Getting up early and having a happy morning routine are important for lifetime success, it sets the tone for the whole day. Getting up early gives a kick-start for the day ahead. It boosts your speed and allow you to work more. Studies have proved that waking up early, having a fixed morning routine makes you more energetic, and you take less time to do any task. It reduces anxiety and makes your rest of the day productive. Lets see how to make your child a morning person.

Parents should practice this and instil this habit in their children. It improves children’s mood and increases their ability to focus for the rest of the day. Early morning routines gives children a sense of security and help them develop self-discipline. It instills a sense of purpose and peace to their lives. It will help your children in achieving their goals of the day and make them ready for whatever the day throws at them.

Early to bed, early to rise.

To make your children wake up early without any tantrums, you have to put them to bed as early as possible. Putting children early to bed is also beneficial for their physical, emotional, and mental development. If kids go early to bed, they will sleep more and will also get a great amount of restorative sleep. Restorative sleep means the goodnight sleep, which makes you feel healthier, stronger, and more cheerful after you have been feeling tired, weak, or miserable.

It is also good for parental sanity, after the children sleeps you can have your personal time with your spouse. Snug into the couch with your spouse and enjoy a good movie, this will release your day’s worry and give you peace.

What to do in morning?

Plan a proper morning routine.

Plan a proper morning for your family, as even if you wake up early, without a properly planned morning routine it will become unproductive and messy. Make a chart of the things and give to kids or hang it somewhere they can see it, your chart may include regular morning things like, Brushing teeth, Bathing, Combing hair, Getting dressed, Eating Breakfast etc. It will be easy to get things done when children know about the routine. Encourage children to take responsibility of these tasks and try not to do everything for them.

Consider implementing the “When-Then method”, it will help your children stay motivated to complete the tasks in the morning. The when then routine may work like, “when you will have bath and get dressed, then we have breakfast” identify what your child loves to do in the morning and put it in ‘then’ part, and when part will have all the undesired stuff like brushing teeth. Praise and reward your children if they cooperate.

Pray.

Morning Prayer can be a tremendous source of power and positive energy. Do it right before breakfast on the breakfast table. Praying before meals is a good habit to teach your child to be thankful for what they have. Prayer should consist of asking forgiveness and thanking God for everything. You can use below words said by The Dalai Lama as prayer.

” Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.“

Have a healthy breakfast.

Healthy breakfast is important to start the day with. Children need energy in morning to rejuvenate their bodies, and get ready for the day. Make the breakfast an interesting part of morning, serve a variety of food in breakfast.

Use aromatherapy.

Light an incense sticks (Agarbatti) or use air freshener for good fragrance in the morning. Aromatherapy helps in reducing anxiety, ease depression, boost energy levels, speed up the healing process, eliminate headaches, boost cognitive performance, induce sleep, strengthen the immune system, reduce pain, improve digestion, and increase circulation.

Interact with your children.

Don’t sit ideal reading newspaper or get lost in planning your day. This will make a boring start of the day for your children. Interact with them, talk about school, their previous day or ask them about their plans for the day. Praise their good activities and plan.

Don’t switch on the TV or any other media in the morning.

Screen time will stop the children from engaging in other meaningful activities. Screen time includes watching television, using internet and other electronic devices such as smart phones, tabs and video games.

Wake them up with a smile.

Make wake-ups more pleasant: give hugs, talk politely, tickle them, and handle them patiently. Don’t wake children up suddenly by taking blanket off, switching off the fan or by yelling, it can spoil the whole day ahead of them.

Make them drink warm water in the morning.

A good warm cup of water in the morning can help cleanse yours and your children body by flushing out the toxins.  It also aid digestion, especially after eating a meal.

Exercise.

Exercising early in the morning has many health benefits and it improves your daily routine.  Among many other benefits, exercising early in the morning enhance metabolism, makes you consistent, improve physical and mental energy and develop strong self-discipline. Start when children are young and soon morning exercise will become their habit.

Play music.

Music has the power of healing; it is profoundly used as a meditation tool. It sets the mood right and help you enjoy the undesired work. Play the music of your children’s choice; you will be surprised to see how happy the morning becomes.

Be organised and remain calm.

Wake up early than children and organise everything to help their routine go smooth. Clean the house and arrange everything in order, you can also work on it at the night before. You can also prepare breakfast, iron/choose the clothes to wear, pack lunches etc, the night before. The organised morning will create positive vibes and it has a deep impact on children’s brain.

Being organised will also help you to remain calm, or else you would be in a hurry to finish the chores and you would miss the fun and positive part of morning. You will start being angry, frustrated, and even scold your children. Never put a display of such behaviour in front of children, especially in the morning. Children will pick up those negative vibes and it will affect them very badly.

Make your children love early mornings, it is the first step to success. As Benjamin Franklin said “The early morning has gold in its mouth,”.