With Cheyenne headed back to school, I have found it is so important to have a routine. Coming off of summer break makes it hard to get back into a normal school day schedule of waking up early and making it through the day. Creating a routine helps to provide structure and less chaos. When the family knows what they are supposed to do will make life easier for everyone involved!
If you've read some of my old posts like Routines Are A Lot of Work you know first hand that I can relate to the crazy hectic days when life just seems to be working against you. Does your family have a set routine? I will share a few tips that are helping me get back on track!
Establishing A Back to School Routine
Write it Down: When implementing a new routine it is easy to forget what the routine is. Having the routine in writing on a white board or in another visual form will help the kids and family remember the plan. Here are some areas that you should remember to pencil in from my Make Your Day Work For You Not Against You post:
- Schedule in sleep – this is very important to keeping your sanity
- Meals – when do you eat?! (Use your weekly plan for this!)
- Kids – drop off and pick up from school/daycare or if you have little ones at home when do they nap and eat, when do the kids go to bed?
- Errands – grocery shop, bank, mail, etc
- Cleaning – I have a set cleaning schedule that I break down over the week so I can tackle small tasks every day instead of doing a mad rush one day a week!
- Getting ready – When do you get ready, when do you get the kids up to get ready?
- Work – When do you work? When do you need to find time during the day to get immediate things done? Can you make time in the morning or at night to tackle this without the kids bugging you?
- To-do List – What are your daily to-do tasks that need to be tackled? Take a look at your master task list you made on Sunday and make sure you are completing your must do tasks first and then filling in gaps with other not as important items.
- Me-Time – what one thing will you do for you today? And when? Before you are able to help others you have to help yourself first, a Momma who is aligned with her wants and needs is able to help others that much more.
- Goals – What step are you taking to get closer to your goal for today? (I make sure I’m taking at least 1 action step every day to get closer to accomplishing my goals) See my post Let’s Get the Fire Back!
- The 5-minute tidy – I LOVE waking up to a clean house, I do a quick 5 minute tidy before I go to bed so everything is in its place and I can wake up feeling calm and relaxed before the chaos ensues.
- Devotions – prayer, meditation, exercise whatever it is that you feel strongly about and do every day don’t forget to put it in!
Stick with the Back to School Routine!
Kids crave structure and thrive when they have it! A few things to remember in order to keep the routine flowing and everyone happy:
Don't Break From the Routine: It is easy to get sidetracked and let the routine fly out the window. Do your best to stick to the routine. Once your family gets used to it, which will probably take all of September, it will get easier and you will notice things running smooth. Try to keep with routine even on weekends to start that way they won't fall out for a couple days and Monday won't be a struggle.
Set Times: Set designated times for getting ready for school, homework, dinner, bath and even electronics.
Change the Schedule: Try to work the routine for at least two weeks. If things are not working feel free to change the schedule. A routine is beneficial to all families but it has to work for your family!
Use a Family Calendar: Create a family calendar where you list all activities, appointments and engagements your family has going on. You can even color code it for each person in the family. Check out my old vlog about using a fridge calendar:
Let's take September and make it calm, focused, and relaxed because that's the only way we'll be able to keep our sanity as busy Mom's!
What is your biggest challenge when it comes to creating a routine?
