Morning Madness is finally over!!!!

As many of you know I have been trying to get the children organized each morning so that they can have a pleasant un-rushed morning. it took me a while to realize where I was going wrong with this. As I talked to God about this I asked him to show me where I was going wrong. he showed me that:

1. Their bedtime has to be consistant!- With the heavy schedule that we have and the fact that we have to be at school at 7:30 am getting to bed no later than 8:45 p.m is a chore. This takes constant organization, because sometimes we don’t get home until after 9:00. Therfore we have to make sure that we have a plan to where the kids can get their proper rest. Now what is proper rest? Do you know that children that are old enough to go to school should be getting 10 hours of sleep at night. where as toddlers should be getting about 10-12 hours of sleep. Often times when I wake the children up in the morning , I can tell if they didn’t get enough sleep, because they are grumpy, disagreeable, and just flat out tired. Now while we say that they will wake up once they get to school, the lack of rest takes a toll on their focus and they are not able to grasp the concepts of what the teacher is teaching them, as they would if they got enough rest.

What are my suggestions? Start a bedtime routine. Never send you child to bed hyped up. always relax them. Here is a sample bed time routine that is helpful you can modify it to fit your needs. What is a bedtime routine?

It’s doing the same things, in the same order, at the same time every day, just before going to bed. A routine that lasts 15 to 30 minutes is best. Below is an example.

Bedtime Routine

• Let your child calm down by playing a quiet game together.
• Let your child choose what pyjamas to wear.
• Get her to brush her teeth, go to the toilet etc.
• Listen to some soft music.
• Read or tell a story.
• Tuck your child in with her blanket, teddy bear or some other thing that makes her feel secure.
  

As I said the main point is that you get them to wind down first.

2. What are the weak areas in the morning? - I had to observe what was the weak areas in the morning that was causing us to be rushed. I found that the problem was when it came time for them to brush their teeth, and wash their face. As i observed this for a week, I asked the Lord to give me a better way to get this accomplished. my children are 6,5,&4. therefore they can’t reach the medicine cabinet, and I hate leaving the toothbrushes out on the counter or sink because when you flush the toilet the germs from the waste come up into the air and land , guess where? uh huh, right on your precious toothbrush…. ( excuse me while I throw up, just thinking about it makes me sick.) so anyway I have a closet in the bathroom and so I reserved a shelf just for them. I have their toothbrushes , towels, and other hygiene materials in their reach so that they are able to feel independent, and are able to reach the things they need on a daily basis. we call this our “Hygiene center” they love it..

Another weakness is combing hair in the morning, you never want to comb hair when you are rushing because you are rushing of course and you are putting more force on the hair and actually damaging it. to alliviate that find a hair style that you can do at night and make sure that you have time at night to actually take your time and care for the hair. That way you wont rip it out because you are rushing.

3. Have everything layed out at night!!!!- I can’t stress this enough, and when I say everything, I mean everything. their shoes, sock, underwear, and clothes, so that you don’t have to worry about looking for socks or t-shirts in the morning. I’m talking about having their clothes in order to the point that they can just get up and get them on. If your child is having problems deciding where to put what on their body, mabe you should try laing the clothes out in a body, meaning laying the clothes out there you would have the shirt where the shirt goes and the pants where the pants goes, the socks where the feet goes. after you are done it will look like the rapture came, because it looks like a body but there is nothing in it. that is how you know you are done. This will help the child recognize where they are to put what…

4. Eliminate all distractions in the morning?- some distractions might be toys, TV or any other thing in your home that may cause your children to get off track. never let them eat breakfast while watching t.v. what would of taken 10 minutes leads to 20-25 mins. not OK!. eliminate all the distractions it will help your morning go better, now after they have completed all of their morning routine then if their is time then TV would be ok.

This morning I tried all of the pointer that the Lord gave me , and I can say we all left the house smiling and got to school on time , everyone was refreshed, and collected. the worse thing is for a child to get a spanking in the morning. that is definitly starting the day off wrong. start the day off with a saying, my children say “Were gonna have a great day, a great day in Jesus name!” and the funny thing is that they realize that when they go to school with that frame of mind they get in the car and say we had another great day.

Don’t be afraid to ask God for a plan for your life. he wants you to succeed , be happy and prosper. so remember. Ask , Observe, write the vision, and implement it .

Hop to it,

PJ