Change doesn't come in the knowing, but rather in the acting on what you know...and Evening Rout
If you don't act on what you know to do then it is as though you didn't know it at all. So really having the knowledge to do something and actually doing it are not the same thing.
The last post was on morning routines and focused primarily on what tasks need to be done in the here and now and we touched on the idea of forecasting what else needs to be done for the future. Evening routines also require some obvious basic tasks that need to be taken care of in the moment, like brushing teeth, but for the most part evening routines tend to focus on what needs to be done today before we get to tomorrow so that tomorrow will go smoothly. If you have not already read the last post on Morning Routines I would highly recommend that you start there and then come back to this post.
The principles mentioned in the Morning Routine post still hold true. There are certain things your kids do every single night that aren’t going to change. Things like getting their pajamas on, brushing their teeth, and reading a book are the kind of routines that you will put on their General Evening Routine chart. And then just as in the Event Specific Morning Routine chart you will have an Event Specific Evening Routine chart. I would encourage you to put most things on the evening chart and limit your morning chart to only a few items. You typically have more time in the evenings and also in the evenings you won’t be rushed to get those items done for fear of being late to the next event.
Some items to consider for your School Night Evening Routine chart -
Get all schoolbooks together in a bag or backpack
Put completed homework in the correct place in the notebook/folder
Lay out school clothes along with shoes and socks
Lay out jacket or umbrella if needed
Have all permission slip/notes together that need to go back to school
Sports Equipment
Band Equipment
Special Projects
Lunch
If you only do one thing that I have suggested in this post I would encourage you to have your kids lay out their clothes the night before. This one step circumvents half of the problems families face on school mornings. Wardrobe mishaps, lost shoes, dirty uniforms are all things that can be dealt with easily if not under time pressure to be done quickly. When you lay things out the night before you remove the time constraints which tend to be a key factor in the stressful part of the process.
I know that you are thinking right now…”this blog post isn’t so great. I have heard this before and this is not new information…I am not impressed.” Part of the problem is that mindset. The mindset that… “for something to be valuable it has to be new information.” However, if you haven’t already created a morning and evening routine with a check list for your kids and if you have had even one minute of stress in getting out of the house in the morning in the last year, then you don’t understand the value in doing this incredibly simple task. It might seem like it is inconsequential. It might seem like something that you could probably do if you could find the time later. However, if you take the time to write down a simple list right now, even if it is handwritten on a sheet of paper and not very pretty, you will see your mornings transform into a much nicer place to wake up to. Organization doesn’t have to be Pintrest pretty to work. And just because it is Pintrest pretty doesn’t mean it works.
If you know information and believe it and don’t act on it, then you might as well not know that information at all. The change in your life doesn’t come in the knowing, but rather in the acting on what you know.
If you want to see results in your home, family, and time management then you must act on what you know. Choose one thing in your routine and find a potential solution and enact that solution. My goal with this blog is to provide creative ideas and simple solutions for you to act on to help you organize your space, time, and family so that you can spend more time doing what ever it is that you love to do.
