The School on Time Hacks You Need to Know Now
We asked over 250 Mums their best hack to get to school on time so we could share the wisdom with you. Nail your morning routine or the night before prep with these gems below. Best of all they're all tried and tested so we know they work!
Reading through the many hacks and helpful tips we soon recognised that there were many Mama's on the same wave length. So much so that we were able to categorise the hacks by theme. Pick the hack category that most stands out to you get ready to be inspired:
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Get Ahead of Yourself
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Routine, Routine & Routine
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Get the Kids On-Board
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It's About Time
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You Do You
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Technology
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If All Else Fails...
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Tips for the first week back at school
Be sure to scroll all the way down to 'If all else fails' for a lol - they really are very good. If you have a standout get to school hack, comment below and we'll add it to the list.
#1 School on Time Hack - as chosen by us. It's a real game changer 🙌
We did a “democratic” exercise by drafting our rules together as a family before start of term:
1. Waking up early before 7.15 am? Yup, you are allowed to have one 10 minutes cartoon while having your breakfast.
2. Everyone MUST step out of the door by 8 am, so get dressed by 7.40 am and socks on by 7.55 am!
3. One extra cartoon after school if the kid helps out with cleaning after breakfast. 👍
"Believe it or not, kids function better with rules, especially if they are given a say and involved in deciding it! I’m proud of our little parliament of this house, and our great execution of laws so far! 🤣"
Get Ahead of Yourself
- Top time saving tip ⏰ FREEZE EVERYTHING! 🥶 Sandwiches, yogurts, home baking... everything! Then throw it all straight into lunchboxes in the morning. It’ll save time and be perfectly thawed by break time 👍🏼
- Prepare as much as you can the night before - washing on, food prepped, clothes out for the day. Also, my kids love whistling and pretending to march so a frantic morning can become calm and efficient by singing a marching tune!
- Make up the week's worth of lunches on the weekend.
- Clothes out, bags packed, soak oats for porridge all the night before so kids can have a healthy breakfast while I make fresh lunch while they eat (important rule in our house is a good breakfast that could keep active little bodies going all day)
"I’ve been baking and freezing nutritious food to go into lunchboxes to save time each morning. We will prepare as much as possible the night before. (This may or may not include me wearing my clothes to bed 😝😂😂)"
- For my girls with curly hair, doing school hair that lasts for days is my best trick! Double French braids are perfect for long lasting hair, saves so much time in the mornings! 🙌🏼👧🏼
- Preparation: clothes ironed for the week, lunches done the night before, stock the cupboard, fridge & freezer with snacks.
- Hang a closet organiser by the front door marked with the days of the week. In it you put clothes, gym bags, homework, instruments and any school admin in the designated daily shelves as you go through your week. Makes it easy to make sure you have everything ready to easily find and grab in the morning.
"Pre-school prep, night before lunches made, clothes out shoes lined up / breakfast bowls and cereal tins on the table."
- We put school shoes in the car for the next morning, as this seems to take the longest time. They put their shoes on in the car on the way to school.
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Make their lunches the night before and prepare the kids the night before to get them in the right mind-set. Ask if there's anything they might be anxious about (seeing as though it's a new year, new teacher, and new classroom) so you can talk it through…
Routine, Routine & Routine
- Go Through a Trial Week Before School Starts – A week before school begins, we start to shift to our morning school schedule. We use an alarm to wake up, each day to rise 15 mins earlier shift the bedtime to earlier nights and have my Son get ready like they would on school mornings. Then we go about our summer day. I love this because it gets the kids into a routine.
- With 4 daughters my tip is ... Staggered starts with a set routine, so everyone knows where to be and doesn’t end up in the bathroom at the same time! 😊
- Routine (start now!) and set the clock forward 15 minutes for stress free 'panic time'!
"I keep my son in the same routine for the holiday's as he has for a school week, so going back to school is no trouble at all. We both have our uniforms in the bathroom the night before and lunches made, so all he has to do is get up, exercise, watch his programme, shower, get dressed, breakfast, dishes and in the car. Simple 💜💗❤😁🙂🥰🤩👍💛💚💙😍😎😀😉😃"
- Fun hack motivate kids to get ready by riding or scooting to school and sitting their iPhones in an empty glass so when the alarm goes off it’s louder the glass works as a speaker and increases the volume ❤️
- We have a family bake day on Sunday afternoon with healthy treats for the week. Package them up and ready for quick grab and go lunch in the morning!♥️💚❤️
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Routine before bed which means, uniforms out, lunch boxes done, Bed on time. Mornings are routine based every gets dressed, breakfast, bags packed and then walk to the bus ready to go to School. The same routine every day makes life so much easier.
Get the Kids On-Board
- I have a checklist for each kid to complete each morning. We make it a bit of a competition to see who can do all their tasks first 👌
- We have a chart with pictures of the girls tasks they need to do in the morning (so I don't have to nag) - I just refer them to check if they have done everything.
- My 9yo make his own lunch, but there's an area in the fridge of things he can use, which makes it easier. And lots of good lunchy containers so it's easier to pack.
- Have kids help with the lunches, they feel involved and will eat what they prepare under your strict guidance....
"Teach the kids to do everything themselves from an early age so they take responsibility for getting to school on time - getting dressed, brushing hair & teeth, making brekkie, packing their bag etc. This works for us and has us out the door early most mornings. 👬👭🛴🚲💕💕💕"
- We’ve made a check list.( teeth, breakfast, dressed, clothes in basket/under pillow, lunch & folder in schoolbag) if they’ve completed it by 8am then there’s a treat in the lunchbox. Might be a single lolly, a sticker or joke, or a promise note to go to the park after school. Checklists and bribery work really well in my kids age group.
- Everyone has their jobs to do in the morning, oldest makes their own lunch, younger kids have a list, incentive to be ready is that if they are ready early they can have playtime/screen time until we leave.
- Have a race; boys vs girls for the fastest to get ready in the morning
It's About Time
- Put the clocks forward about 7 mins... I don't tell the kids and I forget and so it helps us hustle and gives breathing space when we're invariably late!!
"Set the clocks around the house 30 mins forward.. means they go to bed 30 mins earlier and get up 30 mins earlier so they're always on time! 🤫🤐😂"
- As an added aide I have multiple alarms set on my phone leading up to the time we must leave.
- We have lunches packed and uniforms laid out ready to go in the morning with breakfast and plates set out ready to make something to eat. I set alarms on my phone of when to get up and get ready and when to get out the door and this always works well for us. The kids hear the alarm and straight away they know it's time to move
- Get up on your FIRST alarm 😂🙌 and get yourself ready FIRST before the kids! Seems to work wonders around here
"OMG 💚 this!!! The best tip we’ve trialled is having a list of 5 things to do in the morning and kids get to tick them off. E.g. 1️⃣ Get Dressed 2️⃣ Eat breakfast 3️⃣ Brush your teeth, etc. The excitement and challenge of beating the clock ⏰ keeps everyone moving!"
You Do You
- When I wake up in the morning I find that if *I* have a shower and get dressed and am all ready for the day before heading out to the chaos, things seem to go a lot smoother in the mornings!
- Get up before the kids, do everything you need to do then wake the kids.
- Strong morning coffee🤪 a must along with five minutes to myself make the day less stressful.
- Do it in your pjs, saves loads of time.
"Go to bed at a decent time! Although I love to read in bed, so I have to make myself put the book down to give myself a good enough sleep 🤣"
- I get up and do a workout at 5:30am. Get showered and dressed... then I feel like I’ve got heaps of time to get organised PLUS I’ve already achieved my goal for the day too!
- Set 2 alarms - 1 for you then one for the kids a little later, giving you time to throw down a coffee and get dressed before they get up. Then just chuck some food and uniforms at the kids and you’re good to go.
Technology
- Making the kids lunches the night before and getting them to pack bags and lie out there uniforms/ school clothes makes everything run more smoothly. Plus hide the TV remotes so they are ready on time 😂
- No devices till they're completely ready. Works a treat.
"Everyone has their jobs to do in the morning, oldest makes their own lunch, younger kids have a list, incentive to be ready is that if they are ready early they can have playtime/screen time until we leave."
- No screen time before school otherwise we'll never get there 😄
- No play or device until dressed, breakfast and teeth done.
- No TV in the morning and a morning jobs chart on the fridge so we stick to the plan 🙂
If All Else Fails...
- Shouting out “last one to get into the car is a rotten egg” sometimes gets the kids out the door! Or “I’m leaving without you” ahhahaha
"Bribery all the way, after school treat of Calippo.. if they are dressed and out the door on time 🤣 I mean who doesn’t love a Calippo"
- Setting our automatic vacuum cleaner which is set up under our daughters bed to go off when I want the kids to wake up to get ready for school. Bad Mum I know but it works for more than one reason (multitasking at its best).
- Get help from a Nana 👍👍
- I yell a lot
"The kids sleep in their school uniform. I am grossed out by it but they love it. Get up, eat, teeth and off to school. 😂😂"
- My best school run hack is don't do it 😂😂😂
- Coffee, coffee and more coffee. Check the fridge for milk and the pantry for lots of Coffee!! That is all we need! Oh and Wine.
- Pop outside and flick the power switch it’s amazing how quickly the kids get ready and out the door when you have no power.
- Best ever hack was making sure I took one of my neighbours kids..? It made mine ready and more obedient.. Peer pressure!!!
Tips for the first week back at school
It's that time of the year again, the holidays are coming to an end and school is right around the corner. Get all ducks in a row for the new year and the school run sorted with Micro Scooters! We have asked around and collated a few tried and tested tricks to help make the first week back at school a breeze and get everyone out the door and ready to go on time (fingers crossed on time!).
1. The morning routine
This tip isn’t at the top by coincidence. We think that we have truly found the key to making those early morning starts a little bit easier; it is all about routine, routine, routine. And the best way to do this is to make sure your kids know when it’s ‘wake up time’, ‘breakfast time’ and ‘leaving time.’ It may sound a bit over the top but establishing the expectations from the get go will have everyone on the same page and make those mornings a little less hectic.
2. It’s all about the prep the night before
Although obvious it does need to be said that making lunches and laying out their clothes the night before is the ultimate time saver and really does save that extra stress in the morning. And the best thing, the kids will have the time to prepare their own lunches, perhaps even excited as they get to pick and choose what they want to have to eat the next day.
3. Keep the fun up
Just because school has started doesn’t mean the holiday fun has to end – it can be harder to keep up during week days but activities such as scooting the school run can still easily fit into the day. Micro has a great range of both kids' scooters and adults' scooters to choose from to ensure there is always time for fun. And as we know, arriving at school after a burst of energy is the best way to get the kids ready to focus in the classroom.
4. Make sure everyone gets enough rest
With the days getting more jam packed with school, activities, work and after school care, the recommended eight hours of sleep a night could not be more important for everyone. The right amount of sleep and rest is crucial in keeping those minds happy, healthy, rested and ready to learn.
5. The 'Parent Time'
Last but not least, this one is for the Mums and Dads out there, even though you aren’t the one’s starting school it can be just as busy and as much of a change for you. Make sure you still have a moment or two to yourself to relax and recharge. It’s as easy as having 15 minutes to yourself in the morning to have your coffee/ tea or practice some yoga/meditation. For the super busy simply doing some exercise on the way to or from the school gate can be a winner.
These top tips are by no means miracle workers but they will make the transition from holiday mode to school and work mode a little bit easier for everyone. Get active as a family, create routines that work for you, spend more time together and make the journey exciting by scooting the school run.
Shop the range and find the best scooters and accessories for the whole family heading back to school.