Even if you already have a great morning routine going with your littles, all it takes is a lost shoe, a missed alarm, or a full blown tantrum over a lost favourite toy to throw your whole morning out. Within minutes, everyone is late, stressed, you're throwing toothbrushes and socks at kids and you've lost your coffee somewhere in the house. Mornings shouldn't be this hard! Take some of the stress out of your mornings with a few simple life hacks:
- Set Your Alarm 15 mins earlier
Tired is tired. Physically, there really is no difference between 6.15 and 6.30 or 5.15 and 5.30 for that matter - you’re still going to be tired so why not reduce the morning stress a little by having more time on your hands? 15 mins can mean more “me time” or just more time to prepare everything and everyone for the day ahead.
- Do as much as you can the night before
We know this sounds like a massive drag and who can be bothered getting off the snuggly couch to make kids lunches? But it makes a huge difference in the morning if everything is basically ready to go (especially if you’re not a morning person)! This includes kids bags packed and sitting at the door, clothes picked out and ready to wear, lunches packed - everything!
- Meal prep on Sundays (you’ll need a decent sized freezer!)
Life is so much easier when meals are planned and already half or fully cooked! Remember, you don’t have to create a new meal for every day. Find 3 meals for the week and cook them up on Sunday when you have time to actually do it (Note: this doesn’t have to be hard - you might make a soup, pasta sauce like bolognese or just portion out your meats and veg!)
Got babies? You can pre-make baby food and freeze in ice-cube trays to pop out and defrost as needed! Genius.
For older kids, create snack packs that your kids can choose for themselves each morning to add to their lunches or backpacks. Simply create zip-lock bags filled with lunch-approved snacks (think nuts, rice crackers, dried fruit, even grapes) and let them grab one before they go!
- Get techy
In this wonderful internet age you’ll be amazed at what apps are now available for almost anything you can think of. Think organisational apps, interactive to-do lists and even apps to help you wake up at the right time of your sleep cycle! If you’re already a phone person, why not make it work for you instead of just aimlessly scrolling Instagram?
Some of our favourite morning helper apps include:
Sleep Cycle, MealBoard, Clear, Happy Kids Timer
- Keep an “oops” kit in the car
How many mornings have been held up or ruined by spills, forgotten lunches or boo boos? Keep a special bag in the car with baby wipes, $25, a torch, spare batteries, an umbrella and a mini first aid kit. (If you’ve got little ones still in diapers/nappies add in a spare diaper/nappy and spare set of underwear!)
- Sleep on a Silky Tots Pillow Slip
Sleep is all well and good, but what about the fact that you have to tame those morning bird’s nests you dare to call hair, before leaving the house (or risk looking like Frankenstein's family)?
Sleeping on a Silky Tots Silk Pillow Slip, keeps both hair and skin protected from the tossing and turning that occurs during the night. Silk reduces the friction that causes breakage, knotting and bed-head which can save your babe's mane in the morning. Less time brushing (and hair tantrums) = more time for important stuff!
- Set yourself a bedtime
Bedtimes are not just for kids! Setting yourself a bedtime and a “wind-down” window of 1 hour before bed will not only force you to get everything done before this time but it will improve your sleep 10 fold. A bedtime also allows you to plan how many hours of sleep you are getting each night. For example, if you’re up at 5.30am then you know you need to be in bed by 10:00pm in order to feel rested enough the next day. Use the “wind-down” window to allow your nervous system to calm down before getting into bed - you can use this technique for the kids too. Lower lights, use lamps, limit screen time and move to books for 1 hour before bed. You’ll be amazed at the impact it has on sleep time and quality!
