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Mornings are a drag around here. A real drag.
My oldest is only 8 but already acts like a teenager in the mornings. We have a fairly strict bedtime that should be early enough for him to be able to get up and ready in a timely manner but that’s not reality. The reality is is he is just like his parents: he LOVES to sleep in and take his mornings in stride. That’s great on the weekends-in fact we love that our kids love to sleep and cuddle on Saturday mornings but when weekdays hit it can be draining to try and get them ready and out the door. It’s like pulling teeth to get the kids to put on clothes, brush hair and find their shoes, all while trying not to scream about how late we’ll be if they don’t get dressed NOW.
I’ve seen success with my kids when we use visual charts and prompts and so I had to give that a go to see if mornings could be a little less of a fight.
I created a simple chart with the 4 basic steps needed to be ready for school each morning (printable version for you below!)
Fold along then horizontal dotted line and then cut the chart along the vertical dotted lines, stopping when they turn solid.
Then I used these magnetic tape strips. They are less than a dollar for a package and I only used 4 strips for this chart so you could easily make 4 charts from one package!
Cut a strip in half,
Peel off the backing,
and place on the bottom
and the top of each column of the chart.
Once you have a strip on the top and bottom of each column, you are done!
As my son finishes each task, he closes it. I added some motivational words on the back of each of the tasks to cheer him on as he goes.
So far, the chart has helped tremendously. Instead of repeating “brush your teeth, brush your hair” over and over, we just say “finish your chart!” If he can finish his chart he gets to read before he leaves-something he loves to do.
We’ve included free printable charts below, one filled out like the one above and one that’s blank. Fill out with your own morning routine or even fill it out with chores! This would make a great chore chart too.
Please note that these charts were designed by Simply Real Moms and are being offered for personal use only. These are not to be used for business use or profit of any kind.
DOWNLOAD THE FILLED OUT CHART:
DOWNLOAD A BLANK CHART TO FILL IN ON YOUR OWN:
