Routines- Love ’em or hate ’em, everyone should probably have one. They keep you in check.

Summer Break- The time when you let routines slip and relax, and then you realize it’s almost time to go back to school.

Back to School- The time when you scramble to get the kids up and ready before it’s time to leave, making sure they’ve eaten, packed their backpacks, and lunches, and try not to spend your entire day’s energy all before 9am. Yeah. That.

Ok, now that we’ve got those definitions out of the way. Let’s talk about setting routines. It all starts the week before school starts for us. We start getting them to bed at a decent hour. They have a stop time of all technology, and tv so that they can start getting ready for bed. They have to have their backpacks packed up, lunch boxes cleaned out, clothing picked out for the next day, be showered and teeth brushed and then they get some time to just hang out and unwind and relax before we tuck them in to bed.

In the past years, we’ve woken them up to start getting ready for school, but this year, that’s changing. I bought them each an alarm clock. They needed something to be able to see what time it was and keep account of how much time they have before they need to go downstairs for breakfast. They like having the clock in their room, and for when they have quiet reading time, or when they want to just hang out and dance around in their rooms, the clock we got them, the GPX Clock Radio with Dual Alarm,  has a radio tuner, which they love, and at only $7.37, it’s super affordable. We didn’t need anything super fancy or frilly.. It plugs into the wall, plays music and wakes them up when they need to be woken up! It does it’s job!

The alarm clock was just the beginning though. With everything they have to have done the night before, it’s hopefully going to help us get through the mornings fairly drama free. This year is going to be a good one…

So tell me… What’s your biggest hang up in the mornings? What is your morning routine like? Do you have any suggestions for helping the rest of us improve ours???

Hope you all have a great 2013-14 School Year!