Morning Mania

Mornings in the Dowdy house have become hectic, stressful and crazy!  Addison is not a morning person at all and waking her up, getting her dressed and off to school without a tantrum or two is nearly impossible.  I dread waking up Addi in the morning and it normally takes her 10 minutes before she will get out of bed.  Then we battle trying to get dressed, going potty and brushing her teeth.  Most mornings I end up sweaty with toothpaste on my shirt and late after trying everything I can think of to get her out the door.  I've tried redirecting her, bribing her, giving her time outs (which I don't have time for), waking her up earlier, setting a timer...you name it.  Plus, Mike is already at work before we even get out of bed, so I don't have an extra set of hands. 

After a horrible morning this morning I decided enough fighting - she works better with positive rewards so we are going to try a new approach.  I looked to my favorite resource...pinterest!  I found a few morning reward charts and modified them to create my own. 

She had a blast taking all the pictures and I told her that in the morning she would get to see her surprise.  After looking through lots of websites for reward ideas, I finally came up with what would work best for us.  Most mornings Addi gets a Nutra Grain bar on her way to school so instead of a "bar" as she calls it, she will get to pick a breakfast treat.  I got mini blueberry muffins (which she thinks are cupcakes), chocolate covered granola bar and a Lucky Charms cereal treat bar.  I wanted to keep it healthier than candy but still give her something to look forward to.  We will limit these treats to only mornings when she gets 4 stickers.  And this girl loves to be able to pick her own stuff (she's very independent) so this is perfect. 

Wish me luck...hopefully things will get easier and I won't start my day off on the wrong foot.  I've also included some blank morning routine charts for anyone else that needs some stress free mornings - hope they work for you.

Printable Morning Routine - Girl

Printable Morning Routine - Boy

UPDATE 7.19:

Addison is doing great with the morning routine chart!  Mornings are no longer a nightmare in my house - which helps get the day started on the right foot.  We have even gotten to the point where she has all her routine done in 10-15 minutes and we get to have some cuddle time and tv time in the mornings.  Thank goodness for positive rewards and for the "special treat" fairy :)