The morning can be a tough time for parents and children alike. Maybe your child wakes up early…way too early. Or, maybe getting up and ready for school is a cause for tantrums and missed buses.
Morning struggles are common, but they don’t have to be! Establishing a morning routine can help you and your child start the day off on the right foot. Plus, morning routines help children perform better in school and feel more confident during the day. Use these morning routine ideas for school, both in-person and online, to make your mornings more manageable.
Morning routine ideas for school
Perhaps the most important morning routine to establish revolves around getting ready for school. When your child is relaxed in the morning before school, it puts them in the right mood to learn, engage, and succeed. According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, routines and family stability help children manage their own time and focus their attention better.
Here are some morning routine ideas for school so you and your child can wake up on the right side of the bed and keep that good energy going all day long. Reminder: you don’t need to wait until back-to-school time to set these up! Have a conversation with your child and get a good routine set up.
Create a nighttime routine
Success in the morning starts at night. The less you need to do after the alarm goes off, the easier it will be to get out the door. Therefore, creating a nighttime routine that includes checking homework is done, laying out clothes for the next day, packing lunch, planning breakfast, and filling water bottles will make the morning that much more relaxing. Check out 10 quick lunch recipes in case you are looking for inspiration for that sack lunch!
Let your child feel in control
Morning routines for kids are great ways to teach responsibility, independence, and set them up for success later in life. As your child gets older, feel free to let them handle more and more aspects of their routine. Put an alarm clock in their room and have them set their clothes out the night before. Giving them agency will make them feel proud of themselves from the moment they get up. However, it’s important to note that you should still help them if they need it. They can set an alarm in their own room, but you might need to provide some gentle coaxing or reminders to get them up. Don’t make the morning more stressful by leaving them solely to their own devices.
Make breakfast simple
The Food Research & Action Center found that children who have breakfast focus, retain information, and perform academically better than children who do not. But, that does not mean you need to cook an elaborate breakfast for your child every morning. In fact, that will likely take too much time from both of your routines and require your child to wake up even earlier to eat it. Instead, focus on healthy foods that can be prepared and consumed relatively quickly. Oatmeal, fruit, low sugar cereals, whole grain toast with peanut butter, egg or egg white bites, yogurt, and avocado are good choices.
Create a morning routine checklist
Work with your child to put together a morning routine checklist that they can follow each day. Take the time to write it down or print it out so your child can reference it each morning. If your child can’t read yet, use pictures. As the parent, let your child be in charge of checking off each element, but feel free to double check to make sure they aren’t skipping any steps.
You can use this example of a morning routine checklist to get started, but be sure to personalize it for your own child.
- Get out of bed
- Use the bathroom
- Brush teeth and hair
- Get dressed
- Eat breakfast
- Double check backpack (homework, devices, lunch)
- Potential final bathroom trip (depending on child’s age, length of drive, etc)
- Turn off lights
Online school morning routine
Establishing an online school morning routine is similar to in-person school, however, you likely have a bit more flexibility. Since you are not running to the bus or jumping in the car, you might think the routine is less important. But, it is actually more important for both you and your child to set up morning routines for online school, too. Here are some tips for your online school morning routine.
For hybrid school: Keep it the same as your in-person school routine
Right now, some schools are doing hybrid in-person and online classes where the children only go in a few times a week. If that’s the case with your family, then the best recommendation for your online school morning routine is to keep it exactly the same as your in-person one. Children thrive with consistency and they will appreciate that their routine isn’t changing when their school does. If you end up with extra time in the morning of online school days, spend more time on breakfast or give your child something fun to occupy their time.
For online only: Make it feel like in-person school
If your child’s school is all online, then your morning routine should resemble an in-person school routine without actually getting in the car or on the bus. Make sure your child gets up, puts on real clothes, eats a nice breakfast, and gathers all of the items they need for school. You can even take a short walk with them outside if time allows to make it feel like you are “taking them to school.” The goal is to help your child understand that they should now be in “school mode” rather than “home mode”, even if they are at the kitchen table.
By implementing these morning routine ideas for school, you and your child should start to feel more relaxed, excited, and confident about the day ahead. At Sawyer, our goal is to help children discover their own love of learning. Waking up on the right side of the bed is important to experiencing the wonder and excitement of school as well as extracurricular activities. Here’s to a good night’s sleep and even better morning!
