You know the feeling – waking up with far too little sleep, quickly preparing to go to work and coaxing your kids to get them to school on time. Mornings can be tough for families that are on the go.
You can’t add hours to your day so you can get more sleep, but you can do a few things to make your mornings less stressful. And considering you or your teen may be in charge of rides to school, you can also do a few things to improve your family’s driving safety.
Here are seven tips for less stressful mornings:
1. Consider car pooling: If you live near families that have children who go to the same school, organize a car pool. This will save you money and give you more time to get ready on days you are not driving.
2. Prepare the night before: To ease the morning rush, prepare lunches, lay out clothes and organize backpacks the night before.
3. Make a check list: You’re not alone if you are forgetful in the morning. A check list can help a fatigue-addled mind in making sure everything is accounted for.
4. Breakfast on the go: While breakfast takes up precious time in the morning, it is the most important meal of the day and you shouldn’t skip it. Instead, purchase quick and healthy on-the-go breakfast items like oatmeal bars, individually packed yogurt, and fruits like apples and bananas. Safe driving practices will tell you to hold off on eating until you have arrived at your destination.
5. Set a backup alarm: Everyone has had one of those days when you sleep through several alarms. Instead of waking up only to find you were supposed to leave 10 minutes ago, set a backup alarm, at least 20 minutes before you are supposed to leave.
6. Don’t ignore car problems: If you’ve been noticing a weird noise coming from your car, or if your “check engine” light is on, you shouldn’t wait to have a mechanic look at these problems. Any list of driving safety tips will tell you it’s better to have potential car problems checked out ahead of time than to be stranded on the road and run late, or worse, cause an accident.
7. Calm down: When you are stressed out, you are more likely to make irrational decisions on the road that you may later regret. Whether it is speeding or running a red light, dangerous driving behavior is never worth it because getting pulled over or getting into an accident will take up more time and cause more stress.
