Waking up is one of the most challenging things children may experience, most especially during school days. Now that the academic year of some of the best international schools in the Philippines has begun, students will once again find it very hard to rise up early in the morning.
Fortunately, parents could easily influence their routine to change. This is so that they can have enough time to prepare and travel to school, without the worry of being late. This can be done by following the tips below:
Prepare early for tomorrow
Once your children have gone home from school, it is best to prepare their things for tomorrow right away. It would also be great if the things they would need the next day such as their school bag and school uniform were already fixed and ironed. This is so, when the morning comes, all they need to do is wear and grab their stuff.
Doing all these beforehand could cut your preparation time before your children go to school, allowing them to arrive on time.
Evening preparation routine
Here is a guide you can follow to set up your children’s routines. You could use it during school nights to make your mornings better.
- Study time: Give your children around 1-2 hours to study and do their homework to get their minds ready for school.
- Dinner: Being the last meal of the day, it is best to keep your family dinners light but healthy.Preparing meals like this would help you and your children’s bodies be more relaxed and energized the next day.
- Washing up: Remind your children to brush their teeth and
Determine how much sleep your children need
One of the factors that highly contribute to having healthy sleep is by giving your children enough time to do so. Recommended sleeping times vary depending on the age of your children. For those aged 5-9 years old, they would need around 10-11 hours of sleep every night, while children and teenagers around 10-18 years of age require 8-9 hours of sleep.
Knowing how much time your children need to sleep would help you determine your children’s schedule at night and how much time they need to prepare for school the next morning.
Set the time
To be more consistent when it comes to punctuality, it is best to give your children a set time to sleep. Other than the preparation time the night before, other factors that you have to consider is how much time they would need to prepare in the morning, their class schedule, and the travel time required to be able to arrive on time.
For example, your children have to arrive at school at 7:30 in the morning and your home is 30 minutes away from school. In this scenario, it is best to have your children wake up around 60-90 minutes before to be able to prepare themselves and be able to arrive at school on time. By giving your children enough time to prepare, they wouldn’t be in a rush and would be able to do their routines smoothly.
Establishing a morning routine
Once you have set your times, you can now help your children establish their morning routines. Here are important parts of the routine that you will have to remind them to keep doing:
- Breakfast
Breakfast, as we all know, is the most important meal of the day. Having a healthy breakfast would ensure that your children would have an energizing start to their day. It is best to eat breakfast as early as possible to get that dose of energy that they would need. In addition, remind your children to refrain from skipping breakfast, as this would not be a healthy habit for them to do.
- Washing and dressing up
When it comes to taking a shower and dressing up, it is important to give your children enough time so that they would be able to fix up, while still leave home on time.
- Important Tip
Morning routines need to be provided an ample amount of time. Doing so will help your children establish a daily habit that will allow them to come early to school.
Once that you and your children have smoothened out these daily morning routines, they are guaranteed to be able to go to school on time, while also learning about the importance of punctuality.
Key Takeaway
Going to school on time would always be a challenge without having a set routine, which would lead to rushed preparations and a tendency to be late on certain days. By firmly establishing a routine during the night before and in the morning, they would grow accustomed to making sure that they arrive at the places they need to go right on schedule.
