5 Ways for Parents to Streamline Weekday Mornings

5 ways for parents to streamline weekday morningsI'm not good with mornings.

Not that I'm not a morning person. I can get up and be emotionally present and have deep thoughts before 9 am. Before 6 am, even. I like waking up and going out to run. I enjoy a good sunrise. I'm just not good at all the logistics of mornings with my kids and me together having to go places.

Full disclosure: I work from home, so I'm able to focus only on the kids until they're off to school, and then deal with myself. But those years we all had to be totally equipped for the day before leaving the apartment for our 45-minute subway ride to the kids' school followed by another 40 minutes to my office, well, I might still have some trauma from that.

However, I have learned a ton of tips and tricks that, on the 3-4 occasions I've done all of them together in the last five years, have gotten us where we needed to be without leaving me wanting to run away and join the circus. I'm passing them on to you in hopes that you might be smarter than I am and actually use these tips every day to make mornings easier for you and your kids.

Lay out all your clothes the night before
1. Lay out all your clothes the night before
For the kids. For you. Complete with socks, shoes, and accessories. Put the kids' clothes all together in a pile where they can get them and put them on themselves. Put yours all together on a hanger. For extra super-smart bonus points, pick out everyone's clothes for the week on Sunday afternoon.

Related: 10 nighttime questions to make your morning easier

No one gets to come out of their room in the morning until they're dressed
2. No one gets to come out of their room in the morning until they're dressed
If the kids are just in the habit of getting dressed first thing in the morning, you neatly sidestep the last-minute "where are my socks?" panic.


Pack backpacks the night before
3. Pack backpacks the night before
Homework done, notes and permission slips signed, show and tell items ready, extra clothing packed, etc.


Pack lunches the night before
4. Pack lunches the night before
This one is a no-brainer. I resisted for a long time, until I had the epiphany that you can put things that don't need to be cold in the refrigerator overnight and nothing bad will happen to them. Once I realized that I could put the entire lunchbox, including the crackers and packet of almonds, into the refrigerator so the yogurt would stay cool, I started actually doing it.

Related: 10 time-saving tips for working moms


Put the lunchboxes in the backpacks, and put the entire backpack in the refrigerator
5. Put the lunchboxes in the backpacks, and put the entire backpack in the refrigerator
I know, I know: This is crazy talk. (If you don't have room in the fridge for backpacks, then it is crazy talk.) But it will prevent you from forgetting the lunches in the refrigerator. Unless you forget the entire backpack.

Good luck, and may the force be with you!

- By Magda Pecsenye

For 3 more ways to streamline weekday mornings, visit Babble!

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Magda PecsenyeMagda Pecsenye has been writing AskMoxie.org, the parenting advice column, since 2005. She also writes, with her ex-husband, about her experiences co-parenting after divorce at WhenTheFlamesGoUp.com. She works full-time for an educational video game company and is earning an MBA in her spare time.