Getting up and moving in the morning can be difficult – we all know it. Now imagine the whole family needing to be out of the house at the same time, and knowing that utilizing the phrase “hurry up” only slows two of those members down…well, time is of the essence in our house.
Years ago we discovered that “pick out your clothes and get dressed” was incorrectly translated by our child to mean “hurry up and make this REALLY important decision in 1.6 seconds NOW NOW NOW!!!”. The almost daily breakdowns resulting from this request were exhausting and a cruddy way to start the day. Finally we instituted an easy and quick solution – picking out the school-week clothes at once!
It is quite simple, really…at a regular(ish) time over the weekend (ours is after Church), the kids are told to pick out their clothes for the week. Reminders (Tuesday will be chilly so wear long-sleeves; Thursday is a field trip, so remember your yellow shirt, etc.) are given, and the kids pick out their tops and bottoms for each school day, then they store the outfits in spots they have designated (a shelf for one kids, a drawer for the other). Come the early mornings, they can blindly pick out the top outfit, and get dressed quietly, sometimes while still waking up. This short little task has made a world of difference in our morning routines. Now any meltdowns we have come from various and usually unforeseen reasons. Keeps us on our toes.
As a side note, this also works great for adults, especially those who are friends with their snooze button. Speaking from experience.
see what we have to say about this on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4vR2YqMyGVY
