Look For The Joy—4 Awesome Ways To Make Your Morning Routines Great
This a continuation of my post 6 Key Ingredients for a Successful Morning Routine. Here are four ways to add joy to your day and stay organized, and have fun.
CanCan Mom’s hundreds of creative Get-to-Do Lists, routines, schedules, and solutions all make motherhood easier and more fun! Recognizing that you “Get To Do” these things because you are blessed to have a family simply reminds you to Interact with love and laughter more often than impatience.
Have fun incorporating my unique Fast & Free Quick Steps into your daily life!
Have a joyful start every day, even when facing dirty diapers, feeding kids a quick breakfast while filling backpacks with all the needed items! You’ve got this!
Moms Crushing It with CanCan Quick Steps
As all moms know, the morning rush is real and can be frustrating. Here are four ways to have a more joyful and easier start to your days:
- Notice the Joy of Your Babies in the Morning
- A Fast Way to Feed Kids and Spouse a Hot Breakfast
- Two Evening Routines to Make Morning Rush a Breeze
- Meal Hacks to Make Dinner Faster
Diaper Changes Can Be Life-Changing
Tip 1: Notice the Joy of Your Babies in the Morning
As a mom of eight, I woke up every morning for 15 years knowing I had to change messy diapers for multiple babies first thing.
Not an inspiring way to start my day—until I concentrated on the joy each of my children displayed with happy gurgling and energetic leg kicking when they first saw me.
I give my children joy just by walking into the room each morning—as do you!
Seeing and reveling in that joy as we interact first thing each morning is now truly inspiring. No one else in the world is as overjoyed to see me, so why wish I was anywhere else?
Realizing diaper changes are moments of joy now sets the tone for the rest of my morning routine.
BONUS JOY:
If you choose to share this insight with your partner, you might have a fun morning race to see who gets to revel in the joy instead of fighting about changing your baby’s diaper (or babies’ diapers)!
Tip 2: A Fast Way to Feed Kids and Spouse a Hot Breakfast
Unfortunately, when I walk into my older children’s rooms, there is little joy on their faces and certainly no happy gurgling or energetic leg kicking. Sigh!
They do respond with happiness at the promise of my fresh waffles.
And, now available on school mornings—pancakes—thanks to Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. (Check out her site for this and many other recipes.)
Ree’s quick spin on pancakes for the family? Make them all at once by preheating sheet pans already coated with non-stick spray in a hot oven. Carefully pull them out. Pour the plain batter (check her recipe for the correct quantity), then add chocolate chips, blueberries, or sliced strawberries—or have all three in different sections—and back in to bake for 20-25 minutes—gives moms a pocket of time to do other things instead of flipping pancakes. Cut into squares and serve.
Making these pancakes on cold mornings, much to the joy of kids (and spouse), is not a lot of effort for big smiles and mumbled thanks.
Tip 3: Two Evening Routines Make Morning Rush a Breeze
Following breakfast, two of the best organizational habits that my family relies on is to get ready for school the night before:
First, I have a dedicated place to go through each child’s backpack before or after dinner. I know what homework they each have, as well as any upcoming school events, practices or rehearsals, permission slips to be signed, etc.
Second, repacking backpacks (in the same place so nothing is lost somewhere else in the house) with completed homework, outfits, and extras like gym clothes or after-school practice equipment, permission slips, and anything else your family needs to step out the door—like grabbing their lunches made the night before—gives me joy as I won’t have to rush to school with any forgotten items or have an upset child if I can’t get there!
See Also: 6 Simple Tips To Create Effective Daily Family Routines
Tip 4: Meal Hacks to Make Dinner Faster
For moms, dads, or older children cooking dinner, here are two great meal hacks from Ree Drummond:
Make sheet-pan dinners—prep items in the morning; then, everything will be cooked on the same sheet pan that night. Ree shares many recipes. There is less mess, and everything is ready to cook and then serve at the same time.
Also, Ree notes that when you are browning ground beef, brown an extra batch plain so you can freeze it in a freezer bag lying it flat, which takes up less space. To defrost, take the bag out of the freezer and put it into the fridge in the morning so you can make quicker spaghetti or lasagna meat sauce, chili, tacos, Sloppy Joes, etc., for dinner that night.
Check out her article with 50 easy sheet pan meals you can prep ahead!
Reap the Benefits of a Great Morning Routine
Your mornings can be filled with joy, efficiency, happy kids, and partner with Quick Step Routines!
Where else do you see or feel joy in your mornings? For all kinds of mom-centered creative ideas, visit me on Instagram at CanCanMomCB or on Pinterest at theCanCanMom. If you have questions or suggestions, email me at cheryl@cancanmom.com or leave a comment in the box below.
