Getting to school on time is extremely important so that your child can start their day off on the right foot. Being late not only results in tardies, but it can also result in a frantic and flustered start to the day. If your child is late, they might miss important morning announcements, morning work, or, most importantly, breakfast!

Here are some tips to help you find the morning routine that works best for you and your family.

Use alarm clocks in different ways

Most of us probably set alarms on our phones, but it’s easy to turn them off with a swipe of the finger and go back to sleep. Get an actual alarm clock—one that has a loud and annoying alarm would probably be best. Place it across the room and set it 5-10 minutes later than your phone alarm. This way you’ll be forced to get out of bed, and you’ll still be on time even if you turn off your phone alarm.

Get ready before getting the kids ready

Once you start your morning routine with your kids, there will be little time for you. At minimum, aim to brush your teeth and get dressed before waking the kids up. If your children are older, implement a similar alarm clock system (described above) for them and then do a quick check in to make sure they’re awake and getting ready in a timely manner.

Prep the night before

This is an extremely important step. Instead of having hurried mornings and risking forgetting something, prepare everything the night before! This might include:

Picking out clothes: Choosing outfits before the morning scramble can be especially helpful for younger kids—and it’ll give you the opportunity to do any last minute laundry if need be. Finding out your child has no clean socks at 7:00am right before school certainly isn’t a great way to start the day!

Packing lunches: By taking the time to prepare lunches in the evenings, you’ll avoid having to pull a hodgepodge of food out of the refrigerator. Take the time to pack your child a full, nutrition-packed lunch the night before they head off to school. This will ensure they’re able to keep learning after lunchtime! (Of course, if you don’t have time to pack your child some lunch, it’s not the end of the world—all Philadelphia public schools offer free lunch to students!)

Pack backpacks: Sign permission slips, double check that homework made it inside the backpack, and make sure your child has the appropriate school supplies. And: designate a place for the backpack, either near the front door or in your child’s room.

Prepping the night before will also give you time to run last minute errands if you need to. You can fill your car with gas or make a late night run to the grocery store if you run out of milk. After all, there’s nothing worse than realizing you’re out of milk at 7:30 in the morning.

Give your child some responsibilities

Guide your child on how to get themselves ready for school, and check on their progress periodically. This will free up some time for you in the morning to make breakfast or get ready for the day. If you child is older, don’t be afraid to give them more control over their morning routine. Set times when they should complete certain things, such as brush teeth by 7:15am, be at the breakfast table by 7:30am, and be out the door at 8:00am. This will help move them along so that they can establish a regular and efficient morning routine.

Divide and conquer

If there are several adults in your household, enlist their help in getting the kids to school on time! You may be concerned about waking everyone up early, but having a bit of backup can help expedite the process and shorten your morning routine. For instance, one adult can wake the kids up while the other makes breakfast. A morning routine can be as quick as 15 to 20 minutes if everyone in the household works together.

Plan for transportation delays

Traffic might be unexpectedly bad some mornings or there could be subway or bus delays. Plan ahead! Leave earlier and give yourself a nice cushion between when your child should arrive at school and when classes actually start. Don’t catch the absolute last train that will get your child to school exactly one minute before the bell rings. Instead, make sure that if you miss one or two trains, the next one would still get your child to school on time. SEPTA can be tricky sometimes, but you can avoid being late to school by leaving the house earlier rather than later.

Remember: Being late can set your child up for a hard day at school. So follow some of the tips above to help your child get to school on time and ready to learn!

Sources:

https://www.babycenter.com/101_15-tips-for-getting-the-kids-out-the-door-fast-and-to-school_10347624.bc

https://www.popsugar.com/moms/7-Tips-Getting-Your-Tween-Teen-School-Time-27332464