5 Steps to a Stress Free Monday Morning

5 Steps to a Stress Free Monday Morning

5 steps to help you achieve delicate Monday morning balance. Pack your child's lunch the night before and prepare at least 5 outfits for each member of the family over the weekend. Set your alarm clock 10-15 minutes earlier to allow yourself more time in the morning. Set a routine for you and your family and stick with it. Divide your morning into phases.

Ask your family to pitch in and help. Try a more organized approach to your Monday mornings and you will find that they turn out to be a lot smoother and less stressful.

Monday morning has arrived (again). You look at the kitchen clock and gulp a cup of coffee while attempting to put on your clothes, realizing that you only have 5 minutes to get your 5-year-old dressed and ready for school, not to mention pack her lunch. Not soon enough do you recall that your easy-going boss (not!) had warned you the previous Thursday for being late for the third day in a row.

Does this sound all-too-familiar? Nobody said being a working mom was going to be easy, but here are five tips to help you strike that delicate Monday morning balance:

First and foremost, plan ahead of time. Pack your child's lunch the night before if necessary. Also, give your child a bath the night before. Do your laundry and ironing on the weekend so that everything is hung and ready to go; prepare at least 5 outfits for each member of the family over the weekend and enlist the help of your husband and children.

Set your alarm clock 10-15 minutes earlier in the morning to give yourself more time. To compensate for the time difference, go to bed 10-15 minutes earlier if necessary. Get up before your children to shower and dress.

 Keep breakfast simple and nutritious. If you don't have time for breakfast, keep bananas (and other easy-to-eat fruit) and vitamin-fortified cereal bars on hand and ready to grab and go.

Establish and stick to a routine for you and your family. It's a fact that our bodies crave routine. Every night, go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. Maintaining a schedule will make it easier to manage the Monday morning balancing act.

Break up your morning into phases. For example, phase 1: Eat Breakfast, phase 2: Dress, and so on. Set the phases at 15-30 minute intervals (phasing increments can vary, depending on the overall time you give yourself). Trying to do everything at once will only result in chaos and confusion. Help your family stay in the appropriate phase by asking them to pitch in and help. To keep things running smoothly, encourage your family to stick to the morning phases.

Being prepared is the key to achieving any balance, especially that Monday morning balance. If you take a more organized approach to your Monday mornings, you will find that they run much more smoothly and are less stressful for everyone.