Tips for Creating Healthy Family Morning Routines By Katrina Oliver

Having a strong routine is important for family life. It’s a great way to build consistency and reliability into your family’s day, which can be extremely helpful for families. Keeping a consistent routine helps kids with feeling secure in their daily life and having a clear understanding of your expectations of them. It’s also a great way to help kids feel secure and have strong social-emotional skills, as having some predictability in their day can help with emotional regulation.

However, having a healthy and consistent family routine is easier said than done. Getting the whole family ready for school or work while juggling the care tasks that each member of the family needs can be a big handful. Try following these simple tips to strengthen your family’s morning routine!

1. Prepare the night before
If you always find yourself struggling to keep up in the morning, start thinking carefully about the night before. There are plenty of ways that you can set yourself up for success in your morning routine by doing a little bit of preplanning before going to bed at night. Meal prepping for breakfast can be a huge time saver, and help make breakfasts heartier and healthier. By checking the family calendar, you can see what activities or events are coming up the next day and make sure you have everything prepared that you or your family may need.

2. Maintain bedtime
If your kids are dragging their feet and refusing to get out of bed in the morning, chances are they’re waking up still exhausted. Tired kids are going to have an extremely challenging time getting up and going in the morning, let alone with any kind of positive attitude. You can help them get a better start to their day by ensuring that they get an adequate amount of sleep at night. Kids who wake up rested will be much better about following directions, finishing their breakfast, and getting ready on time.

3. Keep health in mind
In the chaos of a busy morning routine, it’s easy to forget some of the most important things we do each morning. Even when things are feeling rushed, make sure that each child starts their day with a healthy breakfast. Making sure their teeth get brushed, faces get cleaned, and hands get washed are all also non-negotiable parts of a morning routine.

4. Give yourself time
As much as no one wants to wake up even earlier, that might be your answer. The fact of the matter is that you can only pack so much activity into a shorter amount of time. Waking up half an hour before your kids or getting the kids out of bed ten minutes earlier might be the answer to your morning crunch. Having a bit of extra time in the morning can completely change the tone of the day by giving you a chance to chat with your kids as they prepare for school, rather than rushing to throw clothes on them and pushing them out the door.