As a child; me and mornings were far from friends. My poor mother had to hear me complain about every single thing; from my socks not fitting correctly to my hair not looking how I wanted. (Sorry mom!) it was such a hassle to make me happy in the AM ; and even harder to get me to school. Trust me when I say - I LOVED school ; but it was the waking up part that I just couldn't come to terms with. This followed me my whole life actually. As a college student my first class was at 8:30am so I needed to be up at 5:30am to get to Brooklyn on time. That is when I met my best friend coffee and our beautiful relationship became official. I found something that made me happy ; made me sociable ; and kept me productive. No - I am not advising you to give your kids a cup of joe! But I am saying that we have to find what awakens their spirit to make mornings a tad bit easier on all of us.
Now first let's start off with the basic points that everyone knows can make a difference. Enough sleep is a HUGE deal. Make a sleep routine & stick with it because it will make or break their mood. I learned this one the hard way! Secondly, have everything ready and layed out before you wake them. Wake up before them if you can to get some alone time. YOU must put yourself in a good mood and a positive mind state before you have to gear them into theirs. So give yourself time to get ready; prep your coffee; lay out their clothing & school essentials so nothing is forgotten and all goes smoothly. Nobody likes to be rushed ; so do everything you can so you can slowly move them from one transition to the next so it isn't all just fast paced and running around. They will feel the stress from that and it can affect their mood ; just as it does for us. Be prepared!
Now finding what awakens them in good spirits is tough. But dig deep and see what you feel works best for your own child. My oldest loves morning cartoons and a nice cold cup of chocolate milk. So as soon as I wake him I have his tablet or the tv on to get him excited to start his day off with something he enjoys.
I wake him up early enough so he can enjoy some down time before a long day of school. He watches his show and eats breakfast until it's time to get dressed and out the door.
Once we are out the door I remind him depending on the day of the week of what special classes or trips he is going on. I tell him he is going to have an amazing day with all of his friends and that he is going to do great ! I have found that if you start off your morning giving them affirmations it's preparing them to enter the day positive and proud. I love reminding him about all the great things he has already accomplished and how proud I am of him. I mean come on who doesn't love to be complimented all the time and told of their achievements?! His sweet little smile shows me his gratitude towards the reminders.
As a mother now I wish I had learned to be a morning person earlier in my life and found the beauty of it ; as I do now. It's a new beginning every morning; a fresh start to enjoy life and spread your light onto others. Let your child be that light too; and in hopes that they will take it with them into adult hood.
We don't have picture perfect mornings every day. We do have mornings which are tougher than others but I'd say they are very rare. This is what has worked for us 95% of the time and I only hope this can help another mommy turn morning battles into morning motivation.
I love being able to contribute to my child's attitude on life. Seeing him in a positive mind state calms me and also reassures me that I helped him stay on the path to success for the day ahead of him.
No comments:
Post a Comment