Cope with Morning Rush
Today is the 10th days since the start of school in Singapore for 2009. How many of you have adjusted to the morning hours of sending your child to school? How well have you been able to cope with the morning routine of waking him up from bed, brush his teeth, change his uniform, eat his breakfast, wear the shoes and rush to the school either by school bus, walk or own transport. How many times during these 10 days you have forgotten to pack something for him, searching for some items and rushing madly early in the morning. And when you finally send him to school, you found out that there is still one more item you have forgotten to pack? Apart from the missing of items, how difficult is it for your son to adapt to the morning hours and get him to do the necessary preparations in the morning?
How to Cope with the Morning Rush?
For some parents who are new to the schooling life and having kids attending class in the morning, this could be a daily nightmare. For child with ASD and younger kids, they may need extra help and reminders from you to avoid the morning rush.
Here are some tips I prepared to help you better cope with the morning madness.
On the night before:
- Prepare your kid’s uniform and put it near the place where he will be changing tomorrow, e.g in his bedroom or bathroom. Make sure you checked his timetable and prepare whatever outfit he needs the next morning. On some day, he may need to be in school uniform and in some day he might need to be in PE attire. So make sure you help him prepare before the next morning.
- Check his school timetable and help him pack his school bags. Make sure he pack his pencil case, have the pencils sharpened and other writing materials. Make sure all his textbook are packed for all the lessons stated in the timetable.
- Check his “Communication booklet” to see if there are extra comments from the teacher. It might be that the teacher need a photo to be bring to school tomorrow or a consent form to be signed by you. Do those requests stated in the booklet before his sleep.
- Check that his homework are done and packed the leaflets of question papers into the bag too.
- Plan ahead of the breakfast menu and prepare the items ahead. For example, check that there are enough cereal, milk or breads the night before or earlier.
- Plan ahead the packed lunches or breaks. If need to bring along some snacks or lunch, it is better to prepare ahead the items the night before as well.
- Prepare ahead other items. At times, he may need to bring extra items to school such as his arts work, party snacks to be shared or toys to tell. Prepare this the night before.
- Sleep Early. Make a fixed regular time to go to bed early and make it easier to get up earlier in the morning.
On the Morning
- Wake up earlier. Before your children wakes up, you could wake up a little earlier to do some necessary preparation. Wake up your child earlier as well to have sufficient time to prepare for school. This will make the morning rush disappear.
- Go through a checklist to make sure all the items are prepared.
- Tune your watch 5-10mins earlier. Psychologically this will help.
Train Your Child
Children with or without autism may find it easier to stick to a fix routine. As parents, if you have a fix routine and trained your child to follow them, you will find your morning less stressful.
Train your child with a checklist and praise your child often when he gets it right.
Have a Checklist
Why not give your child a little checklist for them to follow? The checklist would include brushing teeth, washing face, combing hairs, getting dressed, making bed, eating breakfast, wearing shoes and so on. Ask your children to tick off the checklist items once they are done. Children will love ticking things off as they do them and this will encourage them to form routines which will help them when they older.
Praise Your Child
Whenever your child is follow a routine well, praise your child. Praise will build their confidence and make the process run smoother.
Adapt and Fine-Tune
Listen from your child’s comments and observe the process. Change and adapt the routine to suit you better. For example, if some of the things that could be done the night before, move the work ahead.
If you like to have more tips on how to cope with the morning rush, there is a free ebook article in the forum. If you are a member (free to join) you could download it under the “For the members” section. There is also a ready checklist attached in the article, “Dealing With Morning Madness”.
If you have any good suggestions on how to cope with the morning rush and how to handle some challenges for Child with ASD, please share your comments.
