7 Morning routine tips for a working Mom

I did not always have a stress-free morning routine as a working mom. When Nova was 2 months old I vividly remember preparing to go back to work and the stressful feeling that consumed me. I was overwhelmed trying to figure out how I was going to create enough time to work out, make dinner, spend time with her and Eric, keep a clean house, oh man you name it that postpartum anxiety did wonders. If I have any advice for a new working mom, it is to give yourself time to adjust. Then, add another month to that. Start by adding one thing in at a time and adjust to your new mom and working mom routine slowly.

Once I started getting into a morning routine I realized there were so many things I could be doing to make our morning routines go smoother. Eric worked out of town so he would leave an hour before we were even awake, so the morning routine was up to me. I needed to implement ways to make it run smoother and less stressful because I never wanted to have a morning with the word “hurry” in it.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still those mornings where we get off of routine and I’m frazzled. However, these are the ways we keep our mornings as peaceful as possible and they also enable us to enjoy them!

In August, Eric started a job in town, can I get a whoop whoop!? Obviously, this is very exciting because he gets to be here to participate in our family morning routine now! We both enjoy the slower process of our weekly mornings and now we get to enjoy them together.

Allow your kids to wake up slowly

I hate being woken up harshly or feeling as though I’m rushed. Hate, wow, strong word, but man I do not like it at all! How you wake up, typically sets the tone for your whole day.

I love slowly waking up to the sun or a mid level alarm and taking my time to get out of bed, so I can only assume children may like the same thing.

Our kids each have a white noise machine that is on all night. We go into their rooms about 20 minutes before we need to be downstairs, turn those off, and open their doors. We continue getting ourselves ready until they are awake. The hallway light is on which allows only a little light in so they can slowly wake up. As you can imagine, their moods are much better and they are more cooperative. Who wouldn’t want to start their day in such a peaceful way!?

Lay out their clothes the night before

If you have a toddler with a mind of her own like I do, this means picking out two outfits and putting them on her dresser. The next morning she gets to pick her favorite between them. It gives her a little bit of control, and eliminates an unnecessary argument. Who doesn’t want to eliminate those from their morning routine?

This year, Eric usually handles getting them dressed so I am especially glad I implemented this part of our morning routine! Why? Because I like to pick what my kids wear!

In my mind, daddy doesn’t dress them as cute! If he could, they’d be decked out in Michael Jordan crap every day. Plus, picking their outfits is one of the most fun parts of being a mama!

Pack their bags and lunch the night before

I have a large reusable bag that is their specific daycare bag. It is large enough to carry both of their water bottles, blankets, extra clothes or shoes, lunch box and anything else they may need.

This bag hangs on Nova’s locker hook and never leaves it. If it did, you know exactly what would happen, we’d forget it. 

After the kids are in bed each night we clean the kitchen and prep their daycare bag. We put their blankets, water bottles, diapers, or whatever else they may need in the bag.

Set alarms on your phone for things you cannot forget

If we need to remember something from the refrigerator, I place a sticky note on the fridge that states what we need to grab. However, if I do not trust the sticky note approach (which is more often than not) I put a reminder in our calendar with an alarm that is set to go off as we are supposed to be leaving the house. 

Typically these alarms we set are for Knox’s milk, lunch boxes or snacks which need to be refrigerated and are easily forgotten. It is not fun having to run to the grocery store, after you drop off the kids and run back there again!

I also use these alarms for special days at daycare, like dress up days or wacky hair days. Obviously, the alarm is set to go off much earlier that morning for those, but it has saved me on many occasions!

Have a sock bin by the door

This tip, literally saved my sanity. I cannot tell you how many mornings I would put them on the bench to get their shoes on only to realize I never put socks on them. A simple, annoying, and all too common occurrence that needed to be remedied.

We live in a two-story home. Running upstairs to get socks while a toddler and baby hang out waiting for me is less than ideal. Plus, it was so irritating and inefficient.

We remodeled our entry way a couple years ago and in doing so we put a cubby in for each of us with a basket and shoe drawer. I added extra basket space for laundry supplies, but little did I know it would become our sock basket!

Our washer and dryer are right there in the cupboards. Once the socks are washed and dried, I put about 5 pair per child in that basket. Having them right there when I need them is a relief. It is such a simple thing but it sure makes the morning routine run super smooth!

Develop a handshake to say goodbye

Nova has always been a mama’s girl, and though she is an incredibly social and friendly child she does not enjoy saying goodbye. She would sob “mama don’t leave me” almost every day and it would break my heart every single time.

Walking out the door while your child is crying, is one of the hardest things to do. Being late for work, well that is not acceptable either. I was determined to find a solution.

We created our own handshake. I let her have input in what we should do and let her know this was our special handshake to say goodbye. She knew that when we did it, I would be leaving right after. This works about 90% of the time because it creates a fun and peaceful way to say goodbye.

Our handshake is knuckles, shaking them like they’re going to explode, then they explode and it turns into a wave. We make exploding noises and say “bye bye” and she always smiles.

Now that she is almost 3 1/2 she likes showing the handshake off to her friends and it is pretty adorable.

After our handshake I also repeat a line from one of her favorite books:

I am always here

to which she finishes

even if I’m not right here

Knox has always been so laid back. He typically says goodbye easily as long as you prioritize a big hug and kiss, and don’t forget eye contact, his pacifier, and blanket.

He waves and smiles as you leave so I’m hoping that continues! If not I will have to pull out my creativity hat and create a new handshake.

Wake up earlier than everyone

Oh yeah, right. Are you insane?

My kids are typically great sleepers, they always have been. I’m lucky. They won’t wake up until we turn their white noise machines off. Not all kids are like that, so this tip may be difficult depending on what stage you are in.

I just recently started waking up earlier than everyone else in the house.

I am in no way a morning person. However, I have noticed that if I want a little me time, even slower mornings, and different results than I’ve ever had in my life that I need to do something different.

Unfortunately, I implemented this at a very difficult time since my family has been sick on and off for a month, but dang it, this one is going to stick! I enjoy the peace and quiet in the morning and knowing I can be present in every moment of their mornings.

What else can make our morning routine go smoother?

What do you do? Share with me!