3 Super Simple Strategies to Get Your Morning Routine Under Control

Are mornings at your house all kinds of Crazy?

Is at least 1 person in tears by the time everyone is in the car?

Are you always late, angry and resentful by the time you get where you need to go?

If this sounds like you, I’ve got 3 Super Simple Strategies to get your morning routine under control!

Mornings are the worst time to be in the house of a family with ADHD, at least for those of us with school aged kids.

Trying to get everyone to:

• Wake up

• Get dressed

• Brush hair and teeth,

• Put on shoes.

• Make lunches.

• Find all the homework and books.

• Then if there is anything extra (snow gear, field trip stuff, projects to bring, sports gear…)

• Oy! I’m tired just talking about it!

But the good news is there are ways you can plan ahead to make things a little easier.

#1 Super Simple Strategy to Get Your Morning Routine Under Control:

Do as much of the prep as you can the night before.

Think of all the things that need to be done (see my tirade above).

How much of that could you (or your children) take care of the afternoon or night before?

Can you:

• Make lunches and put in the fridge?

• Pack sports gear in the car?

• Put any projects in the car?

• Pack all homework, books, etc in the back pack and put it by the front door?

If you can take care of all of the things that are not specifically related to getting your children themselves ready the night before…

(whew!) Check ✓ 🙌

Now what about the kids themselves?

Can you:

• Have them shower the night before?

• Have tooth brush, toothpaste and hair brush out on the bathroom sink ready to go?

• Lay out clothes and shoes to wear in the morning?

• Have them sleep in their clean clothes (really helpful if they have trouble waking up)?

Boom! 🙌 Crushing it!

#2 Super Simple Strategy to Get Your Morning Routine Under Control:

Have a checklist for each person (yourself included).

Decide what HAS to be done in the morning and then prioritize.

1. Ie. Your child needs to: Wake up

2. Eat breakfast

3. Brush teeth

4. Brush hair

5. Get dressed.

6. Put on shoes

7. Put on coat.

8. Carry backpack, etc to car

9. Get in car.

Okay...that list is too long for an ADHD brain. Especially if it’s a little one.

Keep the list limited to 2-3 things that THEY NEED to do for themselves to start.

You can add on or change the list later as the first few become habit and routine.

I recommend you have them:

1. Get dressed,

2. Brush hair,

3. Brush teeth.

Keeping the directions short and simple (one word) will be most effective.

-For a period of several days (7-10) your child’s morning mantra is: “clothes, hair, teeth.”

Have them say it over and over and over as they do each thing.

This will keep them from forgetting what they need to do next and from getting distracted in the meantime.

So, what about the rest of it?

You still handle the rest of it for a little while and then slowly hand a piece of it over to them at a time as they get to be more successful.

OR

You can have another sibling or spouse take some of the responsibility (ie. wake up, backpack check, shoes check, etc).

#3 Super Simple Strategy to Get Your Morning Routine Under Control.

Provide an incentive.

Am I telling you to bribe you kid?

Yes…. a little.

Provide an incentive to get them in the car on time with their 2-3 things done.

One way to do this is to provide a special breakfast (portable) that you know they will like or maybe just the fun of having it in the car will do it.

This also solves the responsibility of getting everyone fed.

Those who did their jobs get the special breakfast...the other gets a plain breakfast (think donuts vs. a bag of dry cheerios).

Another option is to use a sticker chart to save up for a reward.

Everyday that your child is ready and in the car on time they get a sticker and when it hits 5 stickers, they get ___________.

Maybe it’s a special outing with you or your spouse or a grandparent over the weekend.

It doesn’t have to be fancy.

It could be as simple as going to a park, sledding, watching a DVD and having popcorn.

After they have been able to get the reward a few times (4-5), you can adjust the requirements.

Instead of being ontime 5 days total, they now have to be on times 7 or 10 days total.

For little ones I’d start with 3 and work up to 5 or 7, but don’t make them wait more than a week or they will give up home.

Another option would be to have them try to do 3-5 days in a row. If they miss, they have to start over.

Just consider which option will work best for your child’s temperament.

Remember you are also adding additional responsibilities to their checklists as you go.

Don’t make it too hard to be successful.

These are just a few of the Super Simple Strategies you can use to Get Your Morning Routine Under Control.

Try them out and see how it goes, then let us know what worked for you in our Facebook Group: Jesus me & ADHD Mom’s Fellowship.

Maybe you have some additional ideas for us?

We’d love to hear from you!