Morning Madness - Working Mom Trying to Get Out of the House on Time

My 4 year old likes to dawdle too, but what works is "Who's gonna win?" we race to do everything. Brush teeth, Dad puts on one sock and Mom another, who gets into the car first etc.

Get as MUCH done the night before as humanly possible! Lay out clothes (yours too), pack everyone's lunch, pack the backpack, set the table for breakfast, decide on breakfast and prepare as much as you can.

Then get yourself up a little earlier and have your coffe and take a little time to get yourself ready withOUT the kids around. It's more relaxing and pleasurable to do hair and make-up without being pawed :) And it will make you more patient with your kids too!

When the kids get up, plan a routine and do the same things in the same order EVERY day so that your 4 year old knows what to do next without you prompting him all the time: go to the bathroom, get dressed, eat breakfast, wash up, brush teeth.....whatever you need to do in whatever order, but do it the same as you would a bedtime routine - simple and consistent.

And I like the idea of setting an alarm for 5-10 minutes before you need to leave to allow for putting on shoes, etc and actually getting to the car!

Get an inexpensive kitchen timer. set it for a reasonable time(10 minutes).
Offer your son a reward..sticker, extra tv time etc. for beating the clock!

I have a 7 year old and a 4 year old. My 4 year old is my sleeper. She pulls the covers over her head and says "I'm sleeping in today" at least 2-3 times a week. I start early. Thank God my husband leaves the house early, because when he goes in late it messes up my schedule and I end up mad at him. My day starts at 5:15-5:30. My husband showers and I make coffee, his lunch and my daughters lunch. He is out the door between 5:45-6 & I have an hour before I have to get the kids up. Even when he is not leaving until later, I make sure that I am up an hour (during the week only) before the kids get up. I love it. Yes, it's early, really early, but it is totally worth it. I get up make coffee, check emails, exercise and shower (I head right to work after dropping my daughter off at school) before the girls get up. I start getting them up an hour and 15 min before we have to walk out the door. We have to leave for school at 8:15 so I have them up at 7. Well, I start at 7. :) Everyone goes potty and we are dressed and ready before we go downstairs for breakfast. That's no later than 730. 8 they are back up stairs to brush teeth and we are out the door. Mornings are crazy and the more time I give them and myself without rushing, the nicer we are to each other!

I always make choosing tomorrows clothes part of my 4yr olds bedtime routine. We also talk about what we will do in the morning at bed time. Even if it is the sam thing every day. You could try getting your clothes ready too. You would be surprised how much time you will save. Also you might just have to get him up earlier. And set a timer with a buzzer for 5 mins before you need to leave. I always have the time we need to get out the door in mind not the time we need to leave. Meaning if we need to leave at 8:15 the we are walking out the door at 8:07 so we have time to get in the car and do seatbelts and car seats. Get as much ready the night before.

I had this problem too a couple of years ago. We got a stopwatch and raced each other to see who would be ready 1st, it worked great and usually would end up with us laughing but ready on time. And the winner got to pick the story at bed time or a game to play in the evening.

We get as much done and ready the night before as we can. Clothes laid out, backpack sitting by the front door, lunch packed, papers signed...etc. When I get my kiddos out of bed, I make sure I am completely ready for the day and breakfast is already on the table (if he eats at home). We have done charts ar played "beat the song". Example: when getting dressed see if he can beat his favorite song on his favorite cd. Reward can be a sticker(...or something) He might think it's fun to have mom sing the ABC song (to the end) while he brushes his teeth. Timers work well too, because mom isn't nagging to hurry up, we'll be late...it's the timer's call. This might take some planning, but in the end you will have helped him establish a routine that will be a huge time saver and make for a more harmonious morning.
Good luck!!

The racing works well for us too, most of the time. She races against me and for some strange reason, she always wins or it is a tie (works best that way). Also, for getting out of bed and getting dressed, I will call out from another room, "I certainly hope no one tries to get dressed, get back into bed, pull the covers up over her, and try to trick me!" Once I know she has done that, I will start saying, "If you don't get out of bed, I'm going to get really mad and come in there and pull your covers off!" She snickers with anticipation. Then I come in and say stearnly, "I told you to get up. Now you are in trouble missy. I am going to take away your blankets!" I tear them off and she yells, "SURPRISE!". We laugh and talk about how she tricked me. After awhile, all I have to start with is, "I hope someone doesn't try to trick me again!" Still works sometimes and she's 10.

Probably repeats but i have a 7 year old and a 5 month old. I get as much done and ready the night before as possible.

I get up and open the 7 year olds door and close the baby's room door. Then i get showered and dressed and start waking up the 7 year old. I start breakfast for myself and my daughter then i finish getting her out of bed. We eat breakfast together, then i get my husband out of bed, get the bottle ready for the baby and get her up.

I get her dressed, then feed her while i am prompting my 7 year old to get dressed. Depending on her mood i make it a race to see who gets dressed first her or the baby. If she is in a bad mood though no race because that just ends horribly.

I feed the baby while my husband and 7 year old get dressed and ready. I finish getting everything together and everyone out the door all within an hour. Some days are better than others, but I also don't allow messing around and keep prodding the 7 year old along.

My son and I have to go thru this every morning too. He is 8. We now do it as a race. I tell him that I'm going to blow dry my hair and he needs to put his clothes on, who finishes first. Things like that. It is working out pretty good so far until he get tired of it and then I have to come up with some thing else. Good luck!

I"ve known several moms who dressed their kids for school the night before. Knit tops and pants are comfy and make good jammies, and don't even get all that wrinkled. Then they just need to add shoes, comb hair, eat breakfast and brush teeth.

When I need my grandson to get ready for somewhere, I let him know that if he can get ______ done in ___ minutes, he'll have time to do some activity that he likes for 15-20 minutes. He's going on five. That's a winner, so far.

I'm having the same problem with my 3-1/2yr son...and I get everything ready the night before and don't need to feed the kids breakfast! (I do need to get them to preschool before breakfast ends.) My son is often tired in the morning because he is still getting out of bed at bedtime for a number of reasons. I find that the mornings that he wakes up on his own are much smoother compared to the mornings that we need to wake him up. When we get him up, he is grouchy and doesn't want to go potty, get dressed, etc. Since he still uses the potty and not the toilet all of the time, I'll get his pajamas off while he's on the potty and slip on his clothes. This may not be applicable in your situation.

I do love the idea of using a timer or making up racing games because my son is very much into "Cars" and also likes to win contests. I guess it really depends on what motivates your son. Also, anticipate if there will be anything he wants to bring to the car. I sometimes get stopped in my tracks heading out the door because he insists on bringing X, which we need to find first.

Four years is still pretty young and maybe you're expecting too much from the child in the way of independence. Since you're the mom you need to take charge and be more organized for them and they will follow suit (well, not the 10 mo. old - lol).

You need to be up showered and ready to go before they are even awakened. That way you can supervise and help them get the process going. After a few weeks of the same drill your 4 yr old will be good at things and you can leave him/her to do more on his/her own.