I was literally running a marathon every morning! I would wake up, get my kids dressed, run downstairs to give them breakfast, run back upstairs to get dressed, then back down to get everyone ready to leave the house. Sometimes I would be running up and down multiple times until everyone had what they needed.

One day I realized that this had to stop! It was just not an efficient way to get ready in the morning. Something had to change.

A post shared by Scary Mommy (@scarymommy) on Mar 17, 2017 at 9:25am PDT

I knew there had to be a better way. My kids were old enough to get dressed themselves and even serve themselves breakfast, so I had to figure out why they weren’t doing that.

The first place I looked was in my kitchen. I really hadn’t been making it easy for them to serve themselves. The bowls and cereal were in cabinets too high for them to reach. The milk was also high up and too heavy to pour. So I could either leave things as they were or re-arrange some things in the kitchen.

4 changes we made for a self-serve breakfast

1. Put bowls and cups in a lower drawer
2. Bought cereal dispensers and put them in an easy to access space on our counter
3. Put pre-poured milk on a low shelf in the fridge
4. Taught kids how to use our hot water urn (so they could make their own oatmeal)

Originally I tried a Magic Tap milk dispenser. It was great, but shortly after we started using it, it stopped working. So, we’re back to pre-poured cups, which works just as well.

We’ve had this system in place for about a month now and it’s been a game changer.  Our mornings go much more smoothly.  The kids have a new sense of independence and I have more time to get myself ready in the morning.  It’s a win-win!

Until next time,
Shaindy