As you can imagine, mornings at our house can be totally chaotic. I am sure our neighbors can hear the ruckus each and every morning. Here are some things we do with our munchkins to make our mornings (for the most part) AWESOME!
1. It starts with BEDTIME. If we let the munchkins stay up “late” and then have to get them up early for school the next morning, we are setting ourselves up for some VERY cranky kiddos who can hardly keep their cool, let alone, be awesome. Our munchkins are in bed by 7:30pm (unless they are at an extra curricular activity, but we are firm in not letting the littles have late evening activities). By 7:45pm, it’s lights out. We do allow the 3 big girls to have a reading light in bed to read but even those are off by 8:30pm. This usually results in well-rested, less cranky munchkins in the morning.
2. First things, FIRST! In our family, we have a rule that you have to be dressed and your bedroom must be clean/beds made before you come downstairs for breakfast. Some of the littles struggle to get this done, but that’s where the bigs get to teach them through setting good examples.
3. COFFEE. All of the kiddos know how important it is for this Mama Bear to get her first cup of coffee before asking any self-answerable questions are asked. No talkie before coffee. **Occasionally, Lil will sneak down and make me a cup of goodness before I get downstairs. I know, right? Adorable!
4. PRAY! Before the oldest 10 head off to school in the morning, we all sit down together and say our prayers. Clearly, everyone prays differently, but this/these are the prayer(s) that we pray to start the day.
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for today. Thank You for another opportunity to love You and to serve You. We ask You to watch over us; keep us safe; help us to be good, kind, loving, and holy. We thank You for each and every beautiful child You have brought to our family and we pray for each of their birth parents in thanksgiving for their decision to choose life. We ask Mother Mary to intercede as we pray…
Hail Mary…
Our Father…
St. Michael the Archangel…
Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin, Mary…
Angel of God, My Guardian Dear…
We pray all these things in Your Holy Name and we say all you Holy Saints and Angels, PRAY FOR US!
Amen.
**When we have time, we do some prayer intentions that are on their hearts. It is absolutely
adorable and I am blown away by their depth of faith.
5. We do a PEP TALK/CHEER right after prayer, before they hop on their razor scooters and zoom off to school. Here’s our doozy of a cheer.
Me: Who’s choice is our behavior?
Kids: US!
Me: What kind of day are we going to have?
Kids: AWESOME!
Me: How are we going to play?
Kids: PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY!
Me: Who are we?
Kids: WE ARE THE BELOVED DAUGHTERS & SONS OF GOD!!!!
It may seem silly, but these are things that I always want them to remember.
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Some of my favorite teachers have a saying, “You never know what’s in a child’s backpack.” Meaning that you never know what happened at home that morning. Did they eat breakfast? Did they get yelled at? Did they wake up late and skip a normal routine.
My job as their Mama Bear (and The Dad, when he has a morning at home) is to fill their “backpack” with a good night’s sleep, a predictable and safe routine, prayer, love, motivation and a hug.
I am not perfect by any means. The Good Lord knows that. I am so grateful for His unending mercy. Raising my voice is my downfall. (Okay, and my terrible potty mouth too.) It’s something that I am working on every day…raising my voice, that is. This I know for sure, each day they are reminded that they are loved, unconditionally, not just by us, but by their Creator and Father, God. Yes…even if they forget to make their bed, try and shank their siblings in the morning, or pee all over the bathroom.
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I would love for you to share some tips that make your morning AWESOME in the comment section!
xoxo,
Mama Bear
