Morning routine ideas for SAHM of toddlers is important for the well being of your child and you. Raising a toddler can be challenging, overwhelming & even stressful at times for SAHMs.
It is quite natural for mothers to look out for strategies that can ease out the day-to-day stress. Hence, chalking out a well-suited Morning Routine is one such strategy that can work wonders for both stay at home moms and their toddlers.
Morning Routine essentially refers to the group of activities performed right in the morning before you actually set out in the world. It is the time you spend with yourself that makes you feel fulfilled. Morning Routines offer a great opportunity to start the day on a positive note & sets you up for a winning day ahead.
11 Important Morning Routine Ideas for SAHM of Toddlers
With the toddler starting to communicate, him/her making efforts to take his/her first steps, and exploring the world with wonder in his eyes, the SAHM has a lot to handle on her platter for the entire day. And planning & Multi-Tasking can be her biggest strength.
Therefore here is a list of ideas for work out an effective morning schedule for yourself.
| 1. Wake up to your Me time |
| 2. Express Gratitude/Pray/Meditate |
| 3. Daily Affirmations |
| 4. Exercise & do your daily phone Calls |
| 5. Enjoy your Coffee/Spend time with spouse |
| 6. Get Ready & plan your day |
| 7. Feed your Toddler a filling snack |
| 8. Outdoor Free Play Time |
| 9. Breakfast |
| 10. Start your Chores |
| 11. Music |
1. Wake up to Your Me Time
This is the most important part of the day for SAHM of toddlers or of babies. Since this is essentially the time when you don’t have your toddler around to pull your dress, seek your attention, ask for a snack or running around exploring the kitchen drawers. So make the most of it. Use it to listen to yourself, your body, mind and soul are trying to talk to you.
| I remember when my elder daughter was a toddler, I used to wake up much before her so as to experience my bliss. My daughter has been very talkative right from the start and I have always loved my silent times as much as I love listening to her.
Getting my quiet 15 minutes were impossible during the day. And that’s when I decided to wake up early. Infact that was the time when I changed from a not so Morning person to loving the Mornings as the best part of my day now. This Me Time I used to introspect & connect with myself. I am usually outdoors for these 10 minutes absorbing all the lovely energy nature is radiating that takes me calmly through the entire day. |
2. Express Gratitude, Pray, Meditate
This one is all about connecting your soul to the higher energy. Expressing gratitude to the universe and praying forms essential components of any good Morning Routine.
It does not matter what religion or faith you follow, the goal here is to Spiritually connect to the higher energy and provide nourishment to your soul.
3. Daily Affirmations
“If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely,” – Roald Dahl.
Daily Positive Affirmations lead to positive thinking and good thoughts. And this intern has a lot of assured impact on you overall wellbeing and disposition. Include this as your morning ritual and you are sure to see positive changes in your life.
| My Affirmations keep on changing with time. It is based on my priorities & needs. The basic formula behind making your own affirmations is to “write what you want as if you already have it.” The science behind daily affirmations say that when you repeat these in your words or mind, you actually resonate in the frequency of having achieved it and hence you are more likely to attract that you wish for.
Additionally I believe in this theory of “Ask from the universe so you can receive from Universe”. So, apart from my daily affirmations I make it a point to verbalise in clear words what I want from Universe. |
4. Exercise & Do Your Daily Phone Calls
I can’t stress more on the fact that a healthy mom can raise a happy & healthy child. So do focus on your exercise routine, and no it is not an activity you can afford to do when you get some extra time in hand.
It is the activity which needs to be prioritised and done at least 5 days in a week. Schedule it along with your toddlers day nap time or his outdoor playtime, while you multitask to finish your chores and finish your daily step counts or dance with your music, it has to be included in your Daily Schedule.
| I always preferred to go for Morning Walks when my schedule allows. And when my elder daughter was a toddler, used to take out that time when she enjoyed sleeping alongside her day for a couple of more hours than me.
I also finish all my daily calls during my walks. All my friends and family knew the time I would call or return their calls on is 7 am. So this made life easy. One I never got bored while I finished my daily steps goal and secondly, I did not give up on my relationships for the time I was extremely busy with my toddler. However, I could not really keep up with this morning schedule with my second child and shifted my exercise time to later in the day. Mornings went by getting the elder one ready for school, cook breakfast, pack her snack and spending exclusive time with her. |
5. Enjoy Your Coffee/Spend Time With Spouse
Nourishing your body before you take on the day head-on is a good idea especially for the SAHM. While we are busy looking after the children, house and other chores, we end up loosing out on a good and healthy diet ourselves. So adding a healthy & nutritious snack in the morning helps you start your day on the right note.
6. Feed Your Toddler a Filling Snack
This is the first snack for the day and it is after a long break of 8-10 hours of night sleep. So a healthy nutritious yet filling snack is what would keep your toddler away from being the hungry monster.
| I used to start the day for my both babies with a banana milkshake with some soaked almonds and honey. Along with it a small town of toasted foxtail nuts and 10-15 raisins. This was served alongside our morning tea.
I always encouraged my kids to eat on their own. Yes, it was messy but thanks for the household I had at that time, I could manage cleaning up and not feeling frustrated about it. |
7. Get Ready & Plan Your Day
Multitask getting ready & planning your day in the shower and save up on sometime in your precious mornings. Another suggestion for all the SAHMs is to work towards looking & feeling beautiful.
8. Outdoor Free Play Time
Kids love spending time outdoors and the right dose of their free playtime in the morning is something kids love. So I had this in-build this in our morning routines to avoid my toddler getting bored & cranky while I start off with my daily chores.
This one 20-30 minutes of outdoor time has been of tremendous help. Try this out and see if it makes a difference in your life too. Do let me know if it helps.
9. Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal for the day. And when kids leave for school, having a healthy quick and nutritious breakfast sets them right for their day at school.
| I often decide what to cook a day in advance and sometimes also prepare halfway through at night before. While preparing breakfast we try to avoid as much processed and packaged foods as we can.
My family; loves the sourdough bread and I do bake it often. It usually goes into the oven first thing in the morning and is ready for breakfast. This is usually accompanied by soaked nuts, fruit or 2 and some eggs. I also cook traditional Indian breakfast at-least 3 days in a week. They are highly nutritious and healthy too. |
10. Start your Chores
Now is the time that you have refuelled and refreshed yourself, let us get to the daily chores now. And there is no dearth it in a home where a toddler is growing up.
My suggestion is to involve the toddler along with whatever you are doing. And yes care less about the mess and focus on the memories that are getting created.
| I try and finish my laundry, cooking & cleaning schedules right in the morning. It sets me free for the day to step out or chill with friends. Of course the toddler has his friends around too to enjoy his playtime. |
11. Music
Music helps in never presenting a dull moment for you & your toddler in the house. Barring the nap times & some quiet evening times when he is playing & I am reading, I mostly have the music on in my house. The volume is kept comfortable for us to hear each other saying something.
| Music is something that keeps me on my toes. It is usually like musician the background whenever I am doing my house chores. However, I have shifted from a noise free headphone to playing out music now on my Alexa for the ease of navigation when my hands are full. Also, a headphone does not let me hear my child and I find it very annoying. Because my silent toddler is a prelude to the storm he is creating.
Another reason I am a fan of having the music on is that this is the time when I can develop my toddlers taste in a wide variety of music. Infact this is the time to build on a lot of hobbies and interests for your toddler by exposing him to different things. Music, books, playing an instrument while he is around all helps in widening the perspective about world for your child. |
Additional Tip: My experience tells me to always prioritise the toddler when she needs to say something. Because the kids are not grown-up or developed enough that we can expect patience to hold on from them. Listening to them by giving them complete attention helps in keeping them calm for the entire day.
In fact why wait for them to come up to you and ask for that attention. Maybe you could spend 15 minutes proactively with them giving them your complete mindshare right in the morning. Try this and do let me know if you see a change in how your day goes by in the comments of this blog.
Work on a Morning Routine for Your Toddler
Once you have designed and well implemented your own Morning Routine, it is an awesome idea to design one for your toddler too. Kids love predictability in life more than anything else. Knit in the elements like their exclusive time with you, outdoor free play time, nutritious snack, and even limited screen time.
Trust me there is no harm in them looking at their favourite song or a story for 15 minutes. But ensure that you follow the same routine everyday for at least a fortnight for them to live through it instinctively.
So Dear SAHMs, claim your ME time & live through your beautiful Morning Routine and see how parenting becomes a fun & interesting responsibility.
Happy Mornings everyone.