Grade school moms

[mrsg123]

How do you streamline getting out the door? Getting dd1 up and ready and to kindergarten is like pulling teeth. Is it better in first grade? What are your morning tips? I have had it.

[cinco]

We pick out clothes the night before. I wake them up with 40 minutes to spare. The 8 year old is up and at 'em. The 6 year old takes a little more nudging (nagging). I make lunches while they eat breakfast. We stick to the routine and for the most part it is easy these days. I was 30 minutes late dropping the 3 year old at preschool today, so you can't win them all!

[nachos]

Do as much as you can the night before. Pack bags and lay out clothes. Maybe a grab and go breakfast for the car.

It took my DD a while to be cooperative in the morning, but now she's great. She did miss the bus a couple of times in the beginning, but we started using timers as reminders, and she adapted quickly.

Now she's actually ready well ahead of when she needs to be, and is waiting to leave. It's bliss!

Good luck.

[Queen Mamadala]

There were struggles when my older two were just starting school. I'd lay out clothes the night before and make sure everything was ready the morning of. Now that they're 8 and 10 they take care of those things themselves most days, but there's the occasional day where my 8 year old can't find a shoe, her backpack or sweater, which ends up leading to rushing. Most days we're out on time.

[Marmee]

I have 3 in school full time (k, 2nd, 4th). The middle is just slow and is always the one that takes longest. She's also a perfectionist which plays in. It's a personality thing mostly I think. The other 2 are fine. If your kid drags I'd do everything night before & wake up her earlier if need be.

[qcinoct]

Bribery, cajoling, threats, carrying a half-dressed child onto the school bus. Been there, done that. DH changed his work schedule last month so now he's home to help divide and conquer our boys in the morning. But, DS1 WILL NOT let anyone help him get dressed and he's slow as molasses. It's gotten better as time passes, but it's still a daily struggle. It's better if DS goes to bed earlier and is well rested in the morning.

[jeaniebueller]

I lay out his clothes the night before in the family room. He gets up, uses the bathroom, washes his hands and eats his vitamin. Then he gets dressed, then I rush to shove some food in him and generally he finishes his breakfast in the car. The whole process takes about 30 minutes, give or take.

ETa: I pack his lunch the night before and before he wakes up, I put it together and get his backpack ready to go.

[barefootcontessa]

I have three full-time. 1 is great; 3 is pretty good for his age; 2 can be a nightmare. I do a lot with the timer and offer rewards.

[jena]

Everything is done the night before. Shower, clothes picked out and downstairs (because dressing upstairs takes 10x longer than dressing downstairs - less distractions, easier to keep an eye on her), lunch only needs an ice pack added, backpack is ready. DD is in 2nd grade and honestly, it's not that much easier.

It really depends on what your kid does slowly. For us it's dressing, eating and going to the bathroom (omg, the hell a last-minute poop does to the schedule!).

She knows that if she doesn't pick out breakfast fast enough I will pick it for her, so that helps speed her decision making process.

She wakes up at 7 or 7:15 and has to be out the door at 8. At 7:45, we announce that it's "wiggle room time" - she is supposed to be ready to go at 7:45 (hahaha) and the last 15 minutes she knows she needs to wrap everything up. Surprisingly, she can really get everything finished in that last 15 minutes and has a pretty good idea of how long 15 minutes is because we've used wiggle room consistently. Oh, and she doesn't know it, but even if she left at 8:10 she could get there without being tardy if she had to. So that's my extra insurance.

[DarcyLongfellow]

It's still a struggle, but here's what we're doing now. (This hasn't changed much in the 3 years she's been in school.)

The main thing for me is realizing how much time we need. It takes my kid an hour to get ready in the morning, even though there's only about 15 minutes worth of actual tasks. All she has to do is pee, eat breakfast, put on clothes, brush teeth, put on shoes, sit there while I do her hair, and pick up the backpack I packed and take it to the car. Seriously, that's all she does, but it takes her forever.

Here's what I do:
- She has to pick out her clothes the night before and is not allowed to change her mind in the morning.
- Make lunch the night before.
- Get up earlier than you need to. Our mornings go best when I wake DD1 up 1 hour and 15 minutes before we have to leave the house. They go okay when she has an hour to get ready. When I oversleep and we only have 45 minutes, it's a disaster.

Also, I've figured out that she really needs 5 minutes or so in between when I wake her up and when she gets out of the bed. So I go in and turn on all the lights in her room and talk to her, then I either go get the baby up and change her diaper or I start putting clean clothes or something away in DD1's room. Giving her that time to wake up on her own makes the rest of the morning go faster.

[6fsn]

It probably helps that my kid is up naturally at 6:30 and we don't leave until 8:30. 7:30 is breakfast, dressed, and ready. If he gets it done in time he gets to play until we leave.

[zarapipe]

My biggest tip is to set out clothes for all week long- 5 outfits. I had DD do this last week and instead of asking her every night and usually forgetting I have her lay out 5 outfits on Sunday night. It doesn't take much more time but then you don't have to remember each night.

[madringal]

My daughter is in 1st grade, and honestly, I let her sleep as late as possible because she is less grumpy if she wakes up on her own. The bus comes at 7:30 and if she isn't awake by 7, then we wake her up. I make the lunches in the morning mostly because I have a bento lunch IG and I need the sunlight to take the picture if possible.

Breakfast is usually something simple because she is rarely hungry when she wakes up, so it is usally a muffin, or granola bar and some milk. Those can even be eaten on the way to the bus stop if necessary.

After last year, I have tried to eliminate the phrase "hurry up", because I felt like we were all super stressed out. I live in fear of the last thing I say to my kid is "You're going to miss the bus" (irrational, I know). So, if she does, she does.

[liveintheville]

They wake up at 5 -5:30am. So basically we have plenty of time to get them ready and out the door. But we pay for it.

[mrsg123]

Thanks for all of the replies!

[tommygirl03]

Catholic school = uniform. So no arguing about clothes. Plus, as others said, it's all laid out in the morning. I have a PK and 1st. 1st is up at 6:50 and gets the bus at 7:26. Depends on how cooperative the PKer is on how fast her older sister is. Only time I usually have trouble is if the start arguing about stupid crap! Also, lunches are ready the night before. Just have to put food and ice packs in bags. Backpacks are packed, etc.

[Deleted]

Mine are up at 6:35 & out the door at 7:15. They lay their clothes out on Sunday for the week, have simple breakfasts. Their bags and lunches are packed. My older DD has long hair so we braid it before bed so it's easy to brush in the morning.

[KKD]

My girls wake up around 7:30, and DD1 gets the bus at 8:30. They get to watch a show while eating breakfast, and at 8:00 they have to come upstairs to make their beds, get dressed, brush their teeth, and get their hair brushed.

DD1 packs her snack for the next day as soon as she gets home, puts her homework away as soon as she's finished, and keeps her backpack, shoes, coat, etc. all together by the back door. We pick out clothes the night before, and I get her lunch together in the fridge the night before as well. If I have to send a note to school, I also make sure that's in her bag the night before.

We're still usually scrambling out the door, but I blame that on the fact that I have to make sure my younger two are also properly bundled up since we all walk to the bus stop together. It's much easier when we only need to worry about getting everyone's shoes on!

[mrsg123]

Are you all laying out clothes at the front of the closet? Or just deciding on them ahead of time? The actual choice isn't a battle for us, it is the dawdling before putting them on.

[savan]

We get up early and I have everything planned by time.

5:45: I am up, pack lunches into containers, set up first breakfast
6:00 - 6:30: Kids get up at some point. I enjoy my coffee and pour out cereal and milk when they come downstairs fully dressed.
6:30: I get dressed
6:45: Make eggs and pancakes for second breakfast
7:00-7:20: Kids eat second breakfast. I do DD's hair while she is eating. Make sure backpacks and lunch boxes are fully packed. Do anything else we've forgotten.
7:20: Kids go to the bathroom, DS gets all his skin creams put on, shoes on, etc.
7:30: We are out the door to school.

There is some padding in 6:00 - 6:30 time for unexpected things to come up. Sometimes DD will throw a huge fit about not wanting to go to school and I have to forgo my coffee time to supervise her getting dressed. 6:45 - 7:20 is when it's imperative that I stay on schedule.

[cjeanette]

I lay out clothes on Sunday so she gets up and grabs that days. It saves a lot of time.

[elocrates]

It's all about routine for us. Same thing every day. DS1 gets up, uses the bathroom, gets dressed, has breakfast, brushes his teeth. Then he can read or play until we're ready to go. We sometimes play a game of Simon Says to actually get out the door if he is being pokey. (Simon says put your R shoe on, L shoe on, jacket on, gloves on, etc.) When he was in Kindergarten we had to put him to bed a bit earlier each night so he could get enough sleep. Kindergarten wore him out.

[chedifuen]

We do a reward system, if he gets up and ready independently then he can watch a show before we leave. New here, hope no one minds me jumping right in!

[lindsaymg]

He bathes at night and I put out his clothes the night before. I have his bag packed by the door before I go to bed.

He hates breakfast on weekdays so he drinks a Horizon chocolate milk walking to the bus stop (flame away if you must!)

He also buys lunch but when he was packing his lunch I used to make a week at a time and store them in the fridge for easy grab and go.

Once he is on the bus I come back and get ready for the day.