Let’s face it…mornings with kids are stressful. Getting a child up, dressed, fed and out the door on time is near impossible, which is why most parents are constantly running on “kid time.” Luckily, there are a few things that you can do the night before to make your mornings run just a bit smoother.

Select outfits

NO one wants to battle a child in the morning about what they are going to wear that day. Allowing your child to select their outfit the night before, and lay it out, takes some of the guesswork out of the morning. Of course, there is always the possibility that your kid will change their mind that morning (pretty standard, right?) But, at least we are putting the choice and power into their hands.

Pack backpacks and lunches

Assign everyone their own hook or area in the house to keep their backpack and other items they typically bring to and from school. Make this the drop zone for after school so you aren’t running around the house searching for backpacks, sports gear and lunchboxes in the morning. Making your lunches the night before gives you one less thing to think about in the morning. Bento box style lunchboxes make packing lunches easy. We love the Lunchbots Trio for easy packing. Hey mom and dad, you can use these too…pack your lunch at night and pop it in your briefcase or throw it in your fridge for a quick and easy lunch.

Prepare breakfast

Use the timer on your coffee maker…they put it there for a reason! Did you know that my 3 year old can get his own cereal and milk in the morning? He sure can…and no milk ends up on the floor. I’m serious. The Sistema divided bowl allows you to put milk in one part, and cereal in the other (or yogurt and fruit, the options are endless!) Prepare this at night, put it in the fridge and you won’t have anyone waking you up at the crack of dawn to get them breakfast. Trust me on this one…Even my 3 year old can do this flawlessly! I get an extra hour or two of sleep because of it. Moms and dads, do the same. I love prepping a yogurt, fruit and granola parfait in a small mason jar and having it ready for me in the morning. Layer the yogurt, fruit then granola in that order and the granola will stay crunchy until morning.