How to Guide to Help You Get Your Child Up and Ready for School Each Morning

For many parents, the task of getting a child to get ready for a school day each morning is the perfect formula for starting the day filled with stress. There is nothing like dealing with a fussing, grouchy and disorganized child to begin your day on the wrong foot. Here are some ways to help you make school mornings easier on everyone involved.

Begin the day before and so many last minute hassles will be avoided. When your child or children get home from school each day, make a point of either going through their backpacks or to encourage them to be more responsible for themselves, have them go through it each day and hand you any and all flyers, notes and so forth, pertaining to any school or after school activity. Some children come home with daily reminders or special notices and updates. There is nothing worse in the morning than to be hit with last minute surprises for things that have to contributed to or done that very day, and to have your child suddenly remember they needed 3 dozen cupcakes or art supplies to build a science project or a piece of a school play costume done by noon and so forth. If necessary give each child a calendar if their own along with one for yourself to enter all the upcoming events and information on them. Place them in prominent spots in their rooms or the kitchen and so forth so they see them repeatedly and are reminded. You could even put them side by side in the kitchen and have each child that can read and write enter their own information where they can all see and remind each other and have an older one help a younger one enter their information. Helping a younger sibling learn is a good learning tool for the older child too. This may all seem like a great deal of bother, but it really helps to get everyone focused.

If your child takes lunch to school every day, try to have them help choose the items for their own lunches and help to prepare and pack them the night before. Except for some types of sandwiches, which may get soggy, this works very well. In the morning, they can just grab or be handed an already prepared lunch. If they have a difficult time remembering something that simple in the morning, help them learn how to go through a mental or physical checklist each morning to ensure they don't forget anything. Not every parent can go running over to school with forgotten food and a hungry child doesn't focus on school work very well. If they pay for a meal at school, try to prepay or have the money ready and in their school bags/backpacks the night before.

Pick and lay out clothing the night before. Check the calendars to see if there are special clothing needs the next day like scout uniforms, soccer uniforms, pajama day at school, school colour day and so forth so things can be washed and ready to go. Check the weather forecast for the next day in case you need special weather gear. Make sure you include all parts of clothing in your checklist from underwear and shoes to socks and hair ribbons or clips. The morning does not go well when one child is screaming for a pair of socks and the other one wants their basketball uniform clean and ready. It is better to have it all done the night before and laid out or packed ahead of time.

Have them take showers or baths the night before so everyone is not scrambling for the bathrooms or maybe only one bathroom at the same time. Keep combs, brushes, toothbrushes and so forth in the same place each time and make sure they get put away so no one is desperately looking for a brush at the last second with their hair in knots.

Make sure homework is not only done, but put back in their backpacks the night before, so you don't end up with everyone in the car ready to go and one child frantically looking through the whole house trying to find their elusive math problems or school library book which is due that day and has to get turned in or they lose their playground privileges for the day. Put special projects in the car ahead of time so you are jamming a science project or art project into the car at the last second and breaking pieces off of it in the rush to get it in the car quickly. If they ride the bus make sure you leave time to get them on the bus with all the gear they need intact.

Give each child their own alarm clock and help any younger one learn how to set it. Help anyone that is too young to set it each night. If you have a child or children that are difficult to wake up every morning, set the clock 10 to 20 minutes earlier than they actually need to get up and let them know that first alarm is the first warning but once that time is up, they have to get up right away. Some children are real dawdlers so allow for that if they are and make them get up earlier to compensate for it.

Make breakfast simple and wholesome and maybe encourage them to learn how to contribute or make their own some mornings. Some children will never be happy no matter what is served so keep it as pleasant as possible.

One hint is not to allow them to immediately get up and turn in the television, video games etc.. Children totally lose track of time when they get engrossed in these and there goes your morning when they aren't making a move to get ready.

Don't let your children stay up till all hours. Set a specific bedtime and stick to it so they awaken rested and easier to deal with.

Obviously no plan is foolproof, but the point is to make a plan and try to get everyone to stick to it. The more organized everyone is, the easier and more pleasant the day will begin for everyone.