Do THIS to fix a crazy morning routine when you've got 3 kids to get out the door to school! (Before you can work on your business.)

What do you do if you've got kids who go to school (which theoretically means you have lots of nice free time during the day), but that means your morning routine is crazy and your evening homework/food in mouth/drive everybody to extracurriculars routine is even worse?

That’s what this client came to me about. 

She liked the mid-afternoon free time that came with her schedule, but not only were her mornings completely non-restful, her evenings had way too much to fit in!

And her kids were starting to stay up late because of it. With the predictable results the next morning.

Keep listening to find out what I did….

You’ve got this!

Alyssa

De-stress daily life as a work-at-home mom: https://yourunbusylife.com/ 

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Transcript

This is a Client Case Study, and today we’re talking about how to fix a crazy morning routine with 3 kids to get out the door to school.

What do you do if you've got kids who go to school (which theoretically means you have lots of nice free time during the day), but that means your morning routine is crazy and your evening homework/food in mouth/drive everybody to extracurriculars routine is even worse?

That’s what this client came to me about. 

She liked the mid-afternoon free time that came with her schedule, but not only were her mornings *completely* non-restful, her evenings had way too much to fit in!

And her kids were starting to stay up late because of it. With the predictable results the next morning.

You know what I did? 

I validated her frustration at "this can't work anymore." Because it couldn't!

Do you realize that you're trying to fit the sit-down family meal, kids doing daily chores, thorough homework help for everyone (she had 3 kids in school), hearing about each person's day (not just in the car driving home, but also at the supper table when Daddy could hear it), dealing with any discipline issues, getting hot, nourishing food into their bodies, having evening devotions with the kids, driving each kid to her separate lesson (that's a whole juggling act in and of itself!), and making the timelines work? Oh, and getting time with her husband before he had to get up for work super early?

There's no way she was fitting everything in, nor should she have been trying to!

Here's the schedule makeover I suggested for her - because your kids deserve the family atmosphere you want for them - and YOU deserve a settled, grounded daily schedule as you parent them.

(And no, it doesn’t have to be unattainable for you just because you’re running a business!)

All I did was shift several somethings from her jenga tower routine to make the pieces fit better. 

First, what if you bumped all chores *off* the evening (too overcrowded), and moved them all to Saturdays? You'll be a Saturday cleaning day family, but that's what fits right now.

Second, decide what's the biggest priority for you right now. Getting the kids to their after-school lessons? Going over their homework every day? Spending relaxed time as a family? I don't think you can do all 3, each night. Ain't gonna happen.

Third, either choose to drop most of those lessons; OR move them to the weekend; stop doing daily homework (do *that* on the weekend, too, or on the car ride home/back and forth from lessons); don't put the pressure of family evening time on yourself (save that for a couple special weekend outings and traditions); OR drop either the lessons *or* the homework and create at-home evenings all playing together.

If you’re in this situation, too, know that which option you pick is truly your choice. 

And I know it's a hard one, but your kids can't keep on living this way. It's not fair to them to ask them to rush from school to home to out again to back home, then chores, homework, and an hour-too-late bedtime.

That's not what childhood is all about. (Heck, you'd be stressed out every day if this was your reality, right?)

Which means YOU get to decide what's most important for your evenings. 

I.e., pick 2 out of 3 (lessons, homework, or family time) because you've got to drop 1 from your daily routine.

That's just the reality of "can't fit everything in."

But also, let this empower you. Now you *know* why you couldn't get everything done and your family felt so rushed in the evenings.

Good job for you, noticing it! 

*Now* you can make some changes. 
*Now* you can craft the kind of life you want to live.
*Now* you can start *actually* enjoying your evenings as a family - no matter which 2 out of 3 you put in.

Because it's all doable, and everything fits. And there's so much peace in that.

Because you need the REST of your family life to be operating smoothly - since hurrying your kid time block on evenings and weekends is going to drain your energy for client projects and content recording and sales call taking during the week.

So by all means, allow yourself to have more time with your kids. But make sure your *schedule* isn’t overloading you somewhere else so you can have it - that’s a sure sign you need some more calendar decluttering.

Which evening commitment are you going to drop today?