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The One Morning Routine with Kids that will Change Your LIFE

Mornings are rough around here. Mostly because we are a bunch of night owls, and it’s really hard to make myself go to sleep even when I’m tired.

Late nights create hazy mornings, which leads to chaos as the minutes get closer and closer to leaving for school. I’m grabbing backpacks, lunch boxes, and water bottles all while gently reminding my sleepy kids to put their shoes on. It starts out as a kind reminder that they will actually NEED shoes to go to school.

I grab more papers, folders, sign a behavior chart, and look around to see that NO ONE has shoes on yet.

Those gentle reminders turn into the screaming mommy monster:

“Where are your shoes?”

“Why don’t you have shoes on yet?”

Then my kids’ response that really sets me off EVERY. SINGLE. TIME….”I don’t know where my shoes are…mommy do you know where my shoes are?”

Morning Routine with Kids: Could it ever be easier?

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I was overwhelmed with our mornings and it was the shoes that were pushing me over the edge. We had a pinterest-y basket system where all the shoes were supposed to go. But the shoes were in a jumbled mess on the floor beside the basket.

Usually you could find one shoe in the basket and the other was lost in a sea of shoes. Most of the time, the kids never put their shoes in the basket, so we would be hunting for shoes all over the house at the time we should have been loading up in the car.  My back to school routine was falling apart and school was just beginning!

Then a few weeks ago I was at a friend’s house for a playdate. We were talking about how out of control our mornings were because of SHOES!

How I Turned My Morning Around with this Mom Hack

You can imagine my excitement when my friend showed me this new shoe storage organization rack she was using in her garage that held ALL the shoes! Pairs of shoes side by side just waiting for their owners to come and put them on.

It’s so simple!

Each kid has their own row of shoes.

But the mom hack that makes this shoe organization for our entryway WORK is the new family routine that we ALL follow.

Everyone must remove their shoes and place them on the shoe rack when they enter the house.

Let me be clear, I’m not worried about friends and family removing their shoes when they come over. It’s really not about being clean and keeping dirt out. The purpose of this new family routine is to help us with our shoe problem AND it totally works!

My kids love having a routine. Now it’s become their habit. When they come into the house, they take off their shoes and put them up on the shoe rack at the door.

Imagine no more shoes hiding under couches, lost in a laundry basket, under a pile of toys…What would your morning look like if everyone ALWAYS knew where their shoes were?

I’m going to be honest with you here, it’s not a perfect system. There have been a few times when the kids entered a different door and their shoes were lying in the middle of the living room.

But for the most part, it’s been a total game changer for our mornings!

What are your best tips for a successful back to school routine?

 

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