Lesson 10: Efficiency Eases the Morning Rush

I have always been an early riser, at least I thought I was, until I went to college, and learned the joys of partying. As a child, I would wake up at 5:30 AM, be at my best in the morning hours, and then go to bed by 8:30 or 9:00 each night. Getting less than 8 hours of sleep per night sent me into a circadian spin that took weeks to get back into rhythm.

Today, I get up before 6 AM for work, but I still live for the weekends, when I can lounge in bed until 10 or 11 AM and enjoy some of the dozing daydreams that make sleep so pleasant. To extend my sleep in the morning, I learned some tricks that may help you.

Set clothes out the night before. There is nothing more frustrating than being in a rush and having to coordinate clothes, particularly if it's dark and my Hubby is sleeping, and I don't want to turn on the light. That is why I try to pick out what I wear the night before. It makes it so much easier when I'm not functioning on all cylinders early in the day to walk out the door looking my best.

This is a MUST for children, particularly when they hit that stage when they get picky about what they wear. Let your child pick out their own clothes the night before. If they have a problem with making decisions, select two outfits and let them choose one. They will still feel independent while learning confidence in decision making.

Make lunches the night before. Immediately, after dinner, I would line up the lunch bags, and fill them in assembly-line fashion, labeling them with each of our names prior to lining them up. When completed, I stapled them and put them on the same shelf everyday and the children knew where to find them on their way out the door.

Hungry children early in the morning on a sleep-in day? Fill a bowl of dry cereal, cover with plastic wrap and put on the kitchen table along with a spoon. Using a creamer from your dishware, fill it up with enough milk and cover. There should be enough milk for your young child to use in his/her cereal, yet, the creamer should be light-enough to carry from the refrigerator to the table without spills. Add a box of raisins and you have a filling and healthy breakfast.

Routines, routines, routines... Humans function in rhythmic cycles. Routines are important from the first day of life. We know to function actively during the day and to rest and recoup that energy through sleep at night. Children who do best in school have routine life cycles. They rise and sleep at the same time each day. Their body craves energy through food at the same times each day.

We do an excellent job providing routines for our babies, but it seems to be a challenge as children get older. After all, working parents have to get chores done after work or late into the night and children often have to accompany them to do this. It what it is

Lesson 9: Travel with your Children

I'll admit there were times when my children were young that I wished I could take my hubby away to a week of solitude, but as circumstances were, we had no one to help us out, so the first major trip we took alone was to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

Don't feel too sorry for us. We thoroughly enjoyed every family trip we took with our children. For years, it was to Ocean City, Maryland. My brother and his wife own a beautiful townhome right on the bay. The kids had their own room, and we had ours. There was plenty of space for all of us to have solitude if we wanted it. That week was sacred to us.

We had a routine. We'd arrive and purchase a week's worth of breakfast and lunch food, and we ate out every night to the usual haunts: JR's, Phillips, Alaska Stand (before they went out of business), and Dumser's every night for ice cream as well as dinner once or twice). During the day, we'd pack the car and go to the ocean side, usually on 87th street by the Antigua, and enjoy the sand and surf. My husband always suffered through it...not being a real fan of sand and real sand in his lunch, but he was a good sport, and enjoyed watching the children puttering in the sand and played with them in the ocean. After dinner, we'd go to the Boardwalk for the rides every night when the children were young, and as they got older, we did more miniature golf and movies. We enjoyed the smells and sounds of being at the ocean. The best times were those we spent on the backporch of the townhouse. We'd reminisce and plan and sometimes made up stories.

By the time I finished graduate school, we had missed 2 summers at the beach while I was completing my courses, and I decided we would take the family trip of a lifetime. The girls were 14 and 17 and we headed off to London for a week. To see the world through their eyes was enlightening and thorougly enjoyable. I'm sure we did many things we wouldn't have done on our own, and we adored every minute of it. Such wonderful memories and adventures. I'd repeat it in a minute.

Even today, I'm planning a week at the beach again. This time to actually stay, not just enjoy its beach during the day, at the Antigua - where we went a couple of years ago and enjoyed an oceanside condo for 4 days. There was no question that all of us want to be together to enjoy old memories and make new ones.