It’s time to plan for back to school! While you might immediately think of buying new backpacks, markers, lunch bags and indoor runners, you should also be thinking how you can make your morning routine a little easier!
Thankfully with the change of season and the start of a new school year, the fall is the perfect time to evaluate at your daily routines and, with the kids’ help of course, make some healthy changes!
Morning Routine Before the first day of school
Talk to your kids about what the morning routine will look like. Decide together when everyone needs to get up and get moving to get out the door without a mega melt down! Get all the kids involved in setting up the new schedule and deciding who will help with which tasks.
Create a small poster together that highlights what everyone is expected to do in the morning. Review each year and add new responsibilities as the kids get older and can handle more tasks. Hang this poster near the front door so everyone can see it. Remind the kids to check the list instead of asking you what they need to do next!
Sample Morning Routine List: * Get dressed * Brush hair * Eat a healthy breakfast * Take your vitamins * Brush teeth * Pack library books/homework * Empty dishwasher
Snack Routine Get in the habit of making homemade snacks.
It takes less than 2 hours every 3 weeks to make a batch of healthy cookies, healthy muffins and spinach brownies.
Set an afternoon to bake with the kids, then store them in the freezer and on school mornings, the kids can pop them into their snack container with their lunch. Teach them the benefits of making homemade snacks and avoiding processed packaged snack foods while improving their baking skills and having fun in the kitchen!
Sample Homemade Snacks: * Whole Wheat Flax Carrot Apple muffins * Chocolate Zucchini Whole Wheat muffins * Pumpkin Spice cookies * Banana Oatmeal cookies * Spinach Brownies (yes really!)
Lunch Routine
Set a routine for making lunches and get the kids involved. Have a container for everything and teach the kids what goes in each container.
Give them healthy options and let them choose some items that are part of their school lunch. Letting them choose their healthy lunch will increase the likelihood that the good stuff gets eaten instead of stealthy ditched in the lunchroom garbage.
Sample Containers For Healthy Lunch: * Sandwich * Fruit * Yogurt * Homemade Snack * Cereal Snack (pretzels, shreddies, oat squares) * Milk * Water
Vitamin Routine Add handing out vitamins to the morning school routine and give the kids a healthy start to their day of learning! Studies prove the benefits of fish oil (Omega 3s) for brain and eye health, Calcium and Vitamin D for strong bones and teeth, and a good Multivitamin that contains vitamins A, B, C, and E to promote a strong immune system.
Imagine sending your kids off to school each day with that kind of start! So as you begin preparing for back to school, don’t forget to establish a few new routines to give your kids the healthiest school year possible!
Deb Lowther is a mother of 3 young daughters who, when not running after the kids,is running in the trails! www.iron-kids.com& www.adultgummies.com
Great suggestions! Thank you!
I am wondering if other moms could share their daily routines with their kid(s). My 3 year old is in preschool 3 days a week, but I often wonder if my husband and I are “doing a good job” with his routines. I know he gets a little too much tv and sometimes not enough stimulation. Just wanting to get a general sense of what other people do with their kids. THANKS!
You are super organized lol I was never so organized when my kids were little, but looking back it surely would have helped us all!
Thanks
Great post,,always glad for lunch ideas,,Thanks
I was so so on organizing the lunches and what not, but the real chore was the girls actually taking their lunch
my daughters going to school the sept and this is gonna be a toughie for us. We are always late.
eek. Time to get a new alarm huh?
I’m always making lunches at 11pm the night before!!! I need to get my kids involved in helping to make their own lunches I think!
Being a Busy mom 10, I found all these’s suggestions extremely helpful =) Thank you for posting, and will start applying these’s Monday Morning =)
You are a very organized person and I am so grateful for all of these awesome tips.It’s so easy to get stuck I find when it comes to being original with lunches.I found ths helpful.Thank you.