The One Little Change That Made Our School Mornings Easier

The One Little Change That Made Our School Mornings Easier

Our school mornings were getting a little ridiculous.

The boys would take forever to eat breakfast, and by the time they were finally done, they still needed to put their ice packs in their lunches, get their shoes on, and somehow find everything they needed before we could actually walk out the door.

It felt like we were rushing around every morning, even though we were doing the same things every day.

Then I made one really small change.

While I was getting breakfast ready, I started having the boys get their lunches together and put their shoes on.

That’s it.

It was so simple. I didn't need to change the whole routine or have a fancy system.

I just changed the order of a couple of things.

Instead of waiting until breakfast was completely over to start getting ready, we started doing some of those things at the same time.

They could put their ice packs in their lunch boxes while I was getting breakfast together. They could get their shoes on before breakfast was finished. Then, when they were done eating, we weren’t starting the whole process of getting out the door from scratch.

It is amazing how much of a difference such a small change can make.

Our mornings aren’t magically perfect now. I still have four boys, so there is always going to be somebody who can’t find a shoe or suddenly needs something right when we’re supposed to be leaving. 

The difference is that we aren’t wasting those little pockets of time anymore.

It also reminded me that sometimes I don’t need a completely new routine. I just need to look at the routine we already have and ask myself, “Does this actually have to happen in this order?”

That one little question can make a bigger difference than I expected.

If your mornings feel chaotic right now, maybe you don’t need to completely overhaul them. Look for the one part that always seems to slow everyone down and see if you can move it somewhere else.

For us, it was lunches and shoes.

Sometimes the smallest change is the one that helps the most.