WAKE UP!!!!

Every morning when my alarm goes off I look to Heaven and ask, no beg God to let the next hour or so go smoothly! My two oldest daughters are most definitely NOT morning people, they're grumpy, obnoxious, and down right mean in the mornings! Going into their room to wake them up for school is like volunteering yourself to be the attack dummy in self defense class. Mornings in my house used to include screaming, whining, and at least one, more often than not, both of my girls missing the bus. I knew that I had to do something in order to take control of the situation so I came up with a few ideas that have saved me countless migraines and have kept my girls from missing the bus.

• First I decided to put an alarm clock in the girls room and set it for 10 minutes before I usually wake them up. This serves two purposes; 1. they learn responsibility by waking themselves up for school, and 2. if they get up without me waking them up they are rewarded by getting a special treat (something small like a piece of candy or a sticker). It has actually worked really well and they like the feeling of being responsible!


• My girls love to take their lunch to school rather than eating whatever the cafeteria may have that day so I make it a rule that if they want to pack their lunch they have to be up and ready for school in time to help me make it in the morning. I used to pack it for them the night before, but this way they are motivated to get up and I have help in making their lunches.


• I have my girls pick out their clothes for school the night before, I used to have them leave their clothes in the living room so they would have them ready the next morning, but they always seemed to take forever to get dressed. I decided that in order to get them dressed quicker I needed to figure something out. I decided to make it another rule that they have to get dressed in their rooms before they can come into the living room. This has also worked really well since they like to watch television in the mornings wile the wait for the bus.


• And the biggest change I made was banning TV in the mornings until the girls are completely ready (coats and backpacks on) to get on the bus! They really try to get ready faster now because they know there will be no TV until they are ready to go!

These things have not made my girls "morning people" but it most certainly has helped them get ready for school on time and saved me from having to take them to school every other day!