Is Morning Mayhem Affecting Your Child?

Do you find yourself stressed out by morning mayhem?

Well, you can bet your child is too! Not only are children like little mood barometers registering every gram of our own stress, but complying with an adult schedule, complete with blaring alarm clock, mayhem and disaster in the wider world (on television news), as well as a chaotic household, can be so overwhelming that it is likely to affect your child’s learning and behaviour (think clingy/whiny/stroppy – and who has time for that first thing in the morning?).

While we are usually prepared to acknowledge the benefits of a gentle bedtime rhythm, we don’t always consider that waking is also a major transition, or how the sensory experience of waking affects little ones – among our list of morning tasks, there’s barely time! Yet, by creating a gentle beginning to the day, stress levels can plummet – for you and your child. So why not work out a morning rhythm that works for you both?

1. Not a Morning Person?

If you aren’t a ‘morning’ person, try shifting your own bedtime back half an hour or so (gradually), so you can ‘ease yourself awake’ (if your sanity, like mine, depends on reading at midnight, skip this bit – just keep the alarm volume low so yours are the only ‘assaulted’ senses).

2. Creating A Special Place

Create a special place to greet the morning before the kids wake – with a cuppa, some yoga or a meditation. (If your child is a 5am waker – pull the blankets over your head instead: pretend as long as you can – there will be hours before the rush starts anyway!).

3. Get Physical!

If the kids are up as early as you (or before) why not do some yoga or a meditation together or go outside and greet the day (take a morning walk) – there is no excuse to prop them in front of the television (except for weekend ‘lay-ins’ – video hire was invented for parental respite under exceptional circumstances!).

4. Avoid The Rush

Avoid the mad mother rush by preparing the night before – write the notes/make the lunches/fill the water bottles/lay out the clothes/sports gear etc. Plonk everything you need in a spot by the door – you can’t forget it, if it is right where you will trip over it!

5. Gentle Awakenings

Gently welcome your child from the womblike world of sleep with a special greeting: If you have a nice singing voice (or your child is more forgiving than mine!!), sing a morning song or (if your morning voice is less than tender) play some gentle, happy music.

6. Share Some Rituals

Create rituals around dressing, hair-brushing, teeth cleaning and of course, breakfast (together!) and parting for school, work etc.

7. Hugs And More…

Give your kids special morning hugs and make eye contact as you tell them how much you love them. As you send them off to school, or head off to work yourself, tell them ‘have fun’, rather than, ‘be good’ or ‘do well’ – the confidence and security they feel will nurture their spirits and help them soar.

Pinky McKay is an international board certified lactation consultant, infant massage instructor, mother of five and the author of ‘Parenting by Heart’, 100 Ways to Calm the Crying, Sleeping Like a Baby, Toddler Tactics and her baby massage DVD, Gentle Beginnings. Based in Melbourne, Pinky regularly holds workshops and is available for mothers groups and conferences. See her website at http://www.pinkymckay.com.au.