If you feel like you’re just lucky to get your kids out the door in the morning, let alone make time for a healthy breakfast, this post is for you. Sometimes in order to create healthy habits we need to take a step back and create some systems to free up time and energy for better things.

After years of experimentation and tweaking, we’ve found some things that really work to make our kids morning routine as smooth as possible. We now have 3 of our 5 boys going to school in the morning and it only takes about 45 minutes to get everyone dressed, fed their healthy breakfast, scriptures read, lunches, water, backpack, teeth, socks, shoes and out the door.

Granted we still have some rough days (let’s be honest, today was one of them) but generally speaking this solution for our kids morning routine keeps things running pretty smoothly.

I’m amazed at things that were once a struggle have now become so much easier as they’ve become routine AND my kids have matured. And while I still have A LOT of areas of life where I can do a lot of streamlining, our morning routine is running remarkably well. I hope this give you some ideas of how you can make your morning routine with or without kids a little better.

Streamline Your Mornings

We’ve streamlined our mornings by getting our kids moving and on the same schedule. It has made all of the difference, and the solution is easier than you think.

Have something else that could make your mornings a little more smooth? Check out one of these articles:

How to Make the Green Smoothie a Habit that Sticks
How to Get a Nutrient-Dense Breakfast on the Table, Every day
EASY Plant-Based Lunch Ideas for School and Work

Make Time for Physical and Spiritual Nourishment

We are always looking for ways to improve our breakfast system. I am a huge believer that a good start to the day is critical if we want to set ourselves and our loved ones up for success. And while I believe that a satisfying, nutrient-packed breakfast is hugely important, I also believe that fueling our spirits with spiritual nourishment is one area we cannot afford not to have a system to make sure it is happening.

I’ve been thinking this week how studying the word of God truly changes us. I don’t think I would believe this if I hadn’t seen and experienced it again and again. It gives us a depth, perspective and strength that makes us so much more than we can become on our own. It helps us to anchor ourselves and be a lighthouse for others who may be lost. I can think of no other way to help my children be their best selves–it not only gives them strength against evil but magnifies their gifts and abilities.

Over time, we discovered that family scripture study worked best for us in the morning, and eventually got to a place where it happens while we eat breakfast. But getting everyone dressed, at the table, with their smoothie and personally customized oatmeal at the SAME TIME has never been easy.

The Heart of the Problem With Most Kids Morning Routines

Here is the real problem. Kids don’t know how to watch the clock. Even though they learn how to tell time by 1st grade or so, the habit of seeing what time it is, figuring out long things will take and how much time they have is pretty advanced.

I volunteered in my son’s 3rd grade math class and his teacher had me work on elapsed time with them for months. Many of these students were pretty solid students, yet the concept of elapsed time was especially challenging. This becomes even more challenging as we increasingly rely on digital clocks over analog clocks.

If a third grader has a hard time figuring out how much time has passed when he has two clocks staring at him on his homework, you can bet your first grader is not going to know how fast he needs to be moving to get dressed when he’d rather be playing with his Legos. And even though my older kids can tell time quite well, remembering to check the clock is a skill I am still watching for!

The Simple Solution for Our Kids Morning Routine

A few years ago my husband came up with this system, and it has made a huge difference in my kids morning routine. We have a “breakfast playlist.” It has two of our favorite songs that fall into the category of “pump-up music”. When we turn on the songs, the boys know that the first song, “Eye of the Tiger” is their time to get dressed. They are gradually getting better at getting dressed before the song even comes on, so they don’t have to go back upstairs to their rooms after getting up. Then our get your breakfast song is “Fix You” by Coldplay. They know that this is their time to dish up and top their oatmeal and be ready to sit down to eat and read scriptures.

We’ve implemented various simple rewards and consequences over time to help fuel adherence to the system. But it’s helped me realize that generally they want to be at the table on time, but need a little help staying focused and on task.

When you play the same song every day, kids learn quickly when the end is near and they need to “turn on the jet-engine” as we like to put it. None of us has to stop and look at the clock, but hearing the song gives us a pretty good idea of how much time we have.

As an added bonus, by picking favorite songs with an uplifting message, we are getting ourselves pumped up and energized for the day.

We have another playlist of 3 songs we turn on when it’s time to get out the door. This was especially helpful to my son who is now in first grade. Last year when he was getting ready for afternoon kindergarten, I would turn on the playlist. He created a checklist in his mind–he spent the first song brushing his teeth, the second song getting into his school clothes, and the third song getting his water, backpack and shoes on. Now when we turn the playlist on right after breakfast he has no problem following the same routine to get out the door for first grade.

I highly recommend taking advantage of the $.99 trial of Amazon Music Unlimited. For 4 months you have access to thousands of songs and can build your “pump up music” playlist.

Here are a few of our favorite songs:

Eye of the Tiger, Survivor
Fix You, Coldplay
Life is a Highway, (From Cars) Rascal Flatts
Happy, DJ Hitz
Paradise, Coldplay
Peponi, Piano Guys make of Paradise
It’s Gonna Be Okay, Piano Guys

We are always looking for great new songs, what are some of yours? What works well for you in the mornings?