We’ve been focusing a lot on creating a good morning routine that allows us to start our day on the right foot. Before starting this, a lot of our mornings would look like me being groggy and tired for an embarrassing amount of time. I’d get up and nurse my son, then lay back down and take 5 minutes just to feel alive. Then I’d get up and actually say good morning to him before going on my phone and checking my texts and emails. Sometimes that turned in to scrolling through the videos my night owl husband sent me on social media the night before after I had gone to sleep. Then we’d fully get up and start a very, VERY slow process of getting ready for the day. Creating this routine was so helpful for my son, but most of all, it actually helped me! It took all the negative habits I hated myself for having in the morning and turned them into a beautiful bonding experience for my baby and I. And more than that, it gave me time to enjoy myself as well as encouraging me to connect and bond more with my son.
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Why Start a Morning Routine?
Morning routines can be incredibly useful for a few reasons. First, routine in general is beneficial for your children to feel safe and comfortable throughout their day. If you’ve had trouble getting your kiddo to bed and tried implementing a bedtime routine, you might’ve seen some of these benefits already. (If you don’t have a good bedtime routine yet, check out my post on how to create one that works here!). Starting your day with a routine means your kids know that when they wake up they can trust mom and dad will be there for them to fill all those needs they have right away. It also gives them a sense of normalcy and expectancy for certain activities in the morning.
These benefits aren’t just for kids though. Having a morning routine has been proven to boost productivity, lower stress, and improve energy levels. So if you’re not a morning person like me, start a morning routine! Watch how your life blossoms just from adding a few healthy habits to the beginning of your day.
What Should A Good Morning Routine Include?
Start the Day with Gratitude:
If you’ve ever looked up any sort of self care, self help, or mental health help activities, you’ve probably heard about the benefits of gratitude. Being grateful for what you have can actually increase your happiness and success. Crazy, right? Personally, as a mom, I like to do this in a way where I show my son how grateful I am for him first thing. I wake up and nurse him like usual, and then I’ve started giving him hugs and kisses and saying things like “wow I’m so happy to see you’re awake! I’m so lucky to be your mom and have you wake me up every day.” Just saying something simple like that starts both our days off on the right foot. He gets the praise and love he should be hearing from his mom, and I get the opportunity to express my gratitude and start my day with love and gratefulness.
Gratitude Journal:
If gratitude is really your thing, add gratitude journaling to your routine! You can journal, or if you have kids that are old enough to participate you could make a family gratitude tree! Get everyone involved on starting their day talking about what they are grateful for in that moment. This not only starts everyone’s day on a good note, but it also encourages gratitude throughout the day too!
Take a Moment/Meditate/Pray:
Another great activity to include in your morning routine is to just take a moment of quietness and peace. This could mean prayer or meditation or just sitting still for a moment. I know this can be really difficult for moms because, let’s face it, kids don’t like letting their parents have a few minutes of quiet. But I encourage you to at least try! Usually I do this to prolong my time in bed a bit. I hand my son a book to look at himself for 2-3 minutes and then I meditate or pray. Sometimes both! Sitting in meditation in the morning has been shown to reduce stress, calm your mind, actually increase your satisfaction throughout the day, and increase productivity. It’s the perfect morning activity. If you haven’t meditated before and are looking for a good place to start, or have meditated and are just looking for more guidance, check out this course by Live and dare (its currently on sale for only $9 if you use that link)! It’s a perfect place for beginnings to learn about mediation and you’ll be hooked from day one.
Get All Necessary Morning Tasks Out of the Way:
Another great (or more so necessary) addition to your routine is to knock out all your necessary morning activities. This means changing diapers, going to the bathroom, brushing your teeth, getting dressed, brushing your hair, making and eating breakfast and making your bed. (I know making your bed doesn’t seem necessary but trust me the benefits are worth it!). I like to do this right after I actually get out of bed as a way to stop me from getting back in bed. If I got up just to pee or grab a snack or water, there’s a good chance I’d grab some toys for Ollie and just lay in bed for a few more minutes with him and play. Thats not a bad thing if you do want that to be part of your routine, but for me I wanted to prioritize getting up and staying up. Knocking out all the tasks I may want to procrastinate helps me get rid of reasons to stay in bed. If you’re looking for new diapers for your kiddo check out Dyper! They’re a subscription service of eco friendly diapers that make changing your baby in the morning so simple and so stress free. No worries about forgetting to grab diapers at the store, and no worries about the ingredients in the diapers themselves!
Stretch!:
Stretching is a great way to wake up your body. Once you’re out of bed and moving it’s so helpful to take a few minutes to stretch out all the muscles that may be stiff and sore from sleep. Not only does this relax your body and prepare it for the day ahead, but it can also be a great bonding activity for mom and baby in the morning! The reason I like this particularly for a bonding activity is for three reasons. 1) Stretching is an activity that’s healthy for mom. This means you don’t have to sacrifice everything good for yourself just to bond with your baby and take care of them. It’s totally possible to do it simultaneously. 2) It teaches healthy habits to your kids. Demonstrating how to move your body in a healthy way to your baby from a young age helps them grow up and copy that healthy movement. 3) It’s easy for the kids to join in. Whether your toddler is copying you or climbing up your legs while you’re trying to touch your toes, compared to other activities, it’s not that hard to include your little ones in your stretching routine. This makes it easy to do something that benefits you while also benefiting them!
Do a Quiet Activity for Both Mom and Baby:
I like to also include a “quiet” activity in my morning routine as well. I put quiet in quotes because things never tend to be quiet when it comes to Oliver, but we still encourage it. Calm activity is probably a better phrase. I’d also like to clarify here that sometimes I do a quiet activity geared towards my son, and sometimes I do one for me. It’s okay to take time for yourself! If I’m having a tough time mentally, or I know I won’t have any time for myself throughout the day, I’ll do something like read a book for 15 minutes, or do a face mask while I encourage my son to do some quiet independent play. My personal favorite for encouraging independent play is the play kits from Lovevery. They’re some of the only toys that I can actually get a decent amount of time of focused independent play out of my son with. He also really enjoys these building toys and other blocks! Sometimes he’ll sit and read books by himself also, but most of the time he likes me to read with him.
A lot of times I will either do a calming activity with my son instead of one by myself, or sometimes I’ll do both! Encourage some independent play and then some together play. When I do activities with him I like to read stories with him, color, build something with him, or do various other constructive and low energy activities. Our current favorite is using these washable crayons and coloring on our wall together before wiping it off.
Tea or Coffee:
Drinking tea or coffee as part of your morning routine is sometimes just enjoyable and sometimes an absolute necessity. Getting up can be hard! And it’s nice to have something to help wake you up if you drink caffeine, or if you don’t drink caffeine (or are trying to quit like me) you can help boost your energy more naturally with some herbal tea! You can also plug this step in anywhere you want in your routine because once you make (or buy) the coffee or tea you can sip on it while doing any of the other activities.
Intentional Parenting Time:
I really like to include some intentional parenting time in my morning routine as well. I do this in addition to the calming activity because this is a chunk of time where I let my kid guide me to do whatever it is that he wants. To do this, I put away my phone and any other distractions and just focus 100% on him, the way he feels, and what he wants to do with me. I make sure that he knows every single morning he will have a good chunk of my time that is just dedicated to him and his needs and wants. If you’re curious as to what being a more intentional parent and spending intentional time with your kid looks like check out my post on mindful parenting. There are so many benefits to taking time every single day to be intentional with your children, and more than that just being a mindful and present person in general! Having that time in the morning starts my day off by allowing me to practice my listening skills and to let myself be present from the very beginning.
Get Outside:
I always end my morning routine with getting outside the house. This usually means taking my dog on a walk with my son and it also marks the start to the rest of the day. Getting some fresh air and sunlight really wakes me up if I wasn’t awake enough already, and my son lovessss being outside. It’s healthy, helpful, and fun! If you have a dog taking him on a walk as a family is a great morning routine activity, but even if you don’t, a morning walk, a trip into the backyard, or a quick morning park trip could all be great examples of what getting outside in the morning looks like. Getting outside mixed with all the other activities in your morning routine will absolutely set your day off to the best start possible. You’ll feel better, your kids will feel better, and you’ll all be able to tackle to the day to the best of your abilities.
