So the other day, our aunt had asked me what my morning routine looks like getting four kids, six and under, out the door on a school day. As I was telling her about it, and she had this look of horror and fascination and just pure awe on her face. And so I thought I would make a really fun, interesting episode / post to share with you today.
The Morning Routine with 4 Kids 6 and Under (On a School Day)
So just a quick little backstory. My husband works for a small startup and they are busy, like really busy, which is a great problem to have as a small growing company. And it also means that he is scheduled on a ton of morning meetings, usually beginning as early as 7am, so I’m thrown into the gauntlet, on my own, during the weekdays.
Sippy Cups & Cat Food
The alarm clock goes off for 6:30am, and I promptly knock on my kindergartner’s door. I wake her up, ask her what she wants to eat for breakfast, and then have her get dressed and meet me downstairs in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I head down with our cat following hot on my heels in addition to our two-year-old. The cat wants breakfast. The two-year-old wants a sippy cup of milk. Downstairs we go. I grab that sippy cup of milk that I had already poured the night before. I grab hard-boiled eggs, bread, half and half for my coffee, and milk for everyone’s breakfast. I grab my daughter’s lunchbox to get her backpack packed. I pop the toast in the toaster. While toast browns, I grab the laundry basket and (finally) walk down another flight to our basement, start my small daily load of laundry, in addition to feeding our cat, breakfast.
Backpacks Packed
I come back into the kitchen, make myself a cup of coffee to drink while I finish packing my daughter’s backpack: lunchbox (packed the night before), water bottle (filled the night before), and I grab a hat and gloves and shove it in her bag if it’s below 50-degrees, because it gets cold out there on the playground for recess. I fill up water bottles for the boys and throw in a snack or two. I then walk my daughters backpack to our front door, my boys backpacks to the mudroom, and then open up all the blinds in the living room to sort of wake up the house.
Breakfast
Back in the kitchen, I peel hard-boiled eggs, I spread toppings on toast, I set out a pitcher of milks so that my kids can help themselves. I finish by setting the breakfast table for our six-year-old daughter and our two-year-old son because our four-year-old son really likes to make his own breakfast. And at this point in the morning, he usually emerges from his bedroom and gets started on said task. So I race in his room and clean out the little potty that he uses overnight before our two-year-old son accidentally knocks it over and spills it. At this point, it is now close to 7am. And if my daughter is not downstairs already, it means that she’s probably naked in fetal position, half asleep on her floor. So then there is more prompting to get her up and dressed and downstairs for breakfast.
Baby Girls Wake-Up
Our baby is so sweet, so easy going. She does not even cry when she wakes. She just makes adorable little baby noises to let us know like, hey, I’m awake, I’m here. I come to get her in her little mini crib, which is stationed in our room for the time being. The baby is smiley and happy and just ready to be alive. I change her diaper, change her into clothes for the day and then nurse her in my bed while the boys play and my daughter eats breakfast. I come back downstairs with the baby and I plop her in her bouncer in my four-year-old’s room. Just a side note, my four-year-old has a main level bedroom. It’s on the same floor as our kitchen and living room and the dining room. And it’s quite a large room and it’s very spacious. And we sort of treat it as our main level playroom, which is really fun and awesome. Our baby is in a bouncer in the boys’ room and we’re all talking and playing and reading.
Kindergarten Pick-Up + Boys Get Dressed
We are looking out the window, watching out for my cousin pulling up in front of the house. My cousin works at my daughter’s school and so she is the one that currently picks my daughter up in the mornings, they drive together, which is a gift I can’t even describe. So while we watch and wait, I am drinking my coffee and I use that time to brush my daughter’s hair and style it for school. I send my daughter back upstairs to brush her teeth, and then down to the mudroom where we keep her jacket, shoes and socks. It’s kind of a mess because we have a tuck-under garage, where the mudroom is located. So it’s a lot of up and down, up and down. But what can you do? While we’re waiting and watching out for my cousin / my daughters ride to school, my boys get dressed. There’s usually a lot of screaming and running around and fighting and flailing from my two year old son. At some point I’ve probably eaten some of my own breakfast in between all the trips to and from the kitchen. I clean up what I can. And then at some point I will take the baby back upstairs because she’s probably ready for her first morning nap. Usually we get a solid 45 minutes to an hour of awake time before she’s ready to go down for that first nap. I try to cajole my two-year-old to eat breakfast, usually unsuccessfully.
Morning Wrap Up
Once the baby is napping, I clean up the rest of breakfast, and if I’m lucky, I’ll have about 30 minutes to myself. I might do a quick workout if it’s early enough in the morning. I might do a little bit of meal prep for dinner, maybe some household admin work, maybe finish cleaning up from breakfast. Maybe I have time to vacuum, whatever is needed around the house. It really just depends. While all that’s happening, the boys brush their teeth and we slowly wrap up the morning. If everyone seems like they’re in a good mood, a cooperative mood, which is the key, I will have my boys help me by doing a quick power tidy of their bedroom. It’s likely a mess of toys and books at this point. But you know what? Sometimes if they’re feeling really feisty and argumentative, I’m just going to leave it and not even bother because the mess is usually contained to their bedroom anyway. And it’s going to just get messed up with books and toys once they get home from preschool in 3 hours anyway. So who really cares? As long as the main living spaces, like the living room, the kitchen, and the dining room are reset to their baseline, then I’m a happy camper walking out the door.
the shoes and the socks and the jacket and the hat and the gloves
At 8:35am, I try to shuffle the boys down to the basement to do the whole song and dance of shoes and socks, jacket, hats, gloves, and backpacks (packed with snacks and waters). It’s a lot of things to put on multiple people. Preschool is only a five-minute walk from our house, but I do like to budget extra time to get out the door. My four-year-old can do almost everything himself, but sometimes it involves a lot of prompting because our basement has another playroom, so he gets distracted easily. My two-year-old can do absolutely nothing himself, and will definitely make it harder by getting distracted, more screaming and more flailing and more resisting with putting on the shoes and the socks and the jacket and the hat and the gloves. It’s a whole thing. Oh, and I still have to get my jacket and my shoes and my socks on too. And then the baby zipped up into her snow jacket and hat. Budgeting 20 minutes, giving myself that buffer window is very helpful and works well for this season. It’s a lot of things. I also try to finish a full 40-ounce water bottle between waking up and walking out the door for school. So I will fill it up again before we leave the house. I will also pour myself a second cup of coffee in a thermos. I’m going to grab my AirPods, turn off the lights, grab whatever else I might need, like mail or packages that need to go out, library books to return, etc. we live in this really awesome part of the city (though we’re technically in the suburbs) where I can walk and do a lot of errands by foot, including dropping my kids off at preschool. It feels like a gift.
Preschool Drop-Off
Once everything is settled, the two little ones are buckled in the double stroller, my four-year-old is on a scooter, we head out on foot, even when it’s 20 degrees outside, it’s just a nice, beautiful walk that I just so look forward to. And even if there was an unusual amount of chaos and resisting and arguments and attitudes and screaming and everything went pear-shaped…the moment I am on foot and that burst of air fresh air hits my face as we begin walking, I feel so rejuvenated to have a fantastic day.
A Bit of Me Time?
I drop off either one or both boys at school, depending on the day of the week, and then I continue with the baby for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes for a walk depending on what else I have going on that day. On my walk, I pop in AirPods, and call my mom, or my best friend, or listen to a podcast or an audiobook. I’ve lived a full day by 9am. By the time my walk is over, I have to nurse and change the baby again, and then try really hard to squeeze in errands, meal prep, cleaning, whatever I can before preschool pickup at 11:30am or 12pm, depending on the day of the week. It’s not a lot of time, but I make it work.
So that my friends is how I get four kids out the door on a school day on my own. It’s a wild ride, but I really do feel like we’re in a good rhythm at this point. I feel like we have more good, smooth, easy mornings than we do bad ones. It really is just this weird Rubik’s cube of people’s attitudes and temperaments and moods and just the flow of life. There are a lot of people here in this household to take into consideration for all of their emotional well-being. Sometimes it’s up, sometimes it’s down. It is what it is. And the staggered drop-off time helps tremendously. My kindergartener starts at 8 a.m. and my boys start at 9. And my cousin picking up my daughter is just a huge weight off of my shoulders. So I’m not totally doing this by myself, but a lot of the heavy lifting in the morning is on me. And I think if someone were to have told me five years ago that you would be the sole person responsible for getting four children, six and under out the door in the morning, I would be like, what?! That’s insane. But now that we’ve been doing it and it’s just, it doesn’t feel that hard. And I really, truly believe that people rise to the challenge and the levels that they’re given. Yes, I’m sure it seems hard / bananas on the outside, but once you’re doing it and once you’re in it, it’s just… life? So yeah, that’s sort of what our mornings look like in my household at the current moment of these ages, six, four, two, and three months. And I know as the baby grows and her naps and her needs and food and everything changes, so will our morning. But you know what? That’s what we signed up for.