151 | Realistic Morning Routines with Littles in the Home - Intentional Edit

Morning routines set the tone for the day, find out how you can develop a solid morning routine when you have littles at home.

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Full Episode Transcription (not edited):

Having babies and little kids at home changes the dynamic of almost everything that you do, everything that you are used to having in terms of her routine or consistency. But a flexible morning routine keeps things in check and it sets the day up to be as smooth as it can be.

Today, I’m going to be answering a listener question. If you have a question or a problem that you want me to solve or something that you want me to give you my input on go to intentional, edit.com and click on the record now button. That little button that says record now will pop up. When you go to intentional edit.com and all you have to do is click on that button and leave me a message. It will prompt you to leave me a message. It’s just like leaving a boy’s voicemail. It is super easy. And if you leave that message for me, then I will answer it on a future tip Tuesday episode, you can get your problem solved.

You can get advice or information that you think that I would have that could help you. I would love to help you. So go to. Intentional edit.com and leave me a message by clicking on the record now button on the website. The question that came in for the episode today is a short and sweet. And I think that we can all get a little bit of knowledge when I answered this question, it says,

Is it really possible to have a morning routine with little kids, if you think so, what do you recommend to make this happen?

I love that this is short and to the point. When you are in the thick of it with the young ones at home and you are struggling. And I’m guessing the, in this situation, the struggle is real. Because there is no explanation. It’s just like I’m at the end of my rope. What do I do? Is this even possible? Is this worth putting my time and effort into, or am I not going to get anything out of this? And I need to just wait until my kids are older.

Well, a morning routine looks different at different phases in life, at different stages in life, depending on the ages of your kids, what your job looks like, what your schedules are, what you need to get done, the things that are a priority in your life, what you want to do. How you spent your mornings. Pre-kids.

It’s most likely going to look a lot different. Than what it looks like. With kids. And the same thing goes for having a baby that is three weeks old your morning. Is going to be a lot different than having a six month old or a two year old. Figuring out if you have a baby and then you also have kids that needed to get to school. Do you have to get out of the house? Do you have to stay in the house?

The warning routine should be helping you make the day easier.

Did you grasp that the morning routine should be helping you make the day easier? So what do you need to happen in the morning to get a good start to the day and to set yourself up for success? You want to simplify, you’re not trying to add as much as you possibly can into the morning. That is for a different time of the day. The first thing I want you to think about is limiting your time on electronics, limiting your screen time.

Time spent on screens waste your morning. It waste your time in the morning will really waste your time all day. Make an intentional decision to stay off of your phone or to limit your screen time or to set a timer or to set a limit so that you can focus more on the thing is that needed to be done, especially during these morning hours where you’re already feeling the stress and you’re already feeling.

The pull and the whirlwind that the morning is not going the way that you want it to do. The second thing I would recommend is make a realistic list of three or four things that have to happen in the morning to have a successful day, do not make a list of a hundred tasks. This is not a brain dump with a giant to-do list.

It’s three or four things that need to get done that have to be accomplished in the morning. To have a successful day to make it possible for you to do what needs to happen all day long. Some of the tasks that you might be thinking you want to do in the morning at this stage and season and phase in your life. These things might need to move to another routine. They might need to happen at a different time in the day.

that’s fine for right now. Uh, a different season of life when you have different things going on. you can bring them back to the morning if that’s what you prefer, but as the needs. Change as we go through the different seasons of life. Then we have to accommodate with what makes our lives easier and that’s how we truly simplify. So if you need to get out of the house by a certain time, early in the morning the routine is going to look different than someone who is staying at home and does not need to leave the house until much later in the day. You have to develop a routine that makes sense for your family. If you have a newborn, give yourself grace, give yourself flexibility and know that this stage is these weeks passed quickly. Incredibly fast. You will be looking back and remembering this phase because it goes by so fast sleep is important. Do not sacrifice, sleep to get things done on your to-do list. Just to check things off on the to-do list. I do not sacrifice sleep. Take that list that you made with the three or four things that have to be done. And to figure out.

How you are going to get those done work backwards. What time do you need to get up? What time do you need to be awake to get out of the house? Do you have more leniency? Do you not have to get out of the house? So you have a longer chunk of time to get those things done.

A lot of the things that happen in the morning, pre kids might need to be moved to the evening when you have many people to manage and get out the door, picking out clothes the night before bath time, the night before. Preparing lunches the night before getting bags and backpacks ready. All of those things will save you a significant amount of time in the morning.

if you’re in a position where you are struggling with a morning routine, Think about what you absolutely have to do and what can be done the night before or at a different part of the day start with one routine wherever you are seeing the most struggle. Start there. Figure out that routine, practice it for a couple of weeks, make the changes that you need and then move on to the next routine and really get these routines dialed in to serve you.

When you have good routines going. You can make the appropriate changes as the needs of your family and this season of life changes. Thanks for submitting your question. I’m always happy to answer questions and help as much as I can. If you want me to answer a question, you are listening to this and you think I can help you submit your question@intentionaledit.com by clicking on the record now button that will pop up on your screen.

And leave me a message that I can answer on a future tip Tuesday

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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!

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