Getting Your Children Ready For School

Whatever can be done the night before school saves time getting ready in the morning. Remember, putting away should be as easy as getting out.

* Encourage children to empty out their school bag at the end of the day, put their lunch box and drink bottle in the kitchen, hand over notes or permission slips, put dirty clothes in the laundry and organise their homework to avoid having to do it all in the morning (or you doing it), when time is short.

* Pack sealed lunch boxes the night before and store them in the fridge to keep the contents fresh. Then all you have to do is train your children to take them out and put them in their school bag the next morning, along with a bottle of fresh water.

* Think about buying bread rolls in bulk, buttering and filling them, then freezing them in zip-lock bags. Then all you have to do is pull one out of the freezer in the morning, pack it into a lunch box and it’ll be thawed and ready to eat by lunchtime. You can organise up to a month’s lunches in advance, if you have room in your freezer.

* Get school clothes ready the night before to save time in the morning. There’s nothing worse than a uniform crisis first thing! bHelp smaller children prepare their school bag and sports bag so that they don’t end up carrying around unnecessary extras.

* Print out an easy-to-read roster for the whole family and assign jobs for each person. For example, one child cleans all the school shoes while another empties out the lunch boxes or puts away sports equipment. This will go a long way to help avoiding a serious case of morning madness!

From 10,001 Timesaving Ideas