Giveaway: $500 AmEx Gift Card plus a case of your favorite general MilLs Cereal
If there was ever a movie of my life, it would open with Harlow crying and me waking up reluctantly. Whether I go into her room to get her or she comes into my room to get me, the first dialogue spoken would be— “I want something to eat.”
No “good morning”. Harlow doesn’t play that game. The girl knows what she wants and she asks for it immediately.
Then we would cut to a fast paced action sequence where I make my cup of coffee, warm up Mazzy’s “milky” and fix Harlow’s breakfast (frozen waffle and a bowl of cereal) all at once. I have these three tasks down to a well-timed science— from turning on the coffee maker to screwing the lid on Mazzy’s cup to pouring the milk just high enough in Harlow’s bowl. It’s all worked out so I am never standing still in the kitchen with nothing to do and I have everything ready within three minutes which is exactly the amount of time it takes to defrost Harlow’s waffle.
Not movie material, you say? Did I mention I do everything WITH ONE ARM while I hold Harlow with the other? She’s no spring chicken, you know!
Okay, you’re right. My mornings would make a TERRIBLE movie. Plus, as Harlow has gotten older, I get away with plopping her on the counter as opposed to actually holding her.
But, for what it’s worth, I am seriously impressed with my speed and agility while my kitchen routine is happening. If there was a coffee-making-cereal-pouring event in the Olympics, my time would definitely qualify.
Unfortunately, my kids don’t seem to appreciate my high-speed breakfast coordination and are constantly demanding things like “Cheerios!!!!” and “Syrup!!!!!” even though they can plainly see me working like a mad woman to accommodate them and get them situated.
Mornings (unlike evenings) must run exactly according to plan or else all hell breaks loose. Even if you are running late or the system is breaking down, you must give the impression that all is going smoothly or else you run the risk of derailing your children completely.
It’s a tricky game getting everyone out the door and to work/school/camp/daycare on time.
Today, General Mills asked me to talk about my trusted morning hacks that make those early AM hours run as smoothly as possible. Which is funny because cereal is the only way we get Harlow to drink milk, since she stopped drinking milk when we took away her bottle at age one. I’ll call that Morning Hack #1.
Many readers have advised me to get rid of the television in the mornings, but that would mean I would also be giving up Morning Hack #2— threatening to turn the TV off if Mazzy doesn’t get herself dressed.
“Can you pause it, Mom?”
“And send Harlow into hysterics? OF COURSE NOT!”
Thankfully, Mazzy runs into her room and comes back fully dressed within ten seconds, the horror of spending precious morning time away from the TV too much to bear. Her outfit usually doesn’t match but that brings me to Morning Hack #3, which is really more of a parenting philosophy I stole from a reader on my Facebook page.
She said, “I’d rather raise an independent child than a well-dressed one”.
Yep. I agree. Coordinating outfits sounds too time-consuming for busy mornings. I question how the moms of well-dressed children choose to spend their time.
After she finishes her waffle, Harlow usually asks about Daddy’s whereabouts, so I tell her to “go see where he is” which is my Special Mom Code for “WAKE THAT MAN UP SO I’M NOT DOING THIS BY MYSELF!”
Sending Harlow to wake up Mike is Morning Hack #4, because once he’s up, he’ll come in the kitchen and make breakfast for Mazzy while I start to get ready.
Speaking of getting ready, that makes me think of Morning Hack #5, which should actually have been Morning Hack #1— showering at night. This accomplishes two things: 1) I don’t waste time drying my hair. 2) I get to shower in peace.
Want a great hack for drinking your coffee? Try Morning Hack #6— instead of drinking it, just abandon it! Your kids are never going to give you those five precious minutes to sip quietly anyway and you know you’ll end up reheating and reheating again until you finally give up and spill it out in the sink. I say, just recognize your coffee for what it is— something to gaze at from afar while you run around like a chicken with your head cut off.
Morning Hack #7 is brushing Mazzy’s hair while she eats breakfast. Yes, hair and food are a disgusting combination but add the double distraction of television and there is way less screaming involved. When there is no screaming, I actually enjoy doing Mazzy’s hair.
Harlow always wants to hang out in the morning which doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with getting myself ready, so I’ve invented Morning Hack #8. I give Harlow a big make-up brush and the cap of my translucent powder so she can pretend to put on make-up too. She likes to stand on the toilet and look at herself in the magnifying mirror. Best of all, she’s doing it right next to Mommy.
When Mazzy was still in school, we would pack her backpack with snacks so that they were there for her after school, regardless of who picked her up. That’s Morning Hack #9. It doesn’t save time in the morning, but it certainly has saved my sanity on more than one afternoon.
Lastly, if Mazzy or Harlow are still hungry when we are heading out the door, I implement Morning Hack #10—filling up a plastic baggie with cereal to-go. There aren’t many other things you can feel good about giving your kids in the morning, that still feels like a snack.
Thankfully, my friends at General Mills know how much parents depend on cereal in the morning, so they are constantly working to make their cereals better. For the past few years, they have been working to make whole grain the first ingredient and reduce sugar across all their cereals. Now, they are working to remove all the artificial flavors and colors from artificial sources. More than half of General Mills cereals (like our favorites, Cheerios, Chex and Cinnamon Toast Crunch) are already free from artificial flavors and colors from artificial sources, but now they’re working on cereals like Lucky Charms and Trix too. Good news for that rabbit!
To help spread this news, General Mills is giving one lucky reader a $500 American Express Gift Card and a case of your favorite cereal!
Giveaway Rules:
1) To enter, you must be a Mommy Shorts daily or weekly subscriber. If you are not already a subscriber, you can sign up here.
2) Leave a comment below describing your favorite morning hack. You can also enter by posting a photo on the Mommy Shorts Facebook page or on Instagram tagging #mymorninghack. If you enter on Instagram, make sure you tag and follow both @mommyshorts and @generalmills to win.
Read the full rules here.
Winner will be selected at random and announced on June 30th.
Just don’t steal using the toddler to wake up Dad. THAT’S MINE.
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This post was sponsored by General Mills who does not endorse my morning hacks, just my love of all things CEREAL.
My hack is reverse psychology. The baby isn’t much trouble, but my three year old is in a phase where he says he wants the opposite of whatever I’m proposing we do. “What to go to the park?” “No, I want to stay home!”. And so on. So now when I go into his room in the morning I say things like, “Maybe we should just stay home today. I didn’t really like the books I got at the library last time.” He’ll inevitably reply, “Let’s go to the library!” and start getting ready immediately.
Healthy? Probably not. But it works for now and it’s saving my sanity.
I make a big batch of muffins and then freeze them. Then I unthaw in the fridge overnight and I have breakfast Don before I even go downstairs.
Morning Hacks:
I handle most of the morning routine because I take our girl to preschool and my husband is usually gone a good 15- 30 minutes before we are.
I pack my lunch and our 3 yr old’s lunch the night before so I can save 20 minutes there. (husband is on his own to make his which saves me time!)
I pick out our daughter’s clothes (with her approval) the night before down to socks and underwear and hairstyle (1 ponytail or 2? Or just pull it out of your face?) so no arguments or wardrobe changes in the morning.
Hair brushing in the morning requires major sprays of leave on conditioner so the tangles are more easily and less painlessly managed!
All about timing!! When working, I have our morning routine down to the second. And with a 2 yr old and a teen, that’s pretty impressive. My Hack #1 is planning ahead. Clothes laid out the night before, lunches (if needed) made the night before, ALL twenty thousand bags packed the night before. It saves a lot of time for the morning. Hack #2, I would wake up before the kids to have my peace and quiet, take my time getting ready without a million questions and needs being hurled at me. So then when the kids would get up, it was just about them. Hack #3, all about routine. My teen can take care of herself, it’s the toddler that I would tend to. She dressed and I did her hair before anything else. Once done, she was free to watch tv and eat her breakfast, cherrios and fruit (what she usually requests). From there, it’s waiting on my teen to finial up.
Now that it’s summer, I’m at home, kids don’t have school or daycare, we wake up when a foot or hand smacks me in the face as my 2 yr old crawls into bed and says “wake up mommy!” I fight getting out of bed, but do and blurry eyes make some sort of breakfast. First hack is get my toddler some milk so she’ll stop chanting milk. Depending on if I make an actual breakfast or if we go back to lucky charms or cherrios, determines how much skill I use that morning in the kitchen.
It’s during the school year, I rely more on morning hacks than I do during the summer. Summer is carefree and who cares if it takes us a hour to wake up and make a breakfast. ????
Every morning when the baby cries to wake us up, I “have to go to the bathroom” so Dad will go get him and change his diaper before bringing him into our room. 😉
My favorite morning hack is to place food on the high chair of my LO and bring him into the kitchen while I make breakfast and drink my coffee (!) 🙂 the high chair keeps him contained and I have two hands to make breakfast and get ready in the morning!
I get milk warmed up first and then go and get my daughter out of her crib in the morning. She drinks the milk while I change her diaper and get her dressed. Less kicks in the face for mommy. :o)
Car breakfast is the way to go. I never feed my kids at home, they get a morning snack and then eat at daycare. Everyone is quiet for at least 10 minutes in the car.
I sometimes let my kids sleep in their clothes they want to wear the next day, so then all I have to do is wake them up and brush teeth & hair and they are ready to go!
My morning hack is getting my morning pumping session and doing tummy time on my 5 month old to make sure I do both before I leave for work. I have my baby on her tummy I sit on the floor and entertain her (since she hates being on her tummy) while i pump!! Its great for bonding with her, getting her tummy time in and pumping all before I go to work!
I leave for work earlier than my daughter wakes up, all morning routine is left to my sister.
However, in the rare occasions when my daughter does wake at the crack of dawn with me, I can usually coerce her to stay in bed a while longer by offering a movie on the iPad, a banana, and a bag of pancakes on the go(no syrup needed). I know, I know, I shouldn’t let her eat in bed, but it let’s my sister, who helps me out of sheer love, (mostly for my child) sleep and keeps my worries at bay knowing my peanut is in bed rather than roaming the house. So, it’s mostly a morning hack to help my sister get some precious extra minutes of shut eye-the least I can do 🙂
My favorite morning hack is to randomly list off the tasks that still need to be done within earshot of my husband. (Almost like I’m just talking through it to myself.) That way he knows what needs to be done and feels good about himself for helping out and I don’t have to feel like I’m asking or telling him what to do all the time. Everyone gets ready and I get some extra time to myself!
We make a berry mix weekly during the summer. Less mess and plenty healthy to just scoop out for
I send the dog in to jump on the bed and wake up my daughter. we also eat cereal or a bagel in the car on the way to school to give us extra time in the morning. it makes for a messy car but that’s another job for the dog when we get home!
I leave for work earlier than my daughter wakes up, so all morning routine is determined by my sister. That’s my hack 😉
Only partially kidding!
On the rare occasion that my daughter does wake up at the crack of dawn with me, I can usually coerce her back into bed by offering the iPad, a banana, and an on-the-go bag of pancakes (no syrup needed). I know, I know, I shouldn’t let her eat in bed! But this way I can give my sister, who helps me out of sheer love(mostly for my daughter), a few extra minutes of shut eye. It’s the least I can do 🙂
well this was a duplicate… – the first one said it didn’t post! oops
I get up, pour everyone a cup of juice and a bowl of dry cereal turn on cartoons and go back to sleep on the couch until someone wakes me up for a refill.
I have two. #1 is letting my husband have quality time with both boys in the morning while I sleep or run or read (since I’m home with them all day and he doesn’t see them as much since he’s at work). #2 is to let them jump on the bed (currently a mattress on the floor as we are in the process of moving) while I get myself ready.
My morning hack is letting my kids have “hot chocolate” while watching a tv show so I can get myself ready or nurse the baby, whichever is more demanding(my need to relieve myself or hangry baby). The “hot chocolate” is regular milk with a splash of dark chocolate almond milk warmed up.
We have twins who are 19months old, so mornings can get crazy. They love helping so my morning hack is to have them “help” bring cups and utensils to the kitchen table.. basically, my morning hack is to get them to stay busy moving things to the table and out of the way so I can get breakfast ready! 🙂 We also make huge batches of waffles and pancakes on weekends to freeze so that we can just warm them out during the busy work week.
My morning hack used to consist of putting one of those cheap wooden baby gates up in my 11 month old’s doorway so he could play safely while I got ready in the bathroom across the hall. That worked great until his teething turned him into a beaver and he literally started to bite chunks out of the wooden baby gate! Now he plays on the bathroom floor while I do my hair and makeup. My other morning hack is my extremely helpful husband who gets all of my son’s food, diaper bag, bottles, etc ready as well as takes care of the dog while I get myself and son ready.
Morning hack: I gave my 4 year old the responsibility of brushing the 2 year old’s teeth in the morning!
Oh boy, we (the adults) are the ones having a hard time with mornings at the moment. Our two year old is waking up earlier and earlier with “mama, sun’s up! Where we going today??” I wish I could discipline myself to go to bed early enough to be up before her but so far that hasn’t worked. Instead I run downstairs for her milk to buy myself an extra 10 mins before she and I go to get breakfast. Papa is already gone to work so I try to encourage her to wake him at weekends- hasn’t worked yet! 🙂
My favorite morning hack is nursing the baby in a side lying position in my bed. It definitely buys a few extra minutes of laying horizontally with closed eyes. Bonus hack points when Daddy brings the baby in for said nursing session.
My #1 is your #5 – always shower at night!
Cold brew coffee!! I keep cold brew on hand so I can have coffee whenever the need strikes!!
My favorite morning hack is to brush my daughter’s hair while she is brushing her teeth in front of the vanity. She can see her hairdo as I can see that she’s only holding the brush and not actually brushing her teeth. Win, win!
Both my son and my daughter love to wear those silky shorts and t-shirts. Since they’re comfy….I let the kids sleep in their clothes!
All of my boys sleep in the second floor bedrooms and cannot hear their alarms blaring away in the mornings. My morning hack is a wireless doorbell, that chimes the Bells of Westminster Abbey, installed upstairs right outside the rooms. I control the doorbell from downstairs. No more yelling up the stairs to wake up.
When I was working and needed to be out of the house by 6:40am I always heated frozen pancakes up then woke my son, put him in the car and handed him a pancake. It made being woken up and thrown in the car seat more bearable and he didn’t cry the whole car ride.
My morning hack is to have my kids pick out outfits the night before. My youngest will pick out her own outfit fine the night before but in the morning she is incapable of doing it herself for some reason. I don’t have time to go through every piece of clothing she owns until she finds something she feels likeep wearing every morning. Lol
FaceTime with family and friends during breakfast. My two year old loves catching up with everyone and I shovel food in his mouth.
My morning hack is to wake up before my six month old and put her next to her daddy in bed so she can cuddle him while I get ready, sometimes it works so well that I get to do my makeup!! Other times daddy has to play her the “Fixer Upper” song from Frozen so I can at least make it through my shower. Needless to say we still have those mornings where mommy doesn’t get to shower until afternoon nap time but it’s all part of the adventure of parenthood!
We get dressed in the living room so my 4 year old doesn’t have to miss a single second of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (or whatever the cartoon du jour happens to be).
My morning hack is to make sure and pick out everyone’s clothes the night before. Then I get up and get ready before I wake up my daughter.
I would have my kids get dressed before we headed up stairs to eat (we live in the basement right now), they are old enough that I don’t have to worry about them making a mess of their clothes. It seemed to help them be more awake for breakfast!
My 4-yr-old has decided to sleep in his clothes. Best time-saver ever, and bonus that it was his stubborn-headed idea! Older brother just tries to beat him to the door, and that’s that. I should add, we are still late everywhere because one of them “needs to go poop” just as we are headed out the door pretty much every day. Alas. P.S. Biggest time-suck of the morning is the constant nuking of the coffee in my attempt to get just a few sips of it while it’s hot.
My morning hack… need to be at work long before anyone else in the house gets up! *wink wink*
Course, as a single mom, that kinda sucks. So my bestest hack ever? An awesome mom who retired and gets my little one to school/camp/wherever or watches him all day. Grandma FTW!
my 22 month old son loves to brush his teeth….or suck on his tooth brush? There doesn’t seem to whole lot of the actual brushing movement going on. . He will stand there and brush his teeth while I get ready usually for a good 15 minutes. Also my son wakes up too early. If I go into the room it’s all over, but if my husband gets up and goes in there says go back to sleep and lies down on the floor and falls back asleep, so does my son. It’s amazing. My husband is also the deepest sleeper in the world. So when my son wakes up he just sits there singing and entertaining himself and for the most part he is happy because his daddy is right there even if he is fast asleep. I can exercise and then go in a wake them up when I’m ready.
I’m currently a SAHM, with no kids in school yet, so we don’t usually have to keep a tight schedule in the morning, thank goodness. That said, toddlers are toddlers and will make you want to rip your ears off your head from the incessant whining. So our regular Hack is cooking up 8 eggs, every 3 days, and dividing them up in the fridge so I don’t have to cook every morning. On the days we have to make eggs, the Hack is Curious George (the movie) and a cereal that they don’t get to eat except when I’m making eggs (Lucky Charms, I’m looking at you).
I’m a stay at home mom, so there’s no need for my kids and I to rush anywhere in the morning. However, I stay up late at night to write, which often leaves me tired in the mornings. My favorite morning hack is to bring the toddler in bed with the baby and I when he wakes up and read stories together. He loves books and will often cuddle beside me and “read” to himself, which leaves time for the baby and I to doze a bit longer. And when he wants me to read to him, it gives us a nice start to the morning with cuddles and laughter.
My favorite morning hack of all time is the pretty simple one of setting everything out the night before. I am NOT a morning person so nothing that takes brain power can be done within an hour of waking up.
My morning hack is to pack my gym bag at night and leave it by the garage door. I also shower at night
My kids both wake up wide-awake and starving. I keep all of the kid plates, cups, and silverware in a low drawer in the kitchen where my kids can reach it. The kids are able to get a yogurt out of the fridge and a spoon from the drawer and start breakfast while I’m still waking up. (Sometimes the 5 year old has to help the 2 year old open his yogurt.)
Morning Hack #11: Let your toddler pretend the hair rubber bands are rings and put her feet in the sink while doing hair! This is the only way I can do anything with my 20 month old daughter’s hair. Turning water on & off on your feet is quite amusing, as well as, trying to get as many hair rubber bands on your fingers as possible! Just enough distraction to get a decent hair style done for the day!
My daughter puts them on her toes! I give her the whole pack of 500 tiny rubber bands and let her go to town while I do her hair. Works every time. Clean-up is not my favorite, but worth the trade-off for battle- free hair combing.
It’s trite but true- get clothes out the night before. No decisions to make first thing.
I set the auto brew on the coffee pot so it’s ready when I wake up. The smell of fresh coffee and the knowledge that I can have a cup by myself if I don’t hit snooze is normally enough to get me out of bed before my daughter.
One thing I try sometimes is to withhold TV until the kids do something like getting dressed or sitting down to eat breakfast. Usually works like a charm.
I bribe my son with a gummy vitamin if he cooperates getting dressed. He thinks it’s candy!
My kids are not allowed out of bed until I come to get them. If they come out first, they lose TV/screens for the day. I get up ½ hour before them to caffeinate and become human before interacting with the small noisy people.
Best hack? I put a small pitcher of milk in the fridge each night, as well as three pre-filled drinking cups. Kids are instructed to fill their own cereal bowls and grab their cups. They serve themselves breakfast while I slog through feeding the dogs and making school lunches.
My littles love to “fold” the laundry, so every night I do a load and leave it unfolded in the basket for them to play with – err, fold – in the morning while I get ready. The habit keeps us in clean, though not necessarily wrinkle-free, clothes!
Use your pets to lure/herd your children. My two-year-old is obsessed with our dog right now, and as long as she is at my heels, he will follow me to the changing table, the breakfast table, the bathroom–anywhere–and at this age, getting him there is half the battle.
My morning hack is to have my husband get up with the kiddo on the weekend so that I can sleep in 🙂
My favorite morning hack is packing lunch the night before.
I pour milk into individual cups and cereal into bowls the night before. My 6 year old gets the milk out and then both girls can make themselves cereal while I get other things ready.
My mornings go pretty smoothly since I stay at home and my son is just a wee 10 months old. My hack is to always begin by making him a bottle before I go into the nursery to get him. This keeps him from squirming while I change the diaper and he gladly goes back in the crib to finish while I get a few more precious minutes with my husband before he goes off to work.
This only works if your baby doesn’t roll yet and can entertain himself like mine does… but when he’s ready to get up for the day, I strap him to the changing table and he babbles away happily for 10-15 minutes while I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, fix my hair, and get dressed. I periodically stop by and say hi to him for a second, he beams at me, and I go back to getting dressed. When I’m done, I can change his diaper, give him his vitamin drops, and get him dressed and then we go down to face the day together 🙂
I read your blog daily but rarely comment, but I just had to respond to this post! My morning hack is cereal, cereal, cereal! My son gets his cup of cereal and watches one tv show. For him, he needs that quiet, alone time to wake up and be in a good mood for the day. Once I’m showered and dressed, I wake up my daughter with cereal in hand. We cuddle in the rocker while she eats and it gives us a little quiet time. It is one of my favorite, most peaceful ten minutes of the day. As we are walking out the door, they each get a small refill of their cereal cups to eat on the way to daycare & pre-school. That second cup may or may not be a bribe to get them out the door with shoes, coat, and book bags in hand!
My 9 year old has been making her own breakfast since she was 5. And her own school lunches since she was 7. She also helps her sister, who is 5, and plays with her whether I’m getting ready for work or sleeping on the weekends. The 5 year old does a lot of getting her own food as well.
Teach them to be independent young. Best hack ever.
My morning hacks getting my daughter dressed while she is still sleeping..then I wake her up to get her hair and teeth brushed
Anytime that we have to be somewhere in the morning, I try to get everything we need prepared the night before. Then, we get up a little earlier so that we have extra time to get ready and out the door.
I stay at home with my kids so rushing out the door isn’t always a concern. Grumpy kids (who don’t nap) was, so we bought them each an alarm clock and now they aren’t allowed to come out of their rooms till after 7am. I also usually get up before them so I can drink my coffee/check email/get ready before the craziness of the day starts.
My daughter is 2 and thankfully still sleeps in her crib without climbing out. Once I hear her summon me in the mornings by yelling “help! I want out!”, I fix her cup of milk and grab a banana before I go get her out of her crib. I go ahead and put it on her children’s table, that way when she’s dressed and ready to come to the living room I can sit down and have a few minutes to look at Facebook or fix myself something to eat.
Must reside in the 50 US states? Australia needs General Mills Cheerios. Seriously, Uncle Ben’s brand are not right and I miss my Cheerios (ex-pat here, now living in Australia, so I’m not entering this giveaway).
Morning hack? A spill-proof keep your coffee hot for HOURS travel mug. Seriously, my 2-yo has thrown it across the living room multiple times and it does. not. spill.
Lately we’ve been taking my husband to work, which means we have to have kids up and out the door by 7:30 so I’ve just “rolled” my 2 yr old out of bed and into the car and then feed them one cereal in baggies. Another morning hack is frozen go-gurts! They are awesome and my kids love them any time of the day
glad to hear someone else uses their kids to wake up Daddy. I wake up a little before the kids to so I can shower in peace. And I refill the keurig at night.
My 3 yr old watches iPad in the bathroom or bedroom while I shower/get ready/drag 6 yr old out of bed!
We have races to see how can finish first – can I make the beds before you finish your cereal? Somehow I always loose!
Great tips! Haha thanks for sharing! 🙂
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My hack in the morning is to lock both kids in their highchairs and distract my 9 month old with Cheerios while making oatmeal for my 2 year old. As long as I keep a dialogue going I don’t have to put up with crying or fighting. Makes for a productive morning…
Very funny 😀 I loved the one about letting them wear what they wish, better not to fight them!
My morning hacks all involve doing things the night before: shower at night, put the coffee maker on a timer the night before so it’s brewing when I get up, and get together all the non-perishable items we will all need for the next day.
Getting myv oldest’s thick ,long and current hair cut to shoulder length had saved my sanity!! Overnight oats are also a huge help
Everything is a competition in my house. Who can get their teeth brush first? Who can get dressed by the time I count to 20?! Who can tie their shoes the fastest? Winner doesn’t have to clear their place from breakfast. And so on. Maybe it’s not the best parenting hack to have kids competing from the minute they wake up, but it sure makes getting out of the house easier in the morning.
my kids are young enough they go to a sitter the days I work, luckily they get to go in their pajamas (I just put my youngest into a fresh diaper) but I always pack their backpack the night before with diapers, their clothes for the day, and their sippy cups so even though the morning should go smoothly, it usually has some bumps but I never have to worry about forgetting anything at home for them because it’s all in their backpack right by the door to just grab and go! I will admit one day I did forget to pack my daughter shorts for the day but I blame that one on getting distracted the evening before ????
I get my daughter dressed and hair done as soon as she gets up before her high energy starts to kick in. This way she can take an hour to eat breakfast (slowest eater ever!) and I can get ready.
Our mornings are very, very rushed as we have to be out the door by 7:30am. I have my three-year-old daughter convinced that she’s not allowed to eat anything until her clothes are on and her hair is done. She’s hungry in the mornings, so we get the worst part out of the way (HAIR!) without too much fuss.
I also have her convinced that blueberries are a special treat, so if she’s really quick getting ready she can have some!
My 2 year old hates shoes and takes them off every 5 secs. So we don’t even put them on until we get to daycare. This has save us about 30 minutes in the morning. The other one is she loves to brush her teeth but doesnt do a good job so while one parent is changing her diaper and putting on her pants the other one burshes her teeth.
My morning hack is to dress my 3yo daughter while she’s still sleeping. She can’t complain about what I’m putting her in and she gets 5 extra minutes of sleep.
What my favorite morning hack lacks in creativeness it makes up for in effectiveness. My husband and I wake up before our 20 month old daughter. We both get to shower, he gets to drink his coffee, and I can take care of the dishes or do some laundry.
My morning hack is to let our toddler snuggle up in bed with daddy- they both sleep peacefully while I get ready and drink my coffee ALONE 🙂
My favorite morning hack is getting myself ready while my son is still sleeping & then getting him dressed while he is still sleeping (mostly) which allows me to just pick him up once dressed & deposit him in the car & go! I even pack his/my lunches & bring all of our stuff down to the car before I get him dressed. I leave nothing undone before waking him up because if he gets the chance to fully wake up he will start asking for things and we may never get out of the house. : )
Every Sunday, I lay out outfits for the week so each morning I just grab the hanger of clothes for that day and we don’t waste any time trying to figure out what goes together. Granted I have a one year old with no opinions yet, however I am hoping when she gets older we get the outfits ready together.
My morning hack is getting as much ready the night before as possible. My daughter is still a toddler, so I lay out her clothes, get her change bag restocked, etc, before I go to bed.
I make extra waffles on Sunday and then freeze them for the week.
Our morning hack is having the coffee set, lunches packed, and outfits picked out the night before. Luckily, my 4 year old isn’t too picky when it comes to clothing so it’s usually pretty easy.
Hahaha! I have to be honest, my morning hack is having my husband get dressed in the living room so I can have a few more minutes of sleep before the toddler wakes up! Those few minutes really make a difference in how my day goes (hey I’m pregnant I need the sleep 😉 )
My weekend morning hack is letting my daughter watch Netflix (kid access only) on the tablet so I can sleep-in a little. We live in a pretty small house so I can keep “an eye” on her. I also keep a bowl of berries in the fridge for her in case she gets hungry. I know it’s horrible!
I shower at night too so I don’t have to dry my hair… I figured that out pretty quickly after having my now 4 month old. I have also learned that it’s best to feed him before I get dressed so if I get spit up on (or peed on since that’s a risk with little boys!) I don’t have to pick out another work outfit. And, trust me, there’s been many a morning grateful I haven’t changed yet!
My morning hack (and really all day) is feeding the baby naked! Yogurt, banana, peach, and other slimy foods wipe right off of him and less laundry for me!
my morning hack is making my husband leave before I get the kids up and ready. Otherwise my oldest puts on a whole show of dramatic “daddy can you help me?” moments when I know damn well the child is fully capable of doing it herself.
Another one is telling the oldest I’m timing her to see how fast she can get ready. She’s almost 5 and has no concept of time like that yet, but she thinks it’s fun and I think it works. Win win!
Our morning hacks
#1 Live in Australia- school uniforms! And my 3yo dresses himself. Apparently you can tell 😉
#2. Short hair for everyone!
#3. Alarm clocks (visual for the non readers). Those children do not get out of bed until 7am or BAD THINGS HAPPEN!
My hack is to pack the bag of things we need for daycare and put that into the car the night before. Setting out only 2 clothing options also helps so he’s not overwhelmed with decisions.
I stick the bowl of cereal on the table. I don’t make her eat it. I don’t tell her to eat it. I just leave it there and eventually it gets eaten. 😀
I taught my kids to make their own breakfast. Kid 1 is tall enough to use the microwave (frozen pancakes) and kid 2 is tall enough to get his waffles out of the freezer and pop them in the toaster. Genius.
My morning hack is to get up OMG SO EARLY to enjoy quiet time before anyone else wakes up – but *really* what I get to enjoy is the fact that, when the kids wake up and hop in my bed, I’m not in there and my husband gets to deal with it!
My hack is to leave little milk cups in the fridge with bowls and spoons on the table so the kids can get their own cereal without spilling a whole gallon of milk on the floor.
My morning hack is front loading. I prep as much as possible the night before. Juice cups are filled & in the fridge. Clothes are chosen & laid out. Lunched packed. Bags by the door. I also purposely get up about an hour before I suspect one of the kids will – usually about 5 am. I started doing this not because I love mornings, but out of pure necessity in order to keep my sanity. Once my 2 1/2 year old is up, she insists on being carried until she deems it ok to put her down – which is never. I’m certain my one-arm skills rival yours and it would be a battle for Olympic glory if it came down to it. Blow drying & styling hair, applying make-up (she did get the Mini Play make up kit for Christmas, so I didn’t have to share my makeup with her), getting dressed, getting her sisters up & ready – all done as a duo team – until I outwitted her and started getting up early. As much as I hate rising early, it really does make a difference in our morning routine.
Favorite morning hack is putting my cereal in a cup with a lid then nursing the baby and eating breakfast at the same time!
I shower with my 3 year old. It’s not the alone shower/mommy time I want but when it’s over it’s over no extended play time and begging her to get out of the tub!
I don’t have any morning hacks yet, but I head back to work from maternity leave in two weeks so I’m sure I’ll develop some really quick! I’m hoping that since my baby is such a good sleeper that my morning hack will be to get myself ready and then wake her up afterwards!