Mornings Made Easy

By Joy Adams

Frequently, I am reminded of the fact that my husband is a genius.  He is one of those people who comes up with amazingly simple ideas that somehow no one else (or at least not me) has ever thought of.  In his workplace this results in somewhat frequent promotions.  In the home, it results in improved quality of life.  A few months ago my husband came up with one of his genius ideas and it has truly revolutionized our weekend/holiday mornings.

His idea… (Drum roll, please)….Prep breakfast snacks for the kids, the night before!  Simple – I know. But somehow, I had never thought of it.  A typical Saturday mornings used to involve my boys coming straight from their beds (very early in the morning) to my bedside, resulting in me being awakened to the announcement of “Mom, we are hungry! Can you get us something to eat?”   Then hurriedly, I would attempt to shush them from further announcements, while attempting to quickly and quietly get out of bed without waking my husband. (Saturdays are his sleep in days, Sundays are mine). I would escort them out of our room and in a sleepy state, I would begin pouring milk and cereal, slicing apples, and/or making toast.  I was exhausted.  I needed more sleep but by the time they were fully fed and either playing or watching an approved show, despite my physical exhaustion, my brain was now awake, and I could not go back to bed.

Now before retiring to bed, every Friday and Saturday night, we set out some snacks that the boys can help themselves to when they wake up. Nothing fancy, a couple apple sauce pouches, animal crackers, some carrots, water, maybe a juice box if we have some.  We set their morning snacks, or first breakfast as we often call it (my husband is a big J.R.R. Tolkien fan), at their assigned place at the table. Our boys love that they can just help themselves and we love that we are no longer jumping out of bed at 6:30 or 7:00 am in the mornings.   Being able to stay in bed until 8:00 am or even later is such a luxury.

Usually our boys wake up around the same time, however on the rare occasion that our younger son (three years old) wakes up first, My husband or I will get up with him, however, even these mornings are so much easier.  All we have to do is just assist in opening the apple sauce pouch or help get a straw in a juice box.  Everything else is already set out and ready to go and we can just slowly wake up as we snuggle with our little guy on the couch. Usually, once our older son (six years old) wakes up, we will sneak back into bed for a little while longer.

Our boys have gotten so used to our new weekend morning routine, that they will often close our door when they wake up in the morning in an attempt to not wake us up with their playing.  They are confident that they have what they need and they now solve their own problems by helping each other with tricky juice boxes or apple sauce pouches.

I now love the flow of our Saturday and Sunday mornings.  They are relaxed and no longer rushed.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a mom, so my ears are always attuned to listen for my boys. I am fully aware when they wake up and I can easily keep tabs on what they are doing based on the sounds I hear. But having the freedom and luxury of staying in bed snoozing or being able to wake up slowly with my husband and actually connect with him without interruptions is such a beautiful thing.  When I do emerge from the bedroom, I am ready to meet the day and my family with a positive attitude that comes from a place of rest.

As I was preparing this post, I second guessed myself several times. Within this post there is no deep spiritual truth, no unveiling of my soul, just a simple habit to make parenting little ones just a little easier.  When I shared my doubts about this post with my husband, he once again displayed his great yet simple wisdom.  He said, “parenting is the one job, that no one can afford to burn out from, if you can share something that can help parents get more rest while still taking care of their kid’s, you need to share it.”

So here’s to slow weekend or holiday mornings and hopefully a little more rest.

Blessings to all you other parents that need just a little more sleep.

 

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