After about 11 years of life here in the suburbs I have picked up a few tips. Mornings may not be all sunshine and rainbows, but by following a few of these suggestions, you may see fewer tears and temper tantrums and actually emerge on the other side with a smile? Okay, not a smile, but maybe that sassy kid that ripped your vay jay jay in half on the moment of her birth will leave your house with a skip in her step instead of a curse word in her throat. Pre-teens are so much fun!
#1. Make sure your Dear Daughters have an outfit picked out for school BEFORE they go to bed. Then you go and pick out the back up outfit because the one they choose was: not warm enough, too hot or way inappropriate for school. If by some miracle they come down to breakfast and are wearing the perfect outfit, then you can be sure they will dump a glass of orange juice all down the front of their white shirt. Just trust me and have a back up.
#2. If you are super smart, you will have lunches made the night before too. Why? Cause when you don’t, that is when you realize that all you have left in the fridge is a left over piece of pizza and half a bagel. Not cool.
#3. Breakfast is easy. Whatever crap food you serve them be it a bagel, toaster waffle, instant oatmeal …just throw some fresh fruit on the side and a glass of milk and you will feel like that Mom from Leave it To Beaver, or at the very least good ol Mrs Brady, at least she was smart enough to hire Alice.
#4. Hair. Girls are easy. Pony tails. Yes, straightening their pretty little locks may seem like a good idea, but it’s June people, the Head lice are taking over the schools! Put that hair up!! Boys, gel. Head Lice don’t like gel.
#5. Teeth. Send them upstairs to brush and floss. Remind them that they must brush WITH toothpaste.
Note: While your children are doing number 3 and 5, you’re running around emptying the dishwasher, starting the life elixir otherwise known as coffee, and throwing a load of laundry in. This way no matter what else happens in the day, even if you spend the entire day eating bon bons and blogging, you will look like you did something!
#6. As your gorgeous kids come back downstairs, send them right back up again. At least one of them forgot socks, the other one brushed her teeth, but she didn’t use toothpaste.
#7. Grab those pre-packed lunches and kiss them good bye.
#8. When you kiss the Hubby good bye, give him a big swat on the butt or even a little nip on the neck! He will grin at your mischievous attitude, wonder what you put in your coffee, and think about you all day long. This makes you one very smart girl.
This my friends is how you get through survive mornings in the Suburbs.
I think the only difference I have is getting up 30 minutes before I get the kids up so I can have coffe in hand and ready to sooth my nerves when they start whining.
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!! I win! 🙂 also another trick for those Lice that are taking over the world? Ti/tee/tea Tree shampoos! lice hate tea tree oil. There is a Conditioner too, and instead of gel? just don’t rinse out the conditioner, comb it with a bit of water but don’t rince it out. when you rince it out on teh weekends? OMG SOFT! hair!
Having a boy makes life much easier! That, and eating breakfast at daycare and lunch at school – I don’t have to pack a thing 🙂
I get up at 5:30 with the hubby just so I can have coffee, lunches, dishwasher, laundry,etc done by the time the kids are up at 7. I am grumpy at 5:30 but by 7 am happy that I have all my stuff done!
Thanks for the tips. I need an Alice.
You nailed this one! The morning rush is always the worst part of the whole day.
i don’t even have kids and i thought this post was great! 🙂
Sage advice! I am all about the lunch packing the night before–we’d never manage if I tried to throw that into the morning routine too!
Can’t I just hire an “Alice”????
Thanks for the tips!!!
great list…whatever you can do the night before, the better…and that last one, makes all the difference in the world. smiles.
Very sassy! The last one, I mean. My kids usually get my best morning smoochies, I’m afraid….
Sounds a lot like my mornings!!
Love the tip on gel. I didn’t realize lice didn’t like it. Every time the note comes home that someone had them, I feel itchy for days.
Thank goodness for school uniforms… at least I don’t have to worry about #1.
Thanks for the tip about lunches. That’s something to keep in mind when my son starts grade school and will have to bring a packed lunch to school every day. I’m already stressed out thinking about it!