I am always ready for a lot of things when it comes to my children going back to school every autumn.
I am ready for them to see all their friends again.
I am ready to do my job without also trying to also cram in all the fun activities and arts and crafts and entertainment in between Zoom meetings and deadline rushes.
Oh, and I am so ready to drink my coffee while it is still hot.
However, one thing I am not ready for, though, is the morning rush.
These past two months have seen us enjoy some seriously blissful mornings, stress-free, very chilled out and honestly, I am not sure I am entirely ready to jump back into the rat race that school mornings are.
However, there is something we can all do to make the morning rush less horrendous – and all it takes is 15 minutes of prep the night before.
According to parenting coach and author Judy Reith, all you need to do is spent 15 minutes the night before visualising your ideal morning plan … and then preparing for it.
“Change how you are seeing mornings and think about what you want to happen – reframe it,” Reith told Netmums.
“The morning stress is often all about time. You don’t want your kids to get into trouble by being late to school. You feel anxious about the traffic. Alternatively, it might be you’ve got a big meeting so you absolutely have to be out the door on time. All this means that in the morning there is stress – you racing around like a maniac with your children having no interest in helping you.”
However, here is how you change that:
“By doing something as simple as dedicating 15 minutes when the children are in bed, to organise the morning and spending that time packing your bag, laying out clothes, sorting stuff they need and having in your mind how you want the morning to go – it could make all the difference.”
Tell us – do YOU prep the morning the night before? What do you always make sure is done before you go to bed at night?
