Faith, Marriage, Motherhood, Homeschooling, Essential oils, Herbs, and Holistic Living
Faith, Marriage, Motherhood, Homeschooling, Essential oils, Herbs, and Holistic Living
There we were. Inching closer and closer to the time we needed to leave. I felt like I was herding cats. No sooner would I have the 5 year old ready, the two year old had changed again. It had snowed that morning and was freezing, and the two year was old back in a summer play dress. So I went and got her changed. I turned around. The middle son whom I told to get ready an hour earlier was in going out clothes, but they were filthy. I had been helping my oldest daughter do her hair and getting ready myself, so I hadn't noticed. Apparently, instead of putting his clothes in the hamper after the last outing he put them back in the closet. He did that all the time. I went to find him clean clothes. They were all or missing (probably under the bed). The 13 year old couldn't find his shoes. Or his coat. I went to help. I had told my boys the day before to clean their room so we would be able to find things and get around quickly the next morning. But they didn't. Now the boys room was such a disaster that I couldn't find anything either. I had spent hours the day before planning this outing. I thought I had all my bases covered. Breakfast casserole, check. The small kids clothes planned, check. The older kids told to plan their clothes, check. The food I was bringing on the outing, check. But just one little thing didn't get done (boys didn't clean their room like I asked them), and now everything spun out of my control. I looked at the clock. It was one minute till we needed to be at our destination. Anxiety was through the roof. We had been through this before, pretty much every time it was time to go somewhere. No matter how many times I told the boys the get their shoes on 1 hour before, or find their clothes the day before, they never did. I knew it was time for some consequences. Different consequences, because things like grounding were not working. Since showing up what would have been 30 minutes late to an event that had a distinct starting time is not an option in my book, I knew what I had to do. "That's it. We are not going". The kids cried. I cried. Raising kids can be so crazy sometimes. Especially when it's time to get out the door. The next day my brain went to work. How could I help my kids avoid this happening in the future? After brainstorming with one of my amazing aunts, we had a plan. So far it's been working! Here are the five things I've found that help us get out of the door in a timely manner. 1. I've always tried to keep the little kids going out clothing separate from their regular clothing, and up high where they cannot reach it, but I began making more of a point to enforce this. 2. The day before an event I'll gather all their clothes and have them find their shoes and I keep everything in a basket in MY room, not theirs. 3. I started trying harder to get the older kids to have everything ready the day before. Now they know that mama might cancel an outing if they don't do what they are told they are making more a point to listen a little better too. 4. We try to get everything ready EARLY the day before in case something needs to be washed. 5. I minimized. You can read more about our minimizing journey HERE. This made a HUGE difference. Do you have any tips for getting out the door with your kids? If so leave them in the comments below! Don't forget to follow along with our social media platforms!
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