5 Best Tips for Keeping School Mornings Stress-Free!
This a sponsored post on behalf of Ocean Spray Craisins®. As always my opinions are 100% my own.
Tips for Keeping School Mornings Stress-Free!
Weekday mornings can be incredibly stressful as a mom. Between getting the kids up, dressed, breakfast fed, lunches packed, and so on, it sometimes feels like a crazy rat race until they are happy at school. This isn’t any fun for us moms, and often requires a lot of caffeine. Plus, it can stress out the kids before they head out for a day packed with learning and testing.
My kids thrive on routine and one hiccup in the routine usually ends in our whole morning becoming a chaotic mess, so I strive to keep things on track and stress-free every morning even though there often feels like I have 100 tasks to do in about an hours time. Luckily, I’m a work at home mom, which means I hit the bus stop and car drop off line in yoga pants and a messy bun. For all you moms who also have to get yourself put together in the morning, your getting a virtual hug right now!
My 5 tips to keep School Day Mornings Stress Free!
Prep for school lunches ahead of time. Keep wholesome on the go snacks stocked, making it easy to get lunches packed and out the door. We keep Ocean Spray Craisins® stocked in our pantry and the kids love them! I pick up a couple variety packs each time I’m at Walmart, which is usually about 3 times a week, and the kids eat them up like crazy.
They are perfect for on the go snacks during sports season, after-school snacks, and especially as a treat inside everyone’s lunch box.
They contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, and are gluten-free making them a favorite snack choice for me. Plus, they are perfectly portioned, so no baggy or guessing how much to eat.
The Craisins® Flavor Adventures we like are the Fruit Splash Pack with raspberry lemonade and watermelon flavors and the Tropical Pack with kiwi melon and mango flavors.
Lay out everyone’s outfits on Sunday. I used to try to lay everyone’s clothes out the night before, but I realized that doing it on Sunday not only cleared space I could use each night, plus laundry piles up quick around here so knowing I have everyone set for the week relieves the laundry stress.
Don’t leave homework or backpacks until the morning. My kids all need planners initialed and homework checked, I’ve had a few nights that I’ve been to busy and left this for the morning and it just added a lot of extra stress. If the homework is wrong, or I happened to find papers that the kids forgot to tell me about, trying to get everything together when the time is ticking is hard. Having backpacks set and ready to go checks one more thing off my morning list.
Meal plan breakfasts. For a long time, I didn’t include breakfast in my meal planning, for some reason I thought it was only a dinner thing. Now I plan ahead that way I know we are set for the week, and there are no children complaining “we have nothing to eat”. I also make sure breakfasts are easy, quick, and kid-friendly so that they can get them on their own if needed. Weekday mornings are not the time for a 3-course meal, no matter what you see on tv, keep it simple and save your sanity.
Keep devices off. Do you know how many times I used to tell my kids to do something like getting their shoes on, only to come back to them still staring at the TV? A gazillion! Now we keep tablets and TV’s turned off during our morning routine and it has made life run more smoothly and the kids get to talk to me about what is planned for the day ahead.
Implementing these 5 things into our daily routine has made mornings in my house a lot less stressful.
What keeps your morning running smoothly?
Want more Back to School Tips? Check out these posts:
How to Prepare for Back to School Like a Pro with These 6 Tips
5 Easy Back To School Shopping Tips Every Mom Should Know About!
These are great tips. I make the kids lunches the night before and my kids each have their own chore chart for getting ready in the morning that they earn points toward rewards like screen time and treats.
These are really great tips. I have 5 kiddos to get ready each day and it’s so hectic lol. These tips will help a lot.
These are great tips. Keeping devices off is helpful I know how hard it is to get kids’ attention when they are watching.
I am all about the prepping ahead of time, there is no worse feeling than SCRAMBLING AROUND for everything when you have 5 minutes until you need to leave!