Posted on 07/24/2018
I don't know about you, but mornings can be a bit harried around here. I get tired of repeating the same things over and over. And I'm sure my kids were tired of hearing it too. So I stopped. I evaluated. And I realized that we needed to train ourselves in the habits that make mornings go smoothly. So here's what we did.
Remember, Practice Makes . . . Permanent
I know, I know. We've all heard a slightly (but significantly different) version of that saying: "Practice makes perfect." But it's not true. Perfect practice makes perfect; if the practice isn't perfect, then all it does is make the repetitious mistakes permanent. In order to practice perfectly, I realized that we had to practice when less was at stake — namely, not in the morning when we absolutely had to get out the door.
Then I had a light bulb moment: We pretty much had the same upstairs routines at bedtime as we did in the morning. Mind. Blown. So we started practicing the part of our bedtime routine that mirrored our morning routine more carefully. Now, that meant allotting more time for "getting ready for bed." No one really liked that, but it offered a great incentive to get it right: if they didn't get to bed on time, they knew we'd be heading upstairs earlier the next night.
Use Fewer Words
This was a biggie for me. You know how kids tend to get "mom deaf" when we talk too much? (I'm pretty sure they hear something akin to Charlie Brown's teacher's voice after a while.) Well, that means that less is more, when it comes to how many words we use. There are 3 things my kids need to do before they come downstairs (the same 3 things they need to do when they come upstairs before bed:
• Go to the bathroom
• Brush their teeth
• Get dressed
So we started calling those things the "1-2-3's." Instead of 9 or more words, I was saying only 3. Or I could use my fingers. It was just plain easier and less stressful for all of us. If they came downstairs, I'd ask if they had done their 1-2-3's. They'd get out their fingers. "No, just 1 and 2." Well? They'd automatically go back upstairs. Feel free to make up your own mnemonic device for your own crew.
Be Sure to Celebrate Success
While not everyone agrees with the generally accepted idea that it takes just 21 days to create a new (good) habit, it's still a pretty good way to start. We treated our 21-day goal like a safety goal. We've all seen those signs in factories about how many days they've gone without a safety violation or injury, right? One occurs, and they set it back to "0." But once we made it, we had a rare treat of a movie night, complete with all our favorite snacks.
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