How to Beat Morning Madness when Routines Fail

Do you feel frustrated when the routines fail and your family faces the morning madness? Hugs! I feel you! In spite of having a good routine and sticking to it, somedays we still face the mad morning rush.

In our family, we have a morning routine. Nothing fancy or rigid, but simple do-able ones that help us give a good start for the day. On ideal days things happen per the routine and it is a smooth sail. But life happens.

There are realistic days – kids get sick, or we end up working late and oversleep, hit snooze multiple times and miss the alarm, or wake up to a power outage, kids had nightmares and are groggy now, or school bus comes extremely early, there are so many hiccups that break the routine and trigger morning madness.

Why does morning routines fail in my family?

Lets take a routine or habit that pertains to you. Say you plan to drink a glass of water right after you brush your teeth. This habit or routine involves only you and you are responsible for it. Such routines are easier to maintain and stick to if you put a little effort towards it. But when routine involves your kids and spouse, it is like a machine having multiple moving parts. It is quite normal for routines to fail when we impose them on our family.

Does that mean we should not have a morning routine for our family?

You should have one! If you do not have a morning routine for your family, I strongly suggest that you make a morning routine list. The idea is to have a routine that is easy and simple for your little ones and big kids (include the spouse as well) to follow 🙂

Do not completely rely on the morning routine lists that you find on Pinterest. What we see in social media is just a part of their lives which may or may not resonate with us. Come up with a simple routine that will work for your family.

Okay, now we are at a point where we made a routine but that keeps failing. What to do now?

5 things to do when morning routines fail

1. Re-visit and edit your morning routine periodically. Remember that routines change with every season of your life.
2. Routines must be must simple and do-able.
3. Do not have a mile long morning routine list. Try to minimize the list to a few actionable items.
4. There is no one size fits all routines. You may get inspiration from social media, but always make routines that will benefit your family.
5. Please leave the urge to do everything as planned. Ditch perfection and do not be hard on yourself and on your family. On average, the realistic days will always outnumber the ideal days, which is OK.

Ok, you so have a routine that works fine most of the days. But some days you feel the whole universe conspiring against you and want to know how to beat the morning madness when the routines fail?

3 tips to survive morning madness when routines fail

1. Breathe. Check your posture. Relax that hunched shoulders. Drink a glass of water and become mindfully aware of the situation. Calmer mind can handle things better.
2. How did you handle the morning rush that last time you faced it? Did you handle it well or was it a disaster? Get inputs from your past experiences and do not repeat the same mistakes again. If your anger and irritation made the day miserable in the past, then handle it differently this time.
3. Reward yourself. Treats are not just for kids, it works well with adults as well. Promise yourself a reward if you get through the day being more mindful instead of running around in autopilot. Please be aware that rewards need not necessarily be sweet treats.

Mindset change is key. Instead of using passive-aggressive statements like – “Great! Routines are going to fail today“, say to yourself that it is ok for routines to fail and you CHOOSE to handle it in a mindful way.