Overcoming Busy

Getting Ready In The Morning With Little Ones

October 26, 2011 by Marci

This week, we are talking getting dressed and ready first thing in the morning. You can read the intro post HERE and 10 benefits to getting ready first thing in the morning HERE. I know that mornings aren’t always easy, but I’m hoping to inspire you to take the initiative and make this your morning routine. You’ll be glad you did!

One major factor that can through a wrench into your morning routines is little ones. God love ‘em. They just want us and food and stuff that we don’t want them to touch. That’s what makes getting ready in the morning with little ones such a challenge. Someone asked me last week if I got dressed and ready first thing even when I had little ones. My answer was “especially when I had little ones.” If I didn’t get ready first thing, I probably wouldn’t have time the rest of the day to fit it in!

When my daughter was little, I worked, so I had no choice but to get up and get ready. If you read Monday’s post, you know that getting dressed first thing in the morning has always been part of my morning routine. But, even thought I had a morning routine, I had to have some tricks up my sleeve to pull it off with a little one. When my son came along, I stayed home, but I kept the same routine and employed some of the same methods. Here are some of the tricks I learned along the way:

• Get up before your kids – This is number one, most perfect scenario. If you can get up just 20-30 minutes before the kids, you can get ready and have a huge jump start on  your day!

If you can’t get up before your little early risers, you might want to try these:

Infants:

• Bring the car seat or bouncy seat into the bathroom – Let your little one chill in a safe, familiar seat for a few minutes.
• Set up the pack n play – If your bathroom is large enough, set the pack in play right in the bathroom. If not, set it up outside the doorway.
• Use the monitor – Bring the monitor into the bathroom and leave the baby in it’s crib. Your baby is safe there. As long as the little one is fed and dry,  she will be fine for a few minutes even if she cries a bit. (Just don’t take all day with your prep time!)
• Let them cry – It’s ok for babies to cry. I know, all you first time moms have read the books and  you feel like you are a bad mom if you let your precious little one make a peep. That’s fine and dandy in a perfect world where you can sit around and hold babies all day and everything else will magically take care of itself. Trust me. Your baby will forgive you if you let it cry for a few minutes while you take a shower! You’ll be a better mom!

Toddlers:

• Pack N Play- You could try containing your toddler in the pack n play with some toys in the bathroom or hallway if you don’t trust him to be free in the bathroom by himself.
• Bring in some toys- I used to bring in some of my daughter’s favorite toys and shut the bathroom door while I took a shower and got ready.
• Turn on some music - Turn that getting ready time into sing and dance time.
• Use older siblings as babysitters – At first, you might want them all in the bathroom with you to keep an eye on them if the older sibling is not that much older. At four years old, my daughter could entertain my son in his room.

As the kids get older, they will just realize that getting ready first thing in the morning is part of the routine and you will not have to make a big deal about it.  My kids are 10 and 6 now. I normally get up before them in the morning, but if I don’t, they get ready on their own so I can finish my routine. It just makes mornings go so much easier when we all start the day out right!

Do you have any tips to share for getting ready in the morning with little ones?