- to be up and dressed before the kids wake up — I know this is no-duh for most mothers, but I have never been a morning person so this is hard for me. Many times last school year the kids would have to wake me up instead of the other way around. But this is not because I’m a lazy person. No, I’m going to blame my serious night owl tendencies on this one. After all, going to bed at 2:00am does not produce an early riser! But so far this school year I’ve been going to bed at a decent time and am up every morning by 6:30am, about a half hour before I have to wake the kids. See? I’m doing it! pat, pat, pat <—- that’s me patting myself on the back, in case you’re wondering.
- to make the kids a healthy breakfast each morning — Last year on most mornings I’d still be in bed when the kids ate their breakfast. I know! I feel bad about that, too, believe me! That’s why I’m making changes this year! And while there’s nothing wrong with having cereal for breakfast, I always felt the Mommy Guilt that I didn’t make them a hearty breakfast to start their day off right. Scrambled eggs, pancakes, fresh fruit…those are a few of the items on the breakfast menu this year.
- to make every child a lunch each school day. If I’m not up before them, the kids will go ahead and make their own lunches. I know that sounds great, like…yeah! let them make their own lunch! one less thing for me to do, right? But they are only school-age for so long. Before you know it they are off to college and living away from home! And when that happens, I know I’ll be wishing I was still making their sack lunches each day like I used to. So I’m not wasting any precious time.
- to write a note on their napkin each day — I even do this for the older ones. They ALL like the notes in their lunches. In fact today I got a text message from my high school senior. It was during her lunch hour and she took a photo of the note I put in her lunch and sent it to me in a text with a thumbs up symbol next to it. Getting that text from her made my day. Especially because she is the one who will be leaving for college next year! Sniff, sniff. Sometimes the notes will simply say, “Hope you have a wonderful day!” and other times I’ll write a joke or a fun fact or something. Today on Afton’s napkin I wrote: “I hope your day is as awesome as I am.” because I thought that would make her laugh. And my son Alex must have inherited my sentimental gene because today I noticed that he’s got a bunch of my notes in his dresser drawer. He actually brings them home from school and keeps them!
- to read aloud to the kids every day — While this sounds easy, it really isn’t all that easy for me. This house is busy! There are things and schedules going on all the time. It’s very easy to let the reading slide to the way side, especially on the busiest of days.
- to wake up an extra 30 minutes earlier and go for a morning run — I know, this one is a stretch. Me, the non-morning person, waking up extra early to RUN. Yea, like that’s going to happen < —— is what the old me would say to myself. But the it’s-a-new-school-year-gonna-make-some-changes me is saying, Why not? I can do that! I have not started the 6:00am run yet, but I’m seriously planning on it. Don’t roll your eyes! I’m going to do it. You’ll see. I’ll blog about it when it happens.
preschool. my day was filled with tears.
my heart is still broken.
soooo cute.
im seriously working on getting up and dressed before everyone else in my house.
Great idea with the first day signs, otherwise years from now you wouldn’t have a clue.
Sounds like a great schedule…and very smiley children. Beautiful family.
Blessings,
Connie
I am not a morning person either, but 3 (4?) years ago I started getting up to work out with my bestie 3 times a week. We are at the YMCA when it opens at 5:30 am. The only thing I disliked more than mornings when I started doing these work outs was exercise… so you can imagine how well I thought this was going to go. Now, I feel MUCH better all day long on the days I haul myself out of bed to work out early. It also helps me sleep when my head does hit the pillow at the end of the day. So, I say try it & keep it up for at least a month… you probably won’t quit after that amount of time & you’ll be glad you’re doing it. I will admit that having that other person waiting for me helps me get out of bed. If there are days she isn’t planning on going & I think I’ll go with out her, well it usually doesn’t happen (snooze, snooze, snooze, or shut the alarm off all together).
Rachel in ND (follower but not sure if I’ve ever commented)
I just read your blog and thought “did I write this?”. You have exactly the same “back-to-school” goals as me. I’m determined to stick at them this year. Only problem is, it’s extremely hard to get out of bed at 6.30 on a cold, dark UK winter morning – we’ll see just how well the routine is going then!!