Weekday mornings can be hectic in every household when you have school children. But by following a few simple steps, you can slow down and make mornings count. 

Weekday mornings are tough in our house. With two older children that are both in sports, they are out the door and at practice by 6:45 am each day.  Which means our entire house is up by 6:00 am, including my seven year old. Now he doesn’t have to be at school until 7:40, which gives us plenty of time to have a relaxed morning routine, right?

Not always.  As I have learned, sitting them in front of a cartoon while you get ready for your day doesn’t help. In fact, it gets us behind schedule.

So this year, we are trying a few ways to help us slow down and make mornings count.  Getting our day started in the right way really sets the tone for the day.  Here are a few of the ways we plan to make mornings count in our house this year.

3 Ways to Make Mornings Count

Make Mornings Count: Go to Bed at a Set Time Each Night

On average, children need 9-12 hours of sleep each night.  We have a set bedtime of 8:00 PM for our seven year old. We have a simple routine of bath, brush teeth, and story time that we start at 7:30 pm each night.  He looks at the clock and knows it is lights out by 8:00 pm.

This is also true for mom & dad.  We recently started to go to bed each night at a set time, to ensure we get more sleep and I can’t tell you how much more rested we feel.

Make Mornings Count: Give Yourself Plenty of Time to Get Ready in the Morning

Because of our crazy sports routine, we have no problem giving ourselves plenty of time to get ready for school/work each morning.  By waking up even 15-20 minutes earlier than you need to, you are more relaxed in the mornings.  There is no rush to get out the door, which can set such a bad tone for the day. Instead, everyone has time to get ready, and essentially fully wake up before heading out the door.

Make Mornings Count: Have Fun at Breakfast with a #BigGBattlecast

With the additional time you have given yourself by waking up early, you can have an enjoyable breakfast. My guy loves cereal and loves to sit at the kitchen table, kicking his legs as he takes his time eating.  I was recently asked to try out this new way to make mornings fun with General Mills cereals and Skylanders Battlecast.

My boys have been playing Skylanders for years and are very familiar with the characters, but this mom?  Not so much.  So I had fun learning all about Skylanders one Saturday morning as  both boys caught me up on the game.  Specially marked packages of General Mills cereals – Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp, Golden Grahams, Honey Nut Cheerios and Reese’s Puffs – have exclusive Skylanders Battlecast collectible character cards in them, available at major retailers thru September 2016.

The specially marked packages of General Mills cereals will contain three free Battlecast cards with one exclusive character card inside every participating box.   The exclusive cards cannot be found anywhere else – for a limited time- featuring characters Sonic Boom, Trigger Happy, Prism Break and Hot Head.

Skylanders Battlecast is a mobile trading card game where players can collect both digital and physical Skylanders Battlecast cards to build the ultimate team and bring them to life in online battles.  When you collect physical cards, you scan them with a mobile device camera to add them to your in-game deck. The Skylanders Battlecast is a free app that can be downloaded here.

Here’s how it all works:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gq7VotFiiMQ

Now I know that not everyone will have the time to play in the morning on weekdays, but imagine how much fun you can have on Saturday morning playing together?  It’s another great way to stay connected with your kid and spend time together! Challenge your kiddo to a #BigGBattlecast!!

For more information about Skylanders Battlecast, visit the Skylanders Battlecast Website. For more information about General Mills cereal, head to the General Mills Website.

Disclaimer: Compensation was provided by General Mills via MomTrends. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of General Mills or Momtrends.