As a nanny, I have the amazing opportunity (and obstacle at times) of taking my son to work with me. This is a tremendous blessing for a number of reasons. It means that as a single-mom I don't have to spend money on childcare. It also means, more importantly, that I get to spend my days with my son and really fostering his growth and development.
This also means that every work day I have to get my 2-year-old dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:15am or I'll be late for work. I know that this situation isn't unique to me as a nanny. There are many families who have to get the kids out the door in the morning for daycare, school, or to take siblings to school.
Because this process can be challenging and frustrating, I want to share with you some things that I have picked up while working with children over the years that make getting out in the morning a little smoother.
Prepare as much as you can ahead of time
For most families, this means getting things ready the night before. Anything that you can do advance, do it. Pack lunches, lay out clothes, put coffee in the coffee pot, get breakfast items ready. When everything is already in place, it is much faster and easier to put the rest of the pieces together than in the morning when everyone is stumbling around groggy and grumpy.
Give your kids as much responsibility as they can handle
What this looks like is going to depend on age and also on the child. I've seen people use picture boards or checklist that kids work through, but I've never done that with any of my kids. Not saying they don't work, I've just never tried them.
Although it may seem faster to do everything yourself than to let your toddler spend 10 minutes putting his shoe on, in the long run it's not. Children desire autonomy, and they are much more cooperative when they can take ownership of the process.
Whatever you feel your child can do themselves with very few prompts, put it on their plate. It will make them more cooperative and remove a bit of the stress from your morning.
Give clear directions about what still needs to be done
I feel like this is where one of those picture boards would be handy. In any case, I have been totally guilty of giving my son a task, go brush your teeth, and then been shocked and upset when he does that and then goes back to playing instead of continuing to get ready.
I have learned with toddlers (or even older children), the word "then" is very important. Go brush your teeth THEN get dressed. I check on my son often during the morning because he's 2 so he's easily side-track. When he's gotten to the next step, I give him praise and then let him know what to do when he's done. Thank you for following directions. Finish getting dressed, then feed the dog.
This should become less important as kids get older and as they get used to the routine.
Be realistic about your timeframe
Chances are it takes your children longer to do just about anything than it takes you to do it. This goes for eating, dressing, brushing their teeth, combing their hair, or anything else they might need them to do. That means that you want them to start getting ready based on how much time they need, not how much time you think they should need. If they are slow eaters, get up earlier. If it takes them a long time to do their hair, get up earlier. If they have a hard time waking up in the morning, go to bed earlier. I can't pretend that those changes are easy, but if it's going to mean mornings with less fighting, it's worth considering.
Put your stuff in your car before your kids. Or vice versa
Depending on how much stuff you have and how helpful and able-bodied your kids are, this might not be necessary. I, however, usually travel with toddlers and quite often am transporting enough stuff to go backpacking through Europe. You want to have free hands when you're trying to get little ones out of the house and into the car. I have learned the hard way that there is nothing more frustrating than trying get kids out the door and into the car when my hands are full and I'm spilling my coffee and someone slips on the ice and I can't even reach down to help him up. So instead, I go put my stuff in the car (and usually start it too, since I live in Michigan), and come back in and finish getting the kids ready.
Have a "Launch Pad"
I just made that term up right now, as I was trying to think of how to explain the most important advice of this whole topic. My "Launch Pad" is the place where all the kids go when they are completely ready to leave. In our house this is our breeze way, at work this is the mudroom, in our old house it was the kitchen because that's where the back door was. The most important part of a Launch Pad is that once they are ready and in it THEY CANNOT LEAVE. Again, speaking from experience, there is nothing more frustrating than finally having everyone ready to go, running to the other room to grab your phone, and coming back to find you're suddenly missing a child who wandered off to watch TV again. It makes it easy to assess how ready we actually are if we can get a head count of how many people are ready to walk out the door.
Tell yourself you have to leave earlier than you really do
When I said earlier that I have to get out the door by 7:15, that was actually I lie. I HAVE to get out the door by 7:25, or else we'll be late, but every day I try to leave by 7:15. And once a month we actually succeed.
Face it, it is VERY challenging to leave on time with kids. Just when you think you're ready to go, somebody has to poop. Somebody forgot something important. And someone else decides they don't want to go. Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to leave at the last minute and then being late. It just leads to a lot of yelling and a poor start to the morning. If we actually get out of the house at the attempted time, I'll sometimes use the extra time to go to Tim Horton's for doughnut holes. Either way, it is much less frustrating when your child is running behind if you know that it's not actually going to cause anyone to be late.
I've unfortunately learned all these things from experience after doing it the other way and failing (and yelling and being late an awful lot). How about you? What helps your family get on the road on time? leave a comment!
Blessings
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