It’s back to school time!! Homework and school lunches and permission slips and lost glasses are back in the morning routine. Every year I think, “THIS will be the year that we will master the morning chaos!” And every year we fail. Sure, we have mornings where everything goes smooth and no one forgets anything and everyone is happy but those are the exception, not the rule.
Despite our best efforts, our crew usually ends up resembling a parade of wild animals scavenging for food. We grumble and screech and repeat the tired refrain: HURRY, HURRY, HURRY. We occasionally make it to the van on time, only to get buckled up and remember that the thing we can’t make it through the day without was left on the kitchen counter.
I’ve tried different things over the years. A few tips were hard to implement (a daily devotional before we head out the door), and some have been really helpful (laying out clothes the night before), but none have kept us from having regular morning pandemonium.
But this year I am confident that I have finally learned the trick. I’ve discovered the missing puzzle piece, I now know the solution. It’s the most simple/complicated answer and I am making it my mission to master it this year.
Embrace the chaos.
I’m not a quick study so it’s taken me a long time to learn the lesson, but I’m finally realizing that the crazy isn’t going anywhere. Mornings are busy. We’ve got six people prepping for their day. We all need to be clean and look presentable and gather all the things we need to make it thorough the day. We’re not quite awake yet and the caffeine hasn’t had time to work it’s magic. It’s just going to be a little nutty, no matter what tricks we try. So, we can either feel like we are failing every single day or we can just go with it.
Do you know how many times we were late for school last year? None. Zero. Sure, it felt like a daily fiasco, but we made it! And what is the worst that could happen if we were late? Would the world come crashing down? Nope. Why put so much pressure on everyone to make mornings feel serene and calm? Instead, I’m just going to keep sipping my coffee in between warnings of “WE ARE LEAVING RIGHT NOW” and know that someday I’ll miss our busy mornings.
Just like you can’t plan away the cold in winter, you can’t plan away the busy in this season of life. For this school year I’m going to try to learn to love the craziness and embrace the chaos.
RELATED:
Winning the Back-to-School War as a Working Mom
Avoid the Morning Tornado of Chaos
PIN THIS!
Read more of Abbie Mabary’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
