School day mornings......

In the mornings, inspite of hitting the snooze buttons a couple of times,  I make sure I get up a couple of hours earlier than the rest of the family. Making tea and packing lunch go hand-in-hand. Each lunch box - there's 3 of them, have 3 very different meals in them. Sandwiches for the elder daughter. For the little one, it is only parathas slathered with nutella and peanut butter and made into rolls. Thankfully, the side snack remains common. For the husband who is on a no-grain diet mostly, it is sundals of various sorts, salads and fruits.

Sometimes, for reasons I can't seem to fathom at least one of the kids is bad-tempered in the mornings. Sometimes  it is I don't want to get up, Mama. When coerced out of bed to brush their teeth, there is this refusal to gargle, or slow ponderous brushing of teeth. Then the refusal to pee after sleeping the whole night.
For all things we have a pattern -  reminder, gentle coaxing, insistence, stern warning, .... almost always reciprocated with tears and non-cooperation on the other side, we are a bit sensitive you see!

Then we assemble in the kitchen. Breakfast is one of these - omlettes, boiled eggs, parathas, cereals and milk and toast. With the little one and her do-it-myself attitude, I have to take care I don't butter the bread or let her spread honey on the pancakes though it is always messy when she does it. Couple of reminders to wash hands, rinse mouths and we are ready to get dressed.  Luckily, on a few days, the bad mood disappears after breakfast.

On most days, we would've finished a round of negotiations on what to wear the night before. The weather app is checked first, to my amusement and exasperation. The day sunshine is predicted is usually reserved for skirts and naked feet and sandals (Dutch: bloete voeten). I resort to the above pattern (reminder, gentle coaxing........)  to make them see the folly of their decision in the changing weather here. At this point, I  check my watch - if we have time, the hair is done in two braids, ponytails only on days when we have to hurry. Mind you, for my elder one, there is couple of repeats to this as both pony tails have to be well aligned!! Sometimes, we forget the moisturizer too.

Usually, the last 5 minutes are for medicines, or last-minute signatures or somedays when I'm changing, request to watch TV! Always a no:) In the midst of all this, I have managed to make the beds, I am OCD about this as soon as we get up, empty the dish-washer,  changed myself for the school run already
and keep the  husband's breakfast ready. The cup of tea and a biscuit or a fruit that I've  had in the early morning keeps me going till I escort the kids to the school-gate and get back home relishing the peace and space I will have for a few hours.

When one of the kids is a bit grumpy, I need to spend time on ensuring they are out of it, and then we  can't focus on preparing-for-the-day talks  which would be a nice way to get the kids to focus on their day in school. Like prep my daughter for her swimming less or tell the little one to make friends with new classmate, general small talk for the day, some laughs...How is your morning routine like?

Posted here with a few changes from IndianMomsConnect