Getting children ready in the mornings can be a pretty stressful and daunting task, especially when you have more than one! The tantrums, protests and distractions can send you over the edge at 6.30am before the day has even started.

With my three boys, there can be several things happening all at one time, not to mention rummaging around their room looking for clothes for them to wear. One morning I thought to myself ” there has got to be a slightly better way to get a handle on getting ready in the morning”.

I decided to start with the night before and prep the clothes that they would wear for the next day, so that at least that would run smoothly for me. I was hopeful and my effort paid off. In the morning when they awoke, each one went to their pile of clothes, and got on with trying to get dressed by themselves. I injected a little bit of fun into the process by initiating a competition -which they of course loved.

That’s when I realised that this system would really work and in addition to making it easier for myself I could use this as a teaching and character nurturing moment- each and every day. So the next day we took a trip to Poundland and picked up 3 boxes, labelled them and had fun filling it with clothes that they helped pick for the next day.

Most mornings, they wake up between 5.30-6.00am when I am exercising. They have a lot of demands at that time (ha!) so I direct them to their box, and they now know that when they wake up, they need to go straight to their box and change into their clothes for the day.

This hack has worked so well in encouraging each boy in the area of independence, routine and responsibility so I thought I’d share as it is a small but big shift that has unexpectedly changed the flow of our mornings!

If you try it, let me know how you get on and if it improves the chaos of the mornings!