Prepare Breakfast and Lunch
After feeling awake now is the time to get started with morning tasks. It is best to get started with breakfast and lunch preparation as they are most necessary. If other house chores are missed it may not impact much and can be attended at the evening. But leaving the house eating a healthy breakfast and taking lunch for school and work are nonnegotiable.
It is best if you can plan meals for the week and possibly some meal prep too on the weekends. This will make breakfast and lunch preparation easy. Meal planning and doing some preparation either the night before or on weekends will save you time in the morning.
Try to make simple meals and always have a quick meal option as a backup for days you get late.
Plan the night before
The best way to have an effective and productive morning routine is to have a brief plan for the next day. You need not do elaborate planning but just go through the things that you will be doing in the morning and try to make things ready for the same.
This can include things like:
- Prep for breakfast and lunch for the next day
- Soaking grains or pulses
- Laying out clothes for the next day
- Set aside lunch bags, etc.
Making things available for the morning makes work easy but more importantly, having a brief plan in your head for the next day makes the morning less overwhelming, you know exactly what needs to be done and you do not waste time thinking and running everywhere. It lets you start the morning with more calm and clarity and builds good momentum for the day.
Wake up before the kids
A common question that every working mom have is when should she get up in the morning? While many suggest a 5 am morning routine for moms, I think getting enough sleep is more important to be a good mom. There is no definite answer to this, but you can estimate the time you need to get the essential morning chores to be done and find your wake-up time.
But one thing that I highly recommend is to get up before your kids. Working with kids takes more time and distracts you too. Also, getting up before kids give you the needed quite time to clear your head and start your day calmly.
Pack the bags
Make sure your kids’ bag is packed with all the essentials they need. Packing your kids’ bag well will let you spend your day at work peacefully as you can be certain of all the things they need are available to them.
Ideally, you must prepare the daycare bag the night before so you will just need to pack the lunch bag for the family in the morning. I suggest putting the napkins, cutlery, and filled water bottles the night before in the bag so that in the morning you do not have to spend time on all these.
Nurturing Family Bond
Before heading out of the house and starting a busy workday try to use the morning time to nurture as a family. Use breakfast time for a pep talk with your kid or express gratitude to your partner. Have fun family rituals like morning hugs and cuddles. You can also have a fun competition with kids like competing to get ready first, to lighten the morning pressure and encourage kids to get ready quickly.
Most kids of working parents spend entire days at daycare and get less time to spend with family. Spending quality time in the morning will keep them comforted for the rest of the day and help to continue building bonds with parents even though you get less time to spend with them.
