Children spend five days a week in school shoes, so quality shoes are a must. Here are seven tips for buying kids school shoes.
It’s that time of year – back to school season, and you’ll find that many of the shoe shops are chaotic with people buying school shoes. Kids spend over 30 hours a week wearing their school shoes, so it’s important to ensure they are fitted properly for comfort, growth and development. With increase in shoe technology, there is a shoe to fit every foot, whether it be a narrow foot, wide foot, shoes which take orthotics or shoes with the orthotic features built within the shoe. The type of shoes to buy your kids for school should be a one off purchase for the year, if done the right way. There are so many factors to consider when buying a school shoe, e.g. the shoe should be lightweight, as a heavy shoe can cause unnecessary pressure and pain to your child’s ankle by the end of the day.
Below is my guide to buying school shoes to help you at this hectic time of year.
1. GET SHOES FITTED IN THE AFTERNOON
The best time to buy shoes is in the afternoon as the foot will be at its largest. Fitting shoes, while the foot is at its largest/swollen, will ensure the best fit for your child throughout a full day.
2. TAKE YOUR OWN SOCKS
Bring your child’s school socks when getting fitted. For hygiene reasons, you don’t want to be sharing socks that have been on other kids feet. It also means that they will have the same socks on, which they will be using for school. Some schools have their own branded socks which can often be thicker than the average supermarket socks.
3. DECIDE SHOE LACES OR VELCRO
Decide if you will get shoes with laces or velcro. For the younger children who don’t know how to tie shoes, shoes that fasten with velcro will make it easier for them to put on their shoes. If you choose shoes with laces, make sure you invest in extra laces, you will be surprised at how quickly kids destroy shoe laces!
Surprising fact: two-thirds of Australian kids know how to use a tablet or smart phone, but only 8% can tie their shoe lace.
4. HAVE THE SHOES PROFESSIONALLY FITTED
Always try shoes on both feet, not just one. Two of my children have different sized feet, so it’s very important to make sure I get their feet measured and shoes fitted properly to ensure they have the right sized shoe for their feet. Experienced staff will measure the width and length of both feet. Also remember if your child wears orthotics to take them with you so your child can be fitted correctly with their orthotics.
Book a fitting time – Jump the queue, beat the rush by booking a fitting appointment with your chosen store. Most shoe stores will let you book in-store or on-line.
5. BUY THE CORRECT SIZE
Unlike clothing, don’t try to save money by buying shoes that are a little big, thinking the kids will grow into them. This will cause many problems while the child is walking or running and can cause future problems or even injury. When shopping for a school shoe, you want to look for:
- Multiple width fittings
- Using only quality leathers and materials
- Orthotic friendly so look for a shoe with an easy to remove footbed
- Superior durability
6. LOOK FOR QUALITY
After the age of three a child’s foot will grow about half a size every six months, this means that school shoes will generally last between nine months and a year, so it’s important to buy a quality and durable shoe with double stitching to last a full school year.
7. TEST FOR COMFORT
Find a shoe with good cushioning, so your child will be comfortable standing, sitting on the floor and running around in lunch breaks. Get your child to walk around the store in the shoes before purchasing; checking for comfort, tight spots or stitching that may rub the feet.
122 comments
My biggest struggle in the mornings is having time to get myself ready before my three crazy little boys get up and going.. They are early risers and like to run amok and if I’m not ready for them, the house becomes more like a circus before 7am! Xx please help!
Same… I just have to go to be a little earlier and I get up a tad earlier. I have 30 minutes of me time, read emails have a shower and then its “ON”, no rest for the wicked!
Same… I just have to go to bed a little earlier and I get up a tad earlier. I have 30 minutes of me time, read emails have a shower and then its “ON”, no rest for the wicked!
The kids getting dressed can be disorganised chaos. I put hang-up wardrobe storage shelves with 5 compartments and put 1 whole set of uniform in each. Shirt, Shorts, undies, socks. When I say “go get dressed” they’re not faffing about wondering where their clothes are! When I haven’t refilled it, it can cost us 15 precious minutes in the mornings looking for uniform and kids all scatty.
My biggest struggle in the morning is getting everyone dressed! 3 small kids: 6 month old baby, and the other 2 running around not wanting to get dressed and then getting myself done?.
Definitely have clothes laid out ready and lunchboxes packed the night before. It makes mornings soooo much easier.
My biggest struggle is to get everyone ready without getting distracted. I run a family day care from home so have 3 other children to get ready of a morning as well as my own 2. There can be lots of distractions, different moods & different levels of cooperation. It is my daughter’s first year of kindergarten this year so it is going to be a real test to get all 5 children ready & my daughter walked to school on time.
My best tip is doing lunches the night before! It frees up precious morning time which is then spent getting 3 kids and myself ready whilst arguing with 1 child who never wants to wear her uniform but after many tears and tantrums she does it’s just you need it to seem like she picked her uniform idea that day!!
My biggest struggle is getting my youngest child into the car. She dawdles. We are all ready to car, then it is another 5 minutes, walking out to the car!
I find that organising the lunches ( with the childrens help) the night before is so helpful in getting ready in the morning:)
My biggest struggle is getting my eldest motivated! He gets so easily distracted and I’m constantly having to remind him what to do next to get ready… drives me insane!! The joys of having gifted children, the mind is working overtime!
I do lunches the night before and try and pack bags too. However my biggest struggle is stopping all the fights between my two girls. I have to make sure they aren’t in the bathroom at the same time and don’t need their hair done at the same time, things like that otherwise it always seems to end in arguments ?
Trying to get a very headstrong little 5yr old to do what she needs to do not what she wants to do.
In my household routine is the key, waking up at the same time each day, my teen doing things in order so as to be able to be ready in time, also as in high school pack the bag the night before with just popping lunch in on the day…no tv or electronics till they r fully dressed n ready for school….also a calm mum …not a frazzled mum is a good tip too…write a list for your kids to follow if needed.
Biggest struggle is to get everyone dressed and keep them clean at least until we made it to the car to go to school and daycare. With 3 little kids that’s a challenge! We have started eating brekky in PJs and dress just before leaving. That reduced the number of clothes changes in the morning.
My biggest struggle to get the kids organised in the morning is me! Often I am not organised! On the days that I am organised, lunches made the night before, notes signed and in bags, and clothes ready (including my own) things run much smoother.
My biggest tip is to have lunch made the night before and a checklist for kids to follow in the morning to get ready
My morning thing is the breakfast chore. I have given up fighting and pack a vegimite sandwich and fruit for the car trip to drop off. My kids hate eating and rushing to get ready. This way they get ready, relax alittle and then eat breakfast in the car whilst listening to an audio book. No fights or fuss.
My biggest struggle is getting the big child out of bed… she’s 7 going on 17!! Once she’s out and showered she dawdles to get dressed. Ugh.
It’s an oldie but a goodie – have everything ready the night before! The big girls help lay their clothes out and all the lunches are in the fridge stacked for each member of the family, so they just need to go in the lunchbox with an ice brick.
I always make sure there is extra fruit in the bowl for a quick brekkie in the car if needed too.
Try to keep the same routine each morning. As a teacher, children will follow if they are familiar with what they need to do, have a consequence for those who try to break the routine. Don’t allow distractions eg. facebook, messages etc. at this critical time.
Screaming, stress and shouting… no longer with my blackboard wall in the kitchen, floor to ceiling. On it, a T-chart with ‘To Do’ and ‘Done’. Blu-takked tasks (that we’ve written together) on personalised coloured paper makes for an easy visual. Move your tasks to ‘Done’ and we are a happy household!
Biggest struggle during the week, on school days, is getting them out of bed. They go to bed at night nice and early, so it’s not like they’re tired. But when the weekend comes, and during school holidays, when Mum (wife) and I want to sleep in too, the little buggers are up with the birds
We have to leave quite early (7am). So I get as much ready as I can the night before, and have a set routine for each of us in the mornings.
My biggest struggle is my girls distracting each other and never quite finishing off whatever task it is they have started. I find getting lunches and bags ready the night before gives me the extra time I need to re-direct my kids back to getting ready whilst trying to get myself ready too.
In the morning, my biggest struggle is with my daughters hair, on the spectrum and unco-operative about having her hair brushed. Add in younger siblings getting ready for day care and a Mumma that goes to wok at the same time as they leave home…the struggle is real! This year we’ve gone with short hair, which she loves.
My biggest morning struggle is finding balance – as a working mum it’s a juggle between getting myself ready, ensuring everyone (including hubby & I) have nutritious lunches ready to go, struggling with last minute requests of “mum, I don’t have clean socks/shirt/etc”, feeding and walking new puppy, last minute info such as “mum I need $5 for a teacher present/charity/fundraiser”!!! Once my teens leave the house to catch catch the bus, I catch my breath, watch the news, a few quiet moments of reading or meditation before I head off to face the outside world!
We’ve created a rota which changes each day – each child has a set number of jobs to achieve in the morning. Numbers are tallied at the weekend and treats given out accordingly.
When my children were younger eg; Kindy – Year 1, I made a “get ready for school” race/game for them. Each child had a track with a car on it. Along the track were the jobs that they had to do (we put photos of the children doing their chores on there as the younger ones couldn’t yet read. As they did each job (breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, make bed, pack bag, etc), they moved the car along the track until they got to the finish line. As my kids were quite competitive, it made them hurry!
My biggest struggle every morning is getting Miss 5 out of bed!!! I swear I have been (blessed? cursed?) with a teenage mind in a childs body, I can pull the covers off, throw the windows open, shake her… “five more minutes mummy” and she rolls over and goes back to sleep. My tip? Find their favourite music and play it loud! For my girl it’s Taylor Swift “Shake It Off” that she can’t help but get up and dance to, but even if they won’t dance, they sure won’t sleep through it! Good luck Mums of Australia!!!!!
My best tip is get up early at least 30 mins before the children. I have three kids so I wake the sleepiest first and then make as much noise doing what needs to be done. The kids have no chance to sleep in with Mum making noise and asking them what special treat they would like today. I have two choices. 🙂
Routine is the only way for us to get the kids ready in the morning to get to the bus in time. The last chore is doing their readers, which means they are calm and relaxed when they leave the house.
My biggest struggle is managing to eat breakfast before doing the school run. I have an illness that causes me a fair bit of fatigue and I struggle to get moving in the morning. I really need to find more make ahead breakfasts for the morning to help with this.
My tip is to have the kids routine on their door (with pictures) this has really helped my kids with getting ready on time.
The best thing I do in the morning, is go for a walk before my daughters get up. It clears my head and sets me up for a great day!
Biggest struggle is keeping them off the ipad and/or putting the TV on, because once they’re glued to either it’s World War 3 trying to get them up and into the car. It’s always ‘but Mum the shows not over yet’, ‘or we’re just watching this’, or ‘just about to get a high score’. And they know the rules about no technology in the mornings, but when my backs turned tending to the baby, you know how it is and can get!
My biggest struggle in the mornings is getting my 5yr old to eat her breakfast in less than an hour! She gets distracted very easily…
My tip is to pack their bags as much as possible the night before so I don’t forget anything
My biggest tip for being organised in the morning is to get yourself ready first. I always get up and ready then I can deal with the kids. I feel I can control what I do but I can’t always predict what the kids will be like in the morning. I also like to get what I can ready the night before. Fill up drink bottles, cut up fruit/vegetables, uniforms ready.
I have pictures on the fridge representing the things the kids need to do in the morning, along with magnets with ticks on them. They’re not allowed access to any sort of electronic device before those things are ticked off. It works really well for us because it’s so visual, and the kids have ownership of their pictures as they move the magnets to tick them off. Every time they ask for a device or the TV I just ask them to have a look at their list and see if there’s anything left to do. Working toward self-management!
With 5 kids at school I always have their lunches done at night (minus cut up fruit which I do in the morning). School clothes are laid out the night before and I get up an hour before everyone to shower, makeup and get a few minutes for “me” before the chaos begins.
My biggest struggle in the morning is to get my 5yo to get her clothes on! After a shower she likes to walk around in a towel, or nude, for about half an hour before she gets her clothes on, sometimes distracted, mostly just being nude. She starts school in Feb so I’m trying to speed up the process.
I begin waking late sleepers earlier (which unfortunately also does mean me!!) and earlier, closer to the hour they’ll need to rise when school begins.
My 5 year old is difficult, it’s his whole morning that I struggle with, I dress him in bed and take him to the toilet myself or it doesn’t get done, I just can’t get my boy to get himself ready and there’s no time to waste waiting for him to do any of it. I’m hoping when he starts school in a couple of weeks that he’ll be doing more for himself.
My biggest struggle in the morning is getting myself ready and having some breakfast. The craziness of getting my 3 boys ready leaves bard minimum for me to only just get dressed and sometimes haave a coffee and toast in the car!
My most successful initiative is the ‘helping hand’. A friend told me about it and it really works. At the start of the year I laminate an a4 piece of paper with an outline of a hand on it. Then I draw with white board maker (so I can change it), one job on each finger if picture. Ie 1. Make bed, 2. Eat breakfast, 3. Brush teeth 4. Get dressed, 5. Feed a pet. These jibs can change according to age/ability/needs of child. You can draw pictures instead of wrote if your little one’s can’t read. I stick the paper to their wardrobe so if they forget they can check it. Each morning they just do their helping hand while i tend to the baby andi don’t need to yell, get dressed, eat breaki a thousand times. I just day ‘Please do your helping hand’. They sound like obvious jobs but they have really helped my 5 and 7 year old kids know what’s expected in the morning and has really reduced all the morning yelling directions I used to have to give.
I try and prepare as much as possible the night before just in case anyone sleeps in
My biggest struggle is getting my son out the door – he always has a last minute thing to do like finding his handball or the best delay was when I found him cleaning his soccer ball with a flannel!!! Lucky we live close to school and we can run across the road with a clean soccer ball in tow!
No TV or devices before school as this distracts them. I have a routine which is getting up and giving the kids breakfast while I have a shower, they then brush their teeth, get dressed and do hair. Grab their school lunches (made the night before) and we are out the door!
Best tip- Organise everything the night before & i have my 7 year old a morning routine & checklist printed out- no tv or iPad until all is completed.
Biggest Struggle- sticking to it, day in day out- everything looks great in theory doesn’t it?!
Best tip- Organise everything the night before! Organisational chart for 7 year old.
Biggest Struggle- sticking to it, day in day out- everything looks great in theory doesn’t it?!
My tip is ‘morning cards’: have the cards on the bench or table in the morning. As they are done he or she gives them back. The final one is swapped for a treat in the lunchbox or extra iPad time or some other reward. The cards each have a getting ready task on them. Mine say ‘get dressed’, ‘eat breakfast’, ‘pack bag’, ‘make bed’, ‘brush teeth’, etc. Works a treat!!
Our morning struggles as a haiku…inspired by my daughter who likes poems a lot more than mornings!…
Sleepyheads in bed
Don’t want to eat their breakfast
Routines are a must!
I think staying calm is what’s most important and putting the morning chaos into perspective. Everyone (including me) wants & needs a balanced morning so the day can be started with a clear mind and no (or less) stress!
By far, the best motivator for our mornings is our morning routine charts! I have these laminated and hung in each of my children’s rooms. And a little incentive goes a long way – all tasks to be completed and school bags to be by the front door by 8am and then they are allowed some TV/iPad/computer time before we go to school 🙂
With three kids our mornings are pretty chaotic. I try and have as much as I can organised the night before. Banning the kids from TV and tablets until they are ready for school is a great incentive for them.
I use a visual chart to show my school aged kids what to do next while I organise the toddlers. Even still it’s a struggle!
My biggest struggle is getting them up in the morning, and feeding them breakfast, they are not big eaters in the morning.
It was difficult to keep them on track in the mornings, they’d get side tracked and start to play! Now I use a timer, I set timed tasks interspersed with free time periods and the morning routine remains exactly the same everyday to get them into the habit. Now things run smoothly, we aren’t late and I am far less frazzled.
Last one out the door who hasn’t finished all their jobs has to do the washing up in the evening. Works a treat.
We have a song we sing when getting ready, in it we sing all the things we need to do – seems to get them through their tasks and out of the door in time.
My biggest struggle is socks! I have a fussy 5 yo whose biggest peeve is her socks, it’s gotten to the stage where I now have about 20 pairs of the same socks but when I bought new ones even those weren’t right, they were apparently not soft and small enough!
My biggest struggle is explaining to my 7 year old EVERY SINGLE DAY why her little brother (4 years old) doesn’t have to go to school 5 days a week like she does!!!! I tell her that she was exactly the same when she was 4 AND that when she’s an adult with a car, he’ll still be at school jealous of her. We get to school in the end but having the same conversation everyday is EXHAUSTING!!!!!
My biggest struggle is them not killing each other while I’m in the shower. Why do they always choose that 5 minute window to get into mischief and become worst enemies?
Lack of motivation: theirs, their parents, or both.
My best tip is to have a great routine; up at the same time each morning, breakfast, dressed and teeth brushed all around the same time. That way kids know what to expect and when, so getting out the door on time with their hair brushed and out of their slippers is guaranteed!
Best tip is to have everything ready the night before and make sure they get enough sleep, nothing worse than trying to get a tired cranky child to get their shit together first thing in the morning
My kids each have a “To Do” list for getting ready in the mornings which includes everything that must be done before school – get up, get dressed, have breakfast, brush teeth, wash face, brush hair, pack bag, make bed etc.. This way they can be as independent as possible and know exactly what they have to do which leaves me free to get myself ready!
My biggest tip is get up at the same time every day (you & the kids) – me always an hour before the kids. When I do this i’ve had my coffee, my ‘me’ time, and am ready to greet my kids with joy! (I won’t tell you what happens when i’m woken by a yelling child or chaos)….
My biggest struggle to get the kids organised in the morning is ME. My girls are actually really good at getting almost completely ready by themselves. I am the one that struggles to get my non motivated butt out of bed to wake them up. I dont let them use alarms yet as my youngest keeps pushing buttons resulting in alarms stopped and the time being changed. So my struggle would be ME.
Everything is organised the night before!
School books packed, uniforms ironed and hung on the back of doors.
Devices on charge and lunches packed.
I also colour code the kids supplies and lunchboxes and drink bottles.
Red for my daughter, green for my son.
That way there are no mix ups as they rush out the door.
Lunch, uniforms and bags all made and laid out for them in the morning. Also my kids have no TVs in the morning.
Train your children to be independent and organized from an early age and your mornings will run smoothly. Don’t let electronic devices control your mornings.
Train your children to be independent and organised and your mornings will run smoothly
My biggest struggle in the mornings is getting the day started. I can never seem to wake before my two toddlers, and we always seem to end up snuggling in front of the tv (they watch the tv, and I usually have my eyes closed!) before I know it, it’s 8am and nobody has had breaky or gotten dressed!!
Try and keep to a routine…the night before routine should follow into the morning routine. Kids like that..they know what to expect.
Best Tip – turn wifi off then you have their attention and don’t turn it back on for them till they come home and have done what they need to do,
We try and be organised the night before and have a routine that flows…for the most part.
Best tip – make them a morning routine chart and teach them how to do all their tasks – makes them independent. I also have a weekly schedule so that they can see what they have on for the day and pack the necessary items
With four kids one with special needs mornings can be intense so I have a printed picture schedual that shows what needs to be done. When the kids are getting rowdy or not doing what they are suposed to i direct them back to it ask what they are up to, I also do lunches the night before
Get the kids into a morning routine from a young age, that way when it’s time to start school they will be somewhat used to it and be more organised.
Make sure everyone goes to bed on time and have all lunches made the night before.
My biggest struggle is getting my “big kid” (aka husband!) out the door to catch his train as well as 4 kids by myself. He is not allowed to drive due to recent medical reasons so being his cheauffuer takes time and patience to get out the door every morning.
My biggest struggle os my 8 year old, she has very long hair that needs to be brushed soooooo many times!
Do lunches the night before and have uniforms ready to go so in the morning all that is left is breakfast and packing bags and dressing
We do lunch boxes and lay out the clothes for the day, the night before. It makes a huge difference in how our mornings go. There is no real ‘thinking’ involved for the kids. They just zombie up, eat a bit of breakfast, get dressed easily and then grab lunchboxes from fridge then we all hit the door. Its a routine now for us of an evening and makes a huge difference in mornings.
Getting out of the house on time – it’s just routine and sticking to it and having a couple of alarms to ensure we’re on track
This is our first year at school, so my biggest struggle is how the hell im going to do it and how I’m going to get there on time!
My biggest struggle is getting the kids out of bed,
they hate the mornings and everything I try doesn’t seem to work.
My biggest struggle is getting 3 kids ready for school & myself ready for work while doing lunches & breakfasts & getting out the door on time so we don’t miss the train. To help we run a pretty tight ship – each after school activity has its own bag & they’re all packed on Sunday. Weekly schedule is on the kitchen wall & kids pack school bags according to that.
My biggest tip is to get as much done the night before as possible. Lunches done, bags out, packed and ready to go.
I lay out school uniforms, bloomers, undies, socks, everything!
Choosing what to eat for breakfast was an issue for a while, my kids seemed unable to make a decision and every suggestion was shot down. Now I make then decide the night before, hardcore I know, but gee things run more smoothly!
3 Girls, one Mum, one Dad and one very small bathroom, then throw in a 6 month old boy! Need I say more, it’s a struggle to get anywhere in the mornings…..lol
Me having to repeat myself to get them ready. Despite having well established routines and having everything organised, if the kids aren’t concentrating and I have to keep repeating myself, mummy looses her mind. Nothing better than standing in the driveway yelling at the kids to just get in the damn car whilst neighbours walk past trying not to lock in eye contact with the crazy she devil that I have become!
Love it mumma!! We are all that crazy screaming mum aren’t we ?
Every Sunday I write up a ‘What’s On’ check list for the week ahead. Special events and appointments, notes to be handed in, library books due.. That sort of thing.
I also make all the school lunch sandwiches and snacks on a Sunday and freeze them for the week.
My children love to race a timer so I downloaded a morning routine timer that follows everything they need to do along with a timer that they can race. They earn stars based on how on time they are. They learn to follow a routine on their own and I get to enjoy my morning cuppa while we chat and make lunches 🙂 Winning!!!!
I have a routine chart on the kids doors, most days school mornings run quite smoothly with this.
My tip to have a Routine Chart for each child, tapped under the light switch in their room, with what needs to be done every morning before we head out the door.
This stops the “what do I do now?” questions. The only answer is “what’s next on your job chart?”
There’s even a “ask dad/mum if you can help with anything” spot.
Of course there are mornings when this doesn’t work and are out of the ordinary but overall this system works well and is hassle free- especially when tying up the Routine Chart I asked the kids what THEY think should be on there each morning.
I prepare lunch box, snacks & drinks the night before and I also made their bed time 15 minutes earlier as they were never getting in bed on time, this takes away the stress and me getting cranky they aren’t in bed on time. Night times are much more relaxed and no one goes to bed angry or upset. They’ll fight that 15 minutes at first but they get used to it quickly.
Organisation and timing is key to a successful morning at our household. Allocating time segments for each chore with time contingencies, is ideal.
Planning & preparation are the key important thing for a smooth stress free school morning. I prepare the bag pack, lunch box & uniform the night before. Hence the next morning, everything is ready on the go & minimise the stress level.
Hi my tip is that everyone is involved with working out the time schedule. We then work backwards from what time we need to be there, therefore what time we need to leave, what time we need to get up etc. Everyine will have their own time frame as some are more efficient than others. If someone is late getting ready one day then that incur a 15 minute penalty and get up earlier the next day. Me: I get up before everyone and shower, get ready in my own time frame and space to prepare for the day ahead. As others have said, bags packed, lunches prepped all the night before is a must.
I have little children who don’t understand time well yet and it was always hard getting them out the door on time. So I found the TV show that ends at the time we need to leave and once they are dressed and ready, they can have TV and once that show is finished we are out the door! Also gives me a few minutes of time to finish my last minute jobs/have breakfast while they are distracted.
COFFEE!! Before the kids are awake so I am mentally prepared and dressed and ready to go before I wake them.
Like many boys my three (6, 7 & 9) love Star Wars and for one of their birthdays we were given a Darth Vader Alarm Clock. I have charts for them telling them what they need to do (before school, after school, before bed, etc…) which they are very good at following, trouble was getting them started in the morning as they have no sense of time…and as per most young boys they don’t want to listen to Mum or Dad. So now we have Darth Vader on our side – and when Darth Vader speaks (or should I say breaths) the boys actually listen! If they are in bed when Darth Vader’s heavy breathing starts they know they have to get up and start to get ready for school (and or weekend sport) – if they are already up playing they know they have to stop playing and start to get ready for school. I have been blown away with how much control Darth Vader has over our boys and how much this has helped with getting our mornings underway and us out the door on time (and without me having to raise my voice – awesome!).
My biggest struggle in the morning is getting out of bed! If I could be awake, showered and dressed before the kids wake up then I feel like I’d be less stressed and the morning would run more smoothly. It’s hard to occupy two small children while getting ready in the morning. Being more organised and giving the kids plenty of time with no rushing would help keep things stress free too.
My biggest struggle of a morning is waking up master 12 and then getting him to have a shower so he is a little less grumpy. Even trying to get him out of the shower is a struggle! Next to him is miss 7 who wants elaborate hairstyles each day – taken from YouTube tutorials which she must choose of course!
I buy the $1 mason jars from Kmart. I make a big smoothie for all of us and we drink in the car on the way to school. The kids aren’t allowed out of the car until it’s finished. Win win 🙂
My biggest tip is to have lunches and school uniforms prepared the night before and I try to wake up 20 mins before the kids so I can get myself mostly ready. This normally works to get all 6 kids (3 different daycare/school runs) out of the house on time. My biggest struggle is the arguing when they are brushing there teeth all trying to get into the sink at the same time! Drives me crazy!
Our biggest problem in the morning is getting our four kids to eat breakfast. They will however eat breakfast if there is variety and sometimes my husband or myself will get out of bed half an hour earlier and either make them pancakes or bacon and eggs on the BBQ. We know how important it is for them to get a good breakfast in before school as quite often their lunch boxes will come home with most of the food not eaten so at least we know they have had a good start to their learning day.
My best tip is to organise EVERYTHING the night before, and definetly NO television in the morning!
My biggest struggle is getting my 2 boys to eat brekkie in a reasonable time …they are such slow eaters!
my biggest struggle is getting everyone fed, dressed and ready to go there’s just so much to do in not much time!
My hot tip is to dress yourself last!! With 2 year old twins and a 6 year old, the odds of having something spilled or smeared on you are pretty high! And then you get all stressed out about changing and what to wear now, which makes the kids stress out too. I get up and shower, do lunches and pack the car before I get the kids out of bed, and only put on my work clothes when they’re all fully ready and choosing a toy to take in the car. It means I don’t forget things in a last minute panic and I get to turn up to work in a clean outfit – like a grown up!!!
Best Tip- No TV. Up, dressed in school uniform and bed made. Sit and eat and enjoy breakfast. No TV definitely helps with calmness! Also , if it all goes pearshaped- don’t worry, there is always tomorrow.
Iron the whole weeks uniforms on Sunday and have them hung with undies and socks ready for the kids to dress themselves. Mine are completely dressed and ready when they wake up and waiting for breakfast.
I have 8 children at school this year and my biggest tip is to get kids to do things for themselves. All my children make their own sandwiches and pack their own lunch, even when they are in kindy. They know our lunch box ‘rules’ and pack accordingly. We have a checklist up so they can check if they’ve done everything they need to before getting in the car. All I do in the morning is a help a daughter with their hair if needed. Oh, and drag the teenagers out of bed… ?
Make sure you eat breakfast as well as your children. A good start to the day for everyone is important.
getting them to bed at a decent hour so they wake up refreshed and ready for school
I get up 30mins before the kids then I stagger their wake up times, eldest to youngest, 10mins in between. It allows me time to focus on each kids needs ie. extra time for the eldest to wake up, who is then self sufficient, then time for hair, help dressing and making beds with the younger ones, breakfast all together pack bags and out the door. It saves time and our mornings are far less hectic.
My Biggest struggle is getting my daughter dressed because she refuses to do anything by her self and as a single mum i find everything a struggle at times.
I find that if the routine changes it is a receipt for disaster. So the night before I get the lunches made and put in their lunch boxes in the fridge (only have to add the ice brick in the morning) half freeze water bottles (top them up in the morning). The children get their own school clothes out for the following day and put them in the dresser for the morning and then also make sure that their bags are packed with the following days items. I also have a checklist which the children follow so that they know that they have done everything. This might sound very regimented but it works.
Teach them from an early age to be responsible. If they forget library books don’t bring them up during the day. I promise it will be the last time they forget. Teaching children to be responsible and organise themselves (age appropriate of course) will save you a lot of stress.
Thank you for the tips! For me, when it comes to children’s shoes, it should really be all about comfort and less about style. I know that as adults, we’re willing to suffer a little if the beauty and the brand of the shoes are “worth the pain.” However, the same cannot apply to kids. So, whether you’re buying expensive or affordable shoes, the main requirement should be that they fit comfortably. This means the material should be breathable, and there is enough “wiggle” room inside the shoe as to not constrict foot movement.