How To Kickstart Your Day With A Kids Morning Checklist

How do you get your kids out of the door in the mornings without any fuss? Do you wish you had a kids morning checklist to help you get your toddlers and tweens dressed and off to school without any drama? Look no further! in this post we talk about ways to make your mornings less chaotic and give you tips to keep things calm.

We all have those hideous mornings where we stagger into school looking like we’ve just been dragged through a hedge backwards, nerves in tatters and ready to cry.

What is the reason for these hideously chaotic mornings?

It can be caused by anything from:

  • Missing shoes
  • Missing  keys
  •  Someone refusing to put their clothes on
  • Someone not wanting to put a coat on in midwinter
  • Someone refusing to  eat their breakfast
  • Refusing to get in the car
  • Refusing to get their seat belt on
  • Refusing to get their seatbelt off
  • efusing to get out of the car

Etc etc., but mostly it’s all the above, every single morning, that’s life with kids!

Why we need a kids morning checklist.

What can we do to stop these significant meltdowns and non-compliant mood swings?

Not much I’m afraid! Yes, you heard it right there’s not much we can do to get these little people of ours to be more responsive and compliant to our many orders to get them out of the door. Kids are kids and as they get out of this ridiculously stubborn phase things do get somewhat easier, however while they are at the temper tantrum throwing stages we need to help them follow a routine.

We can smooth out the wrinkles in our mornings to help to get ourselves into a position where we have both the time and the patience to face these tantrum filled mornings head on, it’s a sort of head start on the kids!

Who says we can’t control this chaos in the mornings?

How to create a kids morning checklist

Make things easier for your kids to follow

  1. Lay it out the night before

    I mean everything!
    Here is a list of what I lay out the night before;

    Cereal
    Plates/ cutlery/ cups
    School bags with books / homework inside!
    PE kits
    Swimming kits
    Forms / letters / money need for next day
    Drinks bottles ready to be filled
    Vitamins/medicine
    School uniform, including shoes upstairs
    My clothes and shoes
    Lunch boxes made up and in the fridge
    Keys
    Purse

  2. Don’t let anyone downstairs unless they are dressed

    The secret to our morning routine is not to allow anyone downstairs unless they are dressed, including their shoes. This method eliminates the last minute lost shoe drama and stops your kids refusing to put their shoes on as you’re leaving the house! two arguments prevented before you even get downstairs!

    It also makes the holidays and weekends unique as they get to have a few hours in their pyjamas before getting dressed.

  3. No TV or tablets!

    Imagine you’re a child, what better way to start your morning than to zone out watching TV.
    Imagine how cosy and relaxed you are.
    Now imagine being dragged outside to work on a cold winter morning in the middle of your favourite game or TV programme.
    Make it easy for yourself leave the TV and tablets for relaxing!
    This one might be a difficult habit to break but stay strong the rewards are endless.
    Make sure there are toys, books or art equipment available to relieve their boredom!
    If you’re struggling to reduce your kid’s screen time read how here!

  4. Get up earlier than the kids.

    I appreciate this is probably impossible for most parents out there. With all the little early risers and the light sleepers there are very few parents who are up before their kids, but if you can, when you can, try to get up before the rest of the house wakes.

    The habit of getting up earlier gives you time to get organised, get showered and dressed to your shoes and get any chores such as emptying the dishwasher or doing a laundry load uninterrupted which in turn makes you calmer and ready to face the barrage of demands that ensure the minute your kids open their eyes!

    I’m always amazed at how much calmer I am when I get that rare time to get ahead in the morning and maybe even get time for a coffee! I’m writing this post at 5.30am  this morning while everyone else is asleep!

  5. Plan ahead

    Keep a weekly planner of all the kid’s after-school activities, play dates,  and in school activities and check it every evening.
    You can download a  FREE copy of all my beautiful family planners here FREE PRINTABLE PLANNER PAGES.
    Make sure everything is ready for your kids to take into school or ready to grab straight after school.
    I try to get all sports kits ready for the week as soon as they come home I launder them and pack them back into their bags for next time.
    I keep sports kits in distinctive bags in the kid’s wardrobe and get them to bring what they need down the night before.  It makes them have some responsibility for the stuff they need on certain days which means they know what is needed and when it’s required, if on the rare occasion I am ever ill, or if I forget!

    Swimming kit
    PE kit
    Football kit
    Musical instruments
    Spare clothes for playdate/sports events
    Snacks /drinks needed
    oney for activities

  6. Print off our kids morning checklist to follow

    Subscribe to our updates and receive the code to unlock our free resources library and download the printable version of this kids morning checklist to give to your little ones!


    kids morning checklist

  7. Get your kids to sleep early

    Make sure your kids are getting plenty of sleep when it’s a school night, as a tired child is often a grumpy non-compliant child in the mornings!
    To find out how much sleep your child needs each day, click this link, https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/how-much-sleep-do-kids-need/

  8. Get your kids up earlier!

    You’d be surprised how long it takes kids to get ready and dressed. i timed my 7 year old to see how long it took him to get his rugby kit on after I’d asked him to get ready , and it took him a whole 25 minutes! and that was with the whole kit laid out for him, so he didn’t even need to find anything!
    armed with the knowledge of how slow kids are , overestimate the amount of time it takes them to get ready rather than getting frustrated when they are slower.
    I now ask my kids to get in the car 10 minutes before I need them to because they both like to go and grab that one last thing before they go!
    The earlier they start their kids morning checklist the quicker they are ready!

If you, minimise the many things which can go wrong and reduce some of the chaos you will find yourself in a place to deal with the tantrums and the meltdowns in a calm and level-headed way.

If your little one knows he doesn’t get his breakfast until he has dressed he will get dressed as a routine as soon as he gets up, every morning!

Stick to a morning routine every day, so your little ones know what to expect, and there are no surprises when they have a small amount of control of their mornings via a planned routine, they know what to expect and stop trying to control the situation themselves.

Frequently asked Q&A

Do you have a daily routine chart for 10 year old?

Our morning checklist for kids is suitable for 10 year olds as it helps them organise themselves each morning and helps to build self esteem.

How can I create a daily schedule for 7 year old girl?

Try to write down all the things your daughter struggles with each morning and try to incorperate ways into your kids daily routine which can help her get organized.
For example, if your daughter is constantly losing her shoes and struggling to find them each morning, lay them out with her uniform each night.

How do I introduce a daily routine for 4 year old?

Although many kids can read at the age of 4 years, they can still get overwhelmed when in a rush for instance. For four-year-olds it’s a great idea to use a kids to do list with pictures to teach your little one a routine. I like these to do list for kids charts as they are clear to follow and your child can cross off when they have done their task.


kids morning routine chart

How do you get kids ready faster in the morning.

Its really difficult to get kids moving in the morning as they are great at procrastinating . The mornings are the times when your need to be super organised and have follow the kids morning checklist above. you Can also speed up your kids by setting a timer to see how quickly they can get ready each morning and see if they can beat their previous time. My son likes to race his dad each day to get dressed , which really speeds things up in our house. Don’t forget to download our free printable morning checklist to help your kids get moving in the mornings!

What are some good morning habits for kids?

All of the habits listed on my printable morning routine chart are good habits for your children to learn at any age , the earlier you start your kids learning these routines the easier it will be as they get older. you can up date the routines as they get older (a daily routine chart for an 11 year old will look very different from a 5 year old’s kids morning checklist).

Do you have your own kids morning routine? Let us know in the comments

 kids Morning checklist

As a thank you for subscribing to our updates you’ll get exclusive access to our free resources library where you’ll find our printable morning checklist!

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For further reading on parenting in a calm and simplified way, you may like the website Simplicity Parenting.

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kids morning checklist

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