Hello! How are you? Hope you had a nice start of 2019!
Yeah, the New Year has stared and with it, as always, many obligations, duties and routines like this one – mornings wake-up calls and getting ready for the day.
I don’t know you, but….no matter how early we get up, school mornings always seem to end up rushed for us. They start out relaxed and slow (there’s no other way for me!), but as the clock ticks forward, the stress levels increase drastically. At the end, there’s always that moment where everybody is running around like a headless chicken. I’m brushing and braiding hair at the last minute, while quickly spot-cleaning the faces I see in front of me. The kids are running up and down the stairs looking for their gym clothes, or are frantically trying to tie their shoelaces (that is, if they are even able to find a matching pair of shoes in the shoe basket). I get annoyed, voices are raised, the chaos is complete.
Until… a (clearly very clever!) friend of mine gave me the golden tip yesterday. She told me about their brilliant system: at 8AM their Surround Speakers Music System automatically starts playing a song. When that happens, all family members know it’s drill time: they have exactly 3 minutes (or however long the song lasts) to make sure they are ready in the hallway, coats on, shoes on, school and gym bags ready, etc. How clever (and fun!) is that? I can just imagine their family, dancing and singing and happily getting ready in the morning, laughing while making sure to be ready before the song ends!
My friend also told me, that all family members get to choose their favorite song one day of the week. Apparently, it is possible to program specific music at specific times in the Surround Speakers Music System, so for instance on Monday at 8AM dad’s song of choice sounds through the house, on Tuesday it’s the daughter’s favorite song, etc. So fun!
I thought this is such a clever idea! Tonight, at dinnertime I’m going to ask my kids to each choose a song — let’s see if this is the magic solution for a smooth morning routine! (At least it will be fun to try!)
These tips are just based on my personal experience by the way, so they might not work for everyone. Would love to hear if you have any insights, because there definitely cannot be too many. There is no right or wrong way of approaching going back to work or indeed deciding not to go back, for everyone the right choice is a different choice!
Happy weekend everyone!
