How to Get Into a Morning Routine

Stop the madness of herding the kids out the door and zooming into the drop-off lane at their school each morning. An organized routine will relieve stress and get your day off to a better start. Get into the swing of a new schedule by keeping it realistic and flexible.

Instructions

1. Make a list of everything you need to accomplish in the morning. Determine what tasks (like putting completed homework into folders, setting out clothes and creating the day's "to do" list) can be done the night before. Be realistic. If you need to check email in the morning, wake up earlier instead of trying to squeeze the activity into the time you've got.

2. Create a chart of morning activities and tell your kids that if it's not on the chart, they need to do it after school. It's far too easy to let a five minute video game session expand into a half hour, for example.

3. Build in extra time for emergencies like a spill or a grumpy child who needs extra time to wake up. If you don't need to use the surplus, leave for school a little early rather than starting something new.

4. Ensure everyone gets to bed early each night so the family is well rested and able to wake up on time.

5. Reassess your routine after a week to determine how affective it is. If you haven't been able to stick to it, expand the time allotted for each activity and adjust your wake-up time to accommodate the extra minutes.

6. Treat your family to dinner out, a movie or an ice-cream party each week or month that you follow the morning routine successfully.