Beating the Back to School Morning Blues

    I used to be a morning person.  Then, I had children.  Now, the thought of being anywhere before 9 or 10 a.m. makes me tired.  I’ve loved that all summer we’ve only had to be somewhere “early” a handful of times.

    So, you can imagine it made me a bit anxious while at school registration to realize that my daughter would be starting school before 8:30 a.m. each day.  Okay, so I knew that school started around then as I’ve seen the neighbor children walk to school for the past three years.  However, something about holding the paperwork in my hands that stated the school start time made it more real.

    Now, I know that plenty of parents get their children out the door much earlier than I will have to this school year, and they do it year round because they work.  However, for us, this will be a bit of a shock to our systems.

     It isn’t that my children sleep in.  (Wouldn’t that be nice!)  No, they will likely have been up for a couple of hours before that school bell rings.  It’s just that we don’t get moving very fast in the mornings.  On the mornings when we do have to be somewhere, I’m afraid it isn’t very pleasant.  I bark orders and the children drag their feet.

    We’ve gotten by with this less than ideal arrangement because we don’t usually have to be anywhere early in the morning.  Now that school is going to be an everyday thing, we need a new plan.  I don’t want to send my children off to school with a mama who rushed them all morning.  No one needs to start her day like that!

    So, I’m asking you, moms and dads, who’ve been there and done that...  How do you manage the morning chaos?  What works for you to ensure that your children leave from a relatively calm household?  Please share as I’m sure I’m not the only one who is a bit concerned about those back to school mornings.  In the meantime, I’ll be shopping for a bulk supply of coffee.  I think I’m going to need it.