Easy Ways to Get Your Kids Out the Door On Time

Getting the kids ready and out the door in the morning can be a bit of a challenge, even for the best and most efficient of moms. When your preschoolers suddenly lose the ability to dress themselves and no one can decide what to wear, it makes things stressful. If you want to eliminate the time it takes to dress yourself and the other members of your family each morning, try using a few of these tips.

Pick it Out the Night Before

If your kids are big on deciding what they want to wear on their own but it takes them forever and three days to do it, do it the night before when no one feels rushed. For example, after dinner and before baths, ask them to go to their rooms and pick out what they want to wear the next day. Then go approve their selections once they’ve finished. The following morning they’ll be halfway ready before they’re even out of their pajamas.

Make it a Race

When your four-year-old decides she wants you to dress her, but you don’t have time without making yourselves late, make it a race. Tell her that you don’t think she can get herself dressed faster than you can dress yourself, because you’re the fastest person in the house. Typically, this will have her dressed in under a minute, without your help. You win.

Discuss the Rules

The night before, as you put your kids to bed, remind them that you are so proud of them and what big kids they are. Reinforce the opinion that you love how helpful they are in the mornings by getting themselves dressed and ready, and that it makes you happy. If you have to, remind them of this conversation in the morning when they begin to dawdle. In reality, they just want to make you happy.