Originally Posted 8/12/22

I am a big believer in a personally curated morning routine, and I think all people could benefit from such a routine. Parents, business owners, students, and even those who are retired. It's a great way to carve out some “you time” before the day begins. As summer break wraps up and our kids are getting ready to return to school, revamping your morning routine to include your family is a great time. Today I want to give you some tips and tricks to create the perfect morning routine to make those back-to-school mornings well-orchestrated and productive.

Before we get into the back-to-school portion of this, you must still have your personal morning routine. This will and always has required that you get up a little earlier than everyone else. I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to take care of yourself before you take care of your family. Your routine could be 10 minutes; it could be an hour. Steps include moving your body, meditation, journaling, and perhaps a coffee with your morning devotion. Whatever it is, it needs to be just yours. If you want some ideas for creating your routine, check out my blog post.

We have taken care of our little alone time. Let's get into the nuts and bolts of designing your family's perfect back-to-school morning routine. I found a great article from Verywellfamily.com, “How to Create a Successful Morning Routine For School.” Written by Laureen Miles Burnell, updated on June 7, 2022, this article gives excellent step-by-step advice on creating a routine that works for your family.

I am the parent of one child. A son, he's now 16 and will turn 17 soon after the new school year begins. Our family has regular morning routines that only need a little tweaking once school starts. But for those with younger kids or more than one, your mornings may be chaotic for the rest of the school year if you don’t get a routine down in the early days of the school year. That's not good for you or your kids. So let's get into Burnell’s points.

Wake up early

Like your morning routine, your back-to-school routine should do the same. Every family does this differently, but it's ideal if you get out of bed before your kids. Give yourself some time to do your things. This may not be more than taking a shower and getting ready for the day before your kids get up. Something organized and planned will help those mornings go smoothly. Then, decide how early you need the kids to get up. Set that schedule and stick with it. Also, don’t forget that when they go to bed will make a difference in how early and easy it will be to wake them up.

Get it done the night before

I think this tip should proceed first. Prepping what you can the night before can make your morning less stressful and a great opportunity to get the kids involved in their morning routine. Before bed, you can encourage your kids * depending on their age* to ensure lunches, backpacks, and clothes are laid out. These steps will help you and your children have a much smoother morning. It's a great routine to stick with as the school year progresses; teaching your kids how to plan is a life skill that won't be taught anywhere else. The author also mentions that some families find it helpful to have showers and baths handled the night before—just another thing to get out of the way of your morning routine.

Learn to delegate

This won’t work very well with young children, but with older children, giving them chores that contribute to their mornings and the family's morning can make your life even easier. Chores like feeding the dogs, making their lunches, making their beds, taking out the trash, and maybe even washing breakfast dishes. All these tasks will help make everyone's day a little easier. Since my son was 8, he has had daily morning chores. During school or summer, feeding and watering the dogs, picking out his clothes or sorting his clothes for the laundry, and handling any schoolwork mom and dad need to sign. He's been doing it so long that we no longer need to tell him.

Don’t sweat breakfast.

This is not a suggestion to skip breakfast but to make it easy. Burnell suggests cereal, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt, and granola- ready to go. I will link an excellent resource for easy make-ahead breakfasts to make school day mornings easier.

Have a checklist

Having a checklist is so helpful for kids. Something they can cross out or check off every morning to ensure smooth sailing is a great idea. I like Burnell’s list; I will post it here below.

1. Brush hair and teeth.

2. Get Dressed

3. Eat Breakfast

4. Put on Shoes

5. Grab Lunch and Devices

6. Double Check Back Pack

7. Use Bathroom

8. Shut off lights

These lists will help your family and kids get into an automatic routine. However, don’t skip checking to ensure they get done, especially for brushing teeth and backpacks.

Give kids an incentive.

I don’t know about your kids, but my son, the older he gets, the harder it is to get him out of bed. However, he will pop right up if he knows he might have time to get on his video games early after his morning stuff is done. Use what your kids love as a little treat for getting up and starting.

That will help you get to work or whatever you need to do. I live by my morning routines; our school morning routines will make or break our days if they aren’t accomplished. I would love to hear how you set up your school day morning routine in your home. Let me know.

Till Next Time-

Jennifer K. Cooper- JKC Mobile Notary