Welcome to The Creative Mama. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! As my kids have headed back to school and daycare this month, we’ve been on a tight schedule in the mornings. And as important as it is to build margin into our days, there honestly just isn’t much room between one kid’s dropoff at 8:15 and the other child’s dropoff at 8:35. So instead, we built margin into our morning routine, so that we can get everyone to school on time with as little stress — and whining — as possible.
Here are my best tips for getting young children out the door in the morning, without forgetting a single backpack or lunchbox. (And with the least amount of nagging from Mama.)
The power of the evening routine: “Set yourself up for success, not stress.”
- Prepare as much as you can the night before. About an hour before bedtime, we have our kids lay out their clothes for the next day. (And mama, you do the same!) Don’t forget socks, shoes, hair barrettes, ponytail holders, jewelry…. everything. Designate a spot in their rooms for their clothes (Parker uses his desk chair, Lila and Charlotte use an ottoman) and there won’t be any whining of “but I caaaan’t fiiiind my socks” come morning.
- Give the kids a checklist. Remember the little things: teeth get brushed, drinks of water are poured, stories are chosen, pajamas are put on, and backpacks are checked twice. If everyone gets their routines completed early enough, they can read in bed or finish up a project before lights out. I read stories to the girls, and have a devotional with Parker as a close to our day.
- Give yourself a checklist. I use the first few minutes after my kids go to bed to sign any permission slips or forms that need returning to school, and I slip those into my kids’ backpacks right away. Then, I pack their lunches for the next morning. I find that if I leave lunch-duty until morning, the inevitable happens and throws us off schedule: someone’s shoe laces break, a kid gets sick, etc. If your kids are old enough, let them (or help them) pack their own lunches the night before.
- Think about what you want to wake up to. Before bed, I scrub my kitchen and let the dishwasher run. A clean, sparkling kitchen to greet me in the morning puts me in such a pleasant mood. Messes, on the other hand, distract me and make me grumpy. Not a lovely way to start the day. Think about what puts YOU in a great mood, and then devote a few minutes to that each night before bed. As Lara says, “prepare for greatness.”
- Get enough rest. I’m not nearly as kind or patient in the morning if I haven’t slept well the night before. Write out tomorrow’s to-do list, declutter your mind, dump your worries and thoughts onto a piece of paper, and shut off the computer. Climb into bed at a decent hour — you’re going to have a great day tomorrow!
Smooth sailing in the morning
- Allow extra time. Be kind to yourself. Leave enough time (plus a little extra) to get yourself completely dressed, hair fixed and makeup on, and have a few minutes of coffee and quiet time. Then you can get your kids up (unless they use their own alarm clocks). Don’t hit snooze and think you can just hustle a little more to make up for it. Because you won’t. It’s not worth the trade-off of added stress, and you’ll just beat yourself up over it later.
- Use a morning checklist. Think about all of the things your kids have to do; make it simple. Things like: get dressed, brush their hair and teeth, eat breakfast, take vitamins, feed the dog, etc. Write it out for them so that it’s easier to remember. I know I get such satisfaction from checking items off my to-do list each day, and my kids do too!
- Expect age-appropriate independence. In our house, our 9-year-old is expected to get ready on his own, and the 5-year-old needs very little help. They are completely capable of going through their checklists, largely on their own. Of course I still have to dress the baby (and keep her out of trouble), but the older kids know that they’re on their own with buttons and snaps and following their routine. After I dress the baby, I make breakfast for everyone while the older two are finishing up.
- Breakfast is last, because it usually takes us the longest amount of time to get through. Here’s my rule: I refuse to let the kids come to the breakfast table without being fully dressed to shoes and having brushed hair. I’ve found that if I don’t enforce this, they stagger to the kitchen half-dressed and poke and piddle through breakfast. Then we have to rush through the rest of their routine to get out the door on time. Again, “success, not stress.” Do whatever works best for you!
- Create a “landing strip” in your home. All backpacks and jackets are kept in the hallway between my kids’ rooms and our front door. They literally cannot leave the house without passing them. Also, all of their shoes are stored in a tall dresser at the front door, so that shoes are never lost under beds or in closets. That cabinet alone has been such a sanity saver for our family!
- Celebrate success. We leave and give high-fives, and the kids earn a little bit of screen-time for getting through all of their checklists each morning… including making their beds and cleaning up after themselves.
I’m willing to bet that if you implement just a couple of these ideas over the coming weekend, then you’ll have a much better Monday morning! And hey, if I can change my disorganized, rushed and chronically-tardy ways, then it’s possible for you to do it too. You really can do this! I’m cheering for you!
Use this cute chalkboard idea as inspiration (love the washi tape), and make your own customized checklist in Photoshop or any word processing app you love. Rather have a ready-made printable instead? Gotcha covered…. try this one, or this one, this one. We actually use this one, inside a picture frame, and the kids write on the glass with a dry erase marker. Use your imagination and do what works for you!
.jpg) A few days ago I ran into an old friend. She mentioned that I seemed different somehow. More confident, serene, and happier.
She is right, I most certainly am those things these days. But I wasn’t for a long time. I was being held back from living my best life because I was waiting to lose 30 pounds.
“When I lose 30 pounds, I will be much happier.”
“When I lose 30 pounds, I will start my new business.”
“When I lose 30 pounds, I will have family pictures taken.”
“When I lose 30 pounds, I will….”
You get the idea.
When I look back, and see all of the things that I missed out on because I was waiting to have this amazing life when I lost weight, I want to cry.
I call it my “weighting” period.
But I see now that my body was telling me something. Something was not right, I was not listening to what my body was trying to tell me. I was stressed out, unhappy, and not enjoying my life. I was using food as a Band-Aid, I was using it to hide what was really going on with me. Food became my source of happiness and entertainment.
The thing is, I didn’t need to lose 30 pounds to have an amazing life. I was doing it all wrong. I needed to have an amazing life in order to lose weight.
Weird. I know.
When I started to listen to my body – trust her, love her, and have a ton of fun, the weight came off.
In the last year, I have had more fun than I can even wrap my head around. Taken huge risks. Went on a dream vacation. Became a red head. Gone on adventures. Made my house a place that inspires me. Fell in love with my husband all over again. Discovered that I love kale. Enjoyed my beautiful family even more.
And yes, I lost 30 pounds. Even if I didn’t, I am a better person than I was a year ago.
.jpg)
I want to share with you a video training series that was the jumping off place for my journey. When I watched all of these training videos, I joined Sarah Jenks’s Live More Weigh Less program immediately and my life will never, ever, be the same. My hope is that you will watch these videos, and take the first step in creating a beautiful life for yourself. Won’t you join me?
With the start of a new school year, I know that many mamas are reflecting on how quickly their children seem to grow. The long, busy days somehow become short years to treasure, and we can barely believe how big those shiny, new school shoes are.
My own baby just started Kindergarten. I have watched as my little guy’s exploratory marks on paper have become letters and numbers and drawings of good guys triumphing over bad guys. I have listened as his coos and cries have turned to words that are now used to express thoughtful ideas like “If I am late for school then I can’t go at all, right?” (Nice try.)
During this time of reminiscing, I share a poem I wrote shortly after my youngest child was born. I hope it will resonate with your own recollections of those first tender moments with the little ones in your life.
For Seth
a baby
my baby
a body so small and new
yet inside abides a spirit familiar
someone I always knew
we touch and cuddle and smile
as we search each other’s eyes
enjoying sweet reunion
love eternal
you and I
This is my son, the embodiment of Wilde’s words, the inspiration for so much of what I do. He is beautiful, bold, a recognizable force of nature. He doesn’t strive for individuality and creativity; he lives and breathes them. He wakes up and stands out–without effort, without force. He intuitively is what we wish everyone would be–completely and unabashedly himself.
His creativity and intelligence know no bounds. He can listen to reason–maybe, if the mood strikes him–but ultimately he follows his heart.
And yet I fear for him.
I fear for him because despite his exceedingly friendly nature, he has very few friends. Despite the unwavering support of his devoted family, he is deeply insecure. Despite his remarkable talents, he hasn’t found his spot.
He is young, of course–just turned eight. But he is creative. He is creativity. I may write here on The Creative Mama; but, truly, nothing I do or ever will do could possibly reach the depths he’s able to access even now at just eight.
As a mama to a very creative son, I find myself thinking a lot–about him, of course, about his future, about the nature of creativity, and about the tradeoffs one makes for talent, about sacrifice.
And I ask myself: Is the idea of the suffering artist a myth? Do his relationships have to suffer, his self-esteem, in order to create art?
He is my son–and artist or not, myth or not, his suffering is not something I can sit and idly accept.
So, I write about it. And then I hug him–tighter and tighter all the time.
I have a confession — I am a trash picker. Yes, a dumpster diver. A slam-on-the-breaks-to-check-out-what-is-on-the-curb girl. Our first couch was off the curb in the Art Museum district of Philadelphia — great piece, bad upholstery. Entire slipcover, and viola! Most of our dressers come second hand … thank you coat of paint! For awhile I was an avid antiquer, but could only afford glassware and trinkets (eventually that got old).
I’m in a different place in life now, able to buy some nicer, newer pieces of furniture. But I still sent my husband down to the neighbor’s with the wagon to get that “perfect” end table (he was a tiny bit embarrassed). Yet after a few lessons learned, and with living in a college town where the curb-side pickings are primarily of the particle-board variety, I’ve tried hard to temper my trash picking.
Until … this one rainy day last fall. She was huge. She was wet. But she was special. Probably a school office mailbox. (I’m sorry I don’t have a great before.)
I vascillated. I stood in the rain. Tried to lift her — she was HEAVY. Decided she was too heavy. Decided she was too wet — there were water marks on the one side that was up, it had been raining all morning. I got back in my van, started to drive away. Made it to the end of the street. Turned around.
Oh yeah — here’s those water marks –
Did I mention she was heavy? Like seriously all hard wood heavy. Like made back in the first half of the 20th century. And she was big. Like 3+ feet tall big. But I’d had physics classes. I knew about levers and inclined planes! I stood her up the right way, backed up my van and then HEAVED. Oh yeah, baby! She slid right in!
I left her in the garage to dry out all winter and early spring. Took me until mid-summer to tackle her. Man, she had a nasty coat of poly or some other shellac, and yucky stain. I contemplated painting her — but all those cubbies! I decided to just start with sanding and see what I got. The sides and front were all solid, hardwood, but the top and interior of the cubbies were all made of plywood (but the good old kind).
This is what I uncovered –
Look at that gorgeous wood! I only sanded the exterior and just the front portions of the cubbies, I figured what you can’t see doesn’t matter! Did I mention that she came complete with hardware? Yeah, only ONE cubby missing!
I loved that pale wood look! And really wanted to create a driftwood/barnwood look. A grey to white washed appearance. I combed through tons of blogs and found many that used Rustoleum’s Sunbleached which seemed like a good possibility. But the more I looked at some finished pieces, the more they seemed too white washed. I was terrified to ruin my freebie find! And without knowing the type of wood or having any scrap to test on, I was pretty gun shy. I’ve only stained a few little things, and usually with a dark stain. So I found one “recipe” that someone used on their floors that was a combination of mineral spirits, Rustoleum’s Sunbleached and a little of Minwax’s Provincial and tested it on some scrap oak boards. Sadly, none of the grey tone appeared, and it was a bit too strong on the warm Provincial. So I mixed it with even more Sunbleached in another jar and decided to just go for it. I loved the piece no matter what.
I didn’t get any grey tones with this combination or with this wood, but I still love it. After staining, just one coat, I let it dry and applied two coats of paste wax. I hate working with polyurethane and really didn’t want a shiny finish. Even though this piece will get a lot of wear, I decided I preferred the look of waxing. Here she is!
She still has some mottling, and she isn’t perfect, but she was FREE and she will be a great addition to our craft room!
Do you have a favorite freebie? Do share! Make me feel not-so-alone in the clan of trash pickers!
This quote recently jumped out at me from Pinterest, and I’ve been pondering it ever since. There is so much talk of happiness, in culture and advertising and just about anywhere you look. Our society tends to associate it with material things, and many people spend much of their lives chasing after it, only to find that it eludes them.
There is so much wisdom is Beecher’s words. Happiness is an art—and just like art, it starts within us and must be practiced and cultivated. The common themes that make up the world in which we live- work and commutes, the care and keeping of children, managing a home and family, and on and on—these things can feel so ordinary, even mundane. It is tempting to believe that change would bring happiness—if only I could do this, or go here, or have that… then I would be happier. I have fallen into this trap more often than I’d like to admit. The truth is that if any of those are attained, it will not be long before we start looking for the next new thing. The more we seek to obtain happiness through external means, the more our discontent will grow.
How do we extract happiness from the ordinary routines of everyday life? I believe that a perspective of gratitude is the secret. It requires intentionality, but it is possible to retrain our eyes to see the amazing beauty in the things that are ordinary to us. The more we purposefully do this, the more it will become second nature, and a deep and genuine happiness will permeate every area of our lives. As I’ve begun to make a point each day of acknowledging the beauty of the everyday and expressing thankfulness for it, I’ve come to realize how deeply happy I have been all along. It only took a change in perspective for me to see it.
Is it almost time for back to school in your neck of the woods? We have just shy of a week before our first day. While I’m looking forward to a little more routine to our days, I’m sorry to see the summer vacation come to an end.
This time of year I find myself looking for new ways to make back to school a little easier. Particularly when it comes to packing lunches. After a couple years of my boys coming home with complaints of tummy aches and hunger after eating school lunches, we have gone to exclusively packing our own each day. While it was an overwhelming task at first, we are now headed into our third year. There are a few simple sources and tricks I’ve found along the way, that I wanted to share, hoping maybe it would help you out too.
View full post »
|
.jpg)
Ginger Unzueta - Stacey, love your ideas. We homeschool, so we don’t have the morning rush, but I do feel the rush on afternoons with soccer, dance or church. I think a central organizer (and keeping the kid accountable to keep their things there) is so helpful. Thanks for sharing! ?