making lunches and laying out clothes. It also helps to routinely visualize the mornings flowing smoothly, as visualizing helps us to achieve all goals.

If you find things taking too long to get done, don't you allow yourself to become emotionally undone! If you lose your peace and poise you end up battling and butting heads, starting the day off on a very wrong footing. As in all cases, child discipline begins with adults demonstrating self-discipline. Refuse to engage in debilitating power-struggles, negative complaining, or impatience. Focus on making the morning as successful as it can be so the day as a whole can be as successful as it can be. You achieve this as you calmly do what must be done to be as on time as is humanly possible. If you remain calm, you will find creative ways to make things work out with love; and they will work out well no other way.