{"id":2246,"date":"2013-09-01T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2013-09-01T10:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/?p=2246"},"modified":"2013-08-21T14:59:18","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T18:59:18","slug":"a-stress-free-morning-routine-for-back-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/2013\/09\/01\/a-stress-free-morning-routine-for-back-to-school\/","title":{"rendered":"A Stress Free Morning Routine for Back to School"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s go! Let&#8217;s go! Come on \u2026 you&#8217;re going to miss the bus! I don&#8217;t know where your favorite jeans are; it&#8217;s not my responsibility. What do you mean you still have homework? Did you brush your teeth yet? Let&#8217;s go! I&#8217;m leaving\u2026 NOW!<\/p>\n<p>Oh I hope your mornings don&#8217;t sound like that above. If it does, it&#8217;s not too late to turn that ship around. The key to having a stress free morning routine is to have a smooth bedtime routine. Remember, a routine is something that is followed regularly, standard procedures. Without the consistency you will have an uphill battle.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some tips to a stress free morning routine:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 No yelling. Raising your voice, albeit frustrated, is only going to escalate matters.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Early to bed, early to rise. That one is simple.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Showers and baths should be taken at night. You think you&#8217;ll have time in the morning, but you rarely do.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Look over all homework for completeness before bed; don&#8217;t assume it&#8217;s finished.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Before bed ensure lunches are made, backpack is packed and there are no surprise &#8220;Oh I need xxx today!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Give singular instructions. Don&#8217;t say, &#8220;I want you to finish your homework, eat breakfast, get dressed, comb your hair, brush your teeth and be in the car by 8:15.&#8221; To a child, that sounds like &#8220;blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.&#8221; One instruction at a time works wonders.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Provide instructions once. If you&#8217;re doing this, stop: &#8220;Johnny, it&#8217;s time to get dressed.&#8221; Two minutes later, &#8220;Johnny, we&#8217;re going to be late if you don&#8217;t get dressed now.&#8221; Two more minutes later, &#8220;Johnny, honey, I told you to get dressed.&#8221; &#8220;Johnny, Mommy is going to be late, now go get dressed.&#8221; To a child that sounds like &#8220;Oh mom is good for asking about five more times before she really goes ballistic!&#8221; Repeated requests only send the message that junior doesn&#8217;t really have to do it now.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Set consequences and stick to your guns. If you tell your child the car is leaving at 8:15 sharp, make it happen. Clearly you can&#8217;t leave your child behind, so leaving without her isn&#8217;t an option. Tell her you will be leaving whether she is ready or not. Sending a 10 year old to school with uncombed hair, pajamas and an empty belly might be just the catalyst for change.<\/p>\n<p>You are the parent; you set the tone for the morning routine. You need to be actively involved in the morning routine. Follow the steps above and I guarantee &#8216;joy will come in the morning!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s go! Let&#8217;s go! Come on \u2026 you&#8217;re going to miss the bus! I don&#8217;t know where your favorite jeans are; it&#8217;s not my responsibility. What do you mean you still have homework? Did you brush your teeth yet? Let&#8217;s go! I&#8217;m leaving\u2026 NOW! Oh I hope your mornings don&#8217;t sound like that above. If [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parent-articles-and-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/keebler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}