I don’t know about you, but we have the hardest time getting everyone out the door in the morning. Even if it’s just me, I have a hard time, but when you add kids, it feels like an uphill battle in a hurricane to get the kids out the door with everything they need for school (or wherever we are going).
Do any of these sound familiar to you?
“Put your shoes on.”
“Where did you take them off?”
“Don’t just stand there looking around. You actually need to look for them. Did you look in your room? Are they downstairs? You need to look under things, too!”
“Do you have your backpack?”
“Did you brush your hair?”
“Sign something?! We need to go!!”
These things don’t really make mornings very pleasant. Not the best way to start the day, right?
So to help make the mornings go smoother and to teach the kids some responsibility, I made a “Good Morning Checklist” and a “Good Afternoon Checklist.”
I had the kids give input and I put them on the back of the door. The kids know that they need to go down the checklist.
Now you might hear, “Did you do everything on the checklist?”
We’ve had these up for 4 months or so, and it has helped a lot. I’m not saying that shoes are always where they are supposed to be in the morning, or that our mornings are always lovely now, but there is improvement!
The afternoon checklist helps set things up to make the morning checklist a success.
I think every so often we should do some tweaks and revisions.
My school-aged kids are 6 and 8. If you were trying this with a younger child, you might want to simplify it and add pictures.
Today I’m sharing something that’s working, but I just have to tell you that lots of things that were previously decluttered and organized around here are a total disaster. Including the kitchen island. More on that later, hopefully with some before and after pictures!
Do you like checklists? Do you have any other ideas for teaching kids responsibility and getting out the door on time? I’d love to hear it!
