Nancy Brooks - Mini Morning Habits: Small Life Changes With Big Results

Mini Morning Habits

Small Life Changes With Big Results

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Table of Contents

Introduction

I will be the first to admit that I am not a morning person. I was shouted at a chirrupy young woman who was leading some yoga poses on television to zip it because she was so unbearably perky. Getting up to grab the remote and change the channel did not dawn on me in my pre-awake state.

Of my children, only one would qualify as a morning person at all and that is because there is frankly never a bad time for him. You just wake him whenever, and he will run his fingers through his hair, brush his teeth and off he bounds, full of energy and smiling away. My girls, on the other hand, are an entirely different story. Unfortunately for the world, they have inherited my grumpikins status. In fact, if allowed and left undisturbed for long enough the youngest will sleep until mid-evening, and I am not exaggerating. I have often had to peep in to see if she perhaps ran away from home in the night only to find her crashed out. For the summer months, this is odd but not that big of a deal but summers end and, unfortunately, that means getting everyone back on a morning schedule.

As if that isnt enough to get the blood going there are other things that are going to create chaos in my house. My middle daughter and her daughter will be here for the first month of school- so now there will be a preteen and a young child getting up and ready for school plus two adult women getting ready for work. If you would like to send gifts after my nervous breakdown my favorite color is green, I like pink roses, and I will love you forever for chocolate. But, I kid. I am going to be fine. We are all going to get through this, and you know why? Because of the techniques that I am about to share with all of you.

But you can still send the chocolates.

I n this chapter, you will learn:

• You cant slay a dragon if you dont know where he even is
• Once you figure out the hurdles you face, you can address them properly.

H ere is the thing that everyone forgets: these kinds of books have to be very general. I cant write one for Becky Anderson in Wyandotte, Michigan and then another for Jill Taylor in Wyoming. That would be insane! Instead what I am trying to do is write a book that speaks to Becky and to Jill and to everyone out there who has this thing called life going on in the morning times. So, in the name of generality lets just call all of the problems and chaos and everything else that is going on every morning, all of those things that keep you from getting out the door stress-free and on time- dragons. And then, we once we figure out what your dragons are we will figure out how to slay them. The first step is to find them.

When a knight heads out to do battle with a dragon he has to have some clue of where to find the beast. You dont want to be wandering off in the woods and suddenly stumble upon a dragon, right? Its the same thing in your home. You dont want to figure out that shoes are the biggest issue in the morning rush just as you think that it is time to go. And so, our first step is to find those dragons!

One day I told my daughter to get ready for school and then watched her see what the biggest hassles were going to end up being. She hopped in the shower and then apparently got distracted in there because it took forever. She got dressed, hated her outfit and got dressed again. (Repeat times three.) She worked on her hair for a while. She schlumped downstairs, glared at the food in the fridge before grabbing orange juice and schlumping down the street to the bus. Right away I could see what her dragons were.

On the following day, we both needed to be out the door at roughly the same time, and so we followed the same routine- with some major issues. First, there is only one bathroom. We both need to get in there to get things at roughly the same time. Second, while I am trying to get myself ready for work she is asking questions and demanding that I stop and help her look for things that she has lost. She barely made the bus; I barely made it to work.

Watch your family getting ready in the mornings and watch for the dragons:

• What takes the longest to accomplish each day?
• Are there things that can be done the night before to speed up the morning routine?
• Are there chores that could be done after school/work instead of being taken care of right then?
• Are you being asked to be responsible for things for children who are old enough to take care of these things themselves? (This question does include spouses, unfortunately)
• Do you have a set place for papers, books, and other necessary items? If not, would that cut down on the seek and retrieve missions every morning?

Once you know what your dragons are, you can start slaying them.

H aving a second bathroom would be a perfect way to slay at least some of my own familys dragons but that is not feasible at this point. We had to find solutions that worked for our current situation, not some fantasy world where second bathrooms are free and time never runs out.

The two biggest time wasters for my daughter were the shower/hair styling routine and choosing an outfit. Because she was behind on her schedule, it put me behind as well. Since my middle daughter will also be getting ready for work and getting her own daughter ready for school in roughly the same time frame and again, because I only have the one bathroom to work with, there had to be a plan.

We will go more in depth with the plans and steps that are needed here but for now, here are the general guidelines that I needed to establish:

• Everyone needs to respect each others need for time and the morning rituals.
• Because there are some things that can be done in other rooms, that will become part of the schedule.
• Setting a schedule is a delicate balance between actually setting something and making sure that there is some leeway for those unforeseen issues that arise.
• Delegating responsibility for certain morning routines is important not only to free up your own time but to also teach responsibility as well. Remember, you are a parent, not servant. Dont be afraid to let you kids do things for themselves.
• Finally, it is equally important to remember that if you have assigned responsibility you have also assigned consequences for actions. Dont be afraid to let your kids fail from time to time- it teaches very important lessons that they will use later in life.

Chapter Two: Getting Ahead of the Game

In this chapter, you will learn:

• Busy evening, smoother mornings