From Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project" For many families with children, the morning is a particularly tough time of day, as parents and children scramble to leave the house. A friend of mine works full-time and has two young sons. She told me, “For a long time, our mornings were awful, with lots of crabbiness and procrastination. Then it hit me: I don’t get to spend that much time with my kids during the week and a big chunk of that time is during the morning. I made changes so that it became good family time.” This remark inspired me to try to improve our school-day mornings, and I had a major insight: I’d been focused on chivvying my children along. Wrong! I needed to worry about myself. Here are four strategies I tried: Get enough sleep myself. I’m good at putting my kids to sleep at a decent hour, but not so good about doing it myself. It’s tempting to stay up late, to enjoy the peace and quiet, but 6:00 a.m. comes fast, and being overtired makes the morning much tougher. Sing. As goofy as it sounds, I try to sing in the morning. It’s hard both to sing and to maintain a grouchy mood, and it sets a happy tone for everyone — particularly in my case, because I’m tone deaf, and my audience finds my singing a source of great hilarity. Say “no” only when it really matters. Wear a bright red shirt with bright orange pants and bright green shoes? Sure. As Samuel Johnson said, “All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle.” Have a precise routine. This sounds counter-intuitive, and I’m not sure it would work for everyone, but in our house, we have a NASA-like countdown to get to school. At 7:10, we start breakfast. At 7:20, everyone needs to be dressed or getting dressed. At 7:45, we leave the house to walk to school. Knowing these exact times keeps my children moving and stops them from repeating, “Just a minute, just a minute.” It’s worth the effort to try to get mornings running smoothly, because the morning sets the tone for the whole day – for everyone. What are your tricks for eliminating the morning madness? Share your strategies below. Related stories:
Tips for conquering school-day morning madness
From Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project"
For many families with children, the morning is a particularly tough time of day, as parents and children scramble to leave the house.
A friend of mine works full-time and has two young sons. She told me, “For a long time, our mornings were awful, with lots of crabbiness and procrastination. Then it hit me: I don’t get to spend that mu