Mornings in my opinion are the most important part of the day. Why is that? Because generally the way you plan your Morning sets the tone of the day, affects productivity, and determines how the remaining part of the day would go.
Chances are that if you wake up anxious, you will be anxious most of the day, wake up slow, you do not have much drive and energy to carry out your job, unlike when you wake up in good spirits, it translates to all that you do.
To all moms out there, you are a superhero. I say this every time. Having the energy to do all: handling kids, the home, and sometimes more than one job, and still find time to do other things is no small feat. That is why routines are yes!!! Yes!!!
There are two categories of people, morning people, and night people. I will admit, I was never a morning person. I loved to sleep well into the morning and wake up to a bright new day, hearing the birds whistling, that was my definition of good sleep.
I neither had any serious Routine or schedule that I worked with as well and life was going pretty well. I went to school, got two degrees, was able to scale through my job even when I didn’t wake up so early. Then I had a baby, and everything changed.
The first few months after delivery, it was as though I was losing my sanity. I was sleep-deprived because I always had to wake up at night to feed my baby. After spending almost all night to feed, the day was spent giving him attention, more feeding, changing, rocking and soothing, and keeping up with updates on social media.
When do I get to rest? There was always something to take up my time. And every day, I was moving like a robot in a repeated cycle. I start the day with no plan, no inspiration, and end up feeling so tired and stressed with little time for other things: save a few hours of sleep, checking up on social media, attending to the baby’s needs. Yes, I was on maternity leave, but I wasn’t enjoying anything.
A time came when I was almost burning out. Almost going crazy with the unending cycle and “meaningless movement” I was almost having resentment for myself and everybody around including my baby. I knew this couldn’t continue this way so I had to get help.
First, I started researching things that would make me manage effectively since I had a child. Also, I had to work on having a concrete schedule. I got lots of ideas and started putting important things on my to-do list.
Aside from caring for my son, I added reading, self-development, writing, and other things I loved to my to-do list. I learned about using a routine. I tried and some routines and later I was able to develop one that I could use. I have become more effective and productive. I look forward to each day unlike before when I sigh with frustration when the day begins.
Since superhero moms will always have a lot to do, having a well-structured morning routine that to live by, either as a stay home mom, a working-class mum, or if you are working from home is necessary.
There are many mom morning routines many productive moms use, and they can help you become more productive and keep you more organized less stressed, and tensed yourself? Let’s see a sample mom morning routine, you can work with
1. Wake Up Earlier
No point planning a routine when you won’t have the time to see through it. If you wake up at the same time as others in your home you may not have much time to prepare for the day beforehand, because you get distracted, making you not effective with your routine.
Your kids will want to talk, they will need your attention, they may start playing or making you talk, distracting the peacetime you wanted to have. Get ahead of others, wake up earlier so you can follow through with your routine. This means if everyone wakes up by 6 am, you may have to wake up at 5 at 4:30 a.m.
Yeah, I get it may be difficult at first. I for one had to struggle to get up earlier than everyone in the morning. I kept snoozing the alarm for extra minutes but when I ended up unproductive and frustrated after hardly getting many things done because of the morning rush, I told myself, Hey girl!! you need to wake up earlier to get stuff done and live the life you have always wanted.
That motivated me to start waking up early. So the first mom morning routine for stay-at-home mum, working-class mum, or even a full-time housewife, is waking up earlier than others. Waking up early = a 50% chance of following your routine.
2. Drink Water
Doctors advise on the need of taking water first thing in the morning, before bed at night, and every other time in the day. Make water part of your daily routine. You will be using up a lot of fluids during the day: if you breastfeed, while working or having to move around playing with your Toddler handling chores.
So, start your day by taking a few glasses of water. You can also add some squeezes of lemon, or mint leaf to it. Coffee and juice also be taken in place of water.
These fluids refresh you and give you a clear head for the day, give you the needed energy boosts also prepares the body for digestion, and help flush out the waste of the previous day. I take water and it makes me eager and ready to start the day.
3. Stay Off The Phone And Any Other Gadget
It is tempting to reach for your phone as the first thing to do. After you have stopped your alarm and you are fully awake. You may just want to take a few seconds to check if you have any messages or updates on your phone or laptop.
But we know a few seconds on the phone can gradually run to minutes and minutes to hours because you can easily get carried away and be behind time and you end up start rushing. Which is definitely what you want to avoid.
So, resist the urge to put on your phone, laptop, TV, and other gadgets. You can decide to switch off your phone at night or put them on silent mode as you sleep so you don’t get distracted with notification tones. Keep your laptop and TV remote out of sight. When you don’t see them you are less tempted to reach out for them.
4. Do Something Uplifting
Whether it is saying your favorite affirmations (all women should adopt this) like I am beautiful, I am strong, I am smart, and any other thing that boosts your spirits or to decide to read a few pages in your favorite book, a magazine your Bible or even listen to music and dance.
Whatever it is that motivates you, make it a habit and do it. Do something that will boost your mood and make you anticipate the rest of the day. This shouldn’t take a lot of time to 3 to 5 minutes is Ok.
5. Meditation
One of the best time to connect with your inner self every day is by meditation. This is very vital and greatly sets the tone for the day. Usually, when you are awake in the morning, you have a clear head and it’s like a new page to begin something new. Moms, utilize your mom morning routine for deep meditation and connect with yourself.
You may choose to do yoga, say a prayer or think through how you intend the day to go. Meditation time is when you create a picture of your day and once you have mapped it out in your mind you know how to bring it to life. Meditation is also a time to think through what you have read (if you had read earlier) and draw meaning to it.
6. Make Your Bed, Tidy Your Room
This is routine #6 of my moms Morning Routine. From childhood, we learned that is that the first thing you should do is making your bed after waking up.
After meditation, before you are set to leave your room take out time to stretch the sheets, fluff the pillows, arrange the books at the bedside and do any arrangements you have to do in your room before you step out.
7. Pick Out Your Clothes
Another mom morning routine you should cultivate before you leave the room especially for working mums is to sort out everything you need for work. Check up to the drawers, and your closet for pants and shirts or dress and get your shoes off-the-rack and wipe them.
Get a piece of matching jewelry, bangles, your make-up kit, notepad. Put your gadgets in your bag, sort out important documents, and put them in also. You don’t want to be caught up with time and start dumping things hurriedly in your bag. So, take out time to prepare your stuff before you head out of your room.
8. Exercise
Once you are done with everything in your bedroom it’s time to head out to other parts of the house. Exercise is next on the routine list. Stretch your muscles out a little and get active for the day. This may take 5 to 10 minutes. Do little stretches, run on the treadmill, or go for a quiet walk outdoor with the dog or alone.
Your daily exercise routine will not be the same but make sure you incorporate exercise as part of your mom daily routine. Doing this before the kids wake up is more effective. Exercise gives you the required energy boost for the day plus it’s a good health practice for mums.
9. Shower Up
Usually after exercise goes straight to the shower and wash all the sweats. After a shower, you can dress up for the day in home clothe and finish up dressing later.
Shower time is part of the daily mum routine I usually bathe before my kid wakes up because I have more time to apply moisturizer and cleanser and let them set in my skin.
10. Breakfast
After showering it’s time to prepare something nice for the family. For working mums preparing meals beforehand and freezing them just to heat up for breakfast makes the job easier.
Ensure that breakfast is rich in the required nutrients, proteins carbs, vegetables. For me, preparing meals during weekends gives me more time during weekdays as I do not have to take too long to fix breakfast, it saves time and I can have enough time for my kid in the morning.
11. Family Time
By now your partner and your kids may already be awake. An important part of your mom daily routine is to create time to connect with your family every day. You and your partner can share ideas on how the day should go.
You can add any new changes to your schedule. Go to your kid’s room greet them good morning and ask about their night. Discuss how their day would be, fix something interesting for them if they have nothing planned. Next, get them started in some chores in the home.
For younger kids, you can bathe them and dress them up for the day. You may also decide to watch TV together if the kids are on holiday to relax. If it’s a school day get them bathed, dressed, and ready for school.
12. Mealtime
After making breakfast, you can get dressed and settle down with your family for a nice mealtime. Mealtimes are very important for a family and they should be part of your moms morning routine. It creates times to bond interact and has fun. After meals, you can pack lunch boxes for yourself and your kids for school.
Then clear up and wash dishes. Your older kids or partner can help out while you finish dressing, do your makeup, or any other task you have pending before heading out.
13. Heading Out
Now that you have had breakfast, gotten everyone fed, and cleared up. It is time to head out and settle in for the day. Depending on your work schedule. If you work out of home, start getting ready to head out.
Get your kids buckled in the car, make sure their school bag, lunch bag, and any other thing needed for school are packed in the car. Smoothen up your clothes, look at the mirror one more time, get your bag and any other stuff you need and head out. After dropping off your kids, you are ready to claim your day.
If you work from home or are a stay-at-home mom, and you drop off your kids at the daycare drop your kids, head back, and get settled in for the day.
If it isn’t school time, get them fixed and occupied with their favorite toys or a popular TV program they love or engage them with an interesting game. To give you some time to work on something exciting.
Dear mom, each day counts. Have a mom morning routine to guide you, so that each day should not be spent aimlessly, without a clear purpose. Follow through with a routine that suits you, to be more productive.
Good luck!!!
Save this for later mama!
Very useful information. Thank you so much!
This was very helpful. Thank you for this article.