Joanna Fortune: So hard to get back in the swing of early starts in January

Suggest that each child do something to make mornings easier. One of them can lay the table for breakfast the night before. Another can arrange everyone’s shoes and coats close to the door so they are ready to go. They can each lay out their uniforms the night before and put their school bags by the wall so no one is looking for anything when they are in a rush

Tue, 14 Jan, 2025 - 02:00

Child psychotherapist Joanna Fortune

My children, aged five and seven, had a great Christmas with lots of late nights and sleep-ins. But I'm finding it difficult to get them back into a routine now school has reopened. They are also cranky with the early morning starts. What can I do?

Holidays are a great opportunity for family fun and play, as well as lazy pyjama days and being able to decide what you would like to do. However, they inevitably come to an end, often before we feel ready to readjust to our regular daily routines. Children and their parents need a break from their more rigid routines as it allows us to relax and slow down from a frenetic daily pace.

That said, it is also important to ease children into the daily drill ahead of time. Even a few days of the more typical bedtime and breakfast routine and ensuring everyone is up, dressed and fed at a time you would need to be ready for school is helpful.

It sounds like you didn’t get the opportunity to take this more gentle, gradual approach to re-establish the routine before school started. So, this week, focus on re-establishing a schedule for you all and allow for some wobbles and protests.

Returning to routine is never easy. It may help to inject some playfulness into the morning. Have music playing in the kitchen, loud enough that they hear it before coming in and tell them that everyone has to dance to the breakfast table; the craziest dance move wins (the prize is everyone copying that dance move for a lap of the table).

Rhythm and synchrony (movement) help activate the parts of the brain associated with emotional regulation, so it will help get everyone into the same emotional zone and be in a better mood.

Talk at breakfast about what everyone is most excited about that day.

If you still have someone dragging their reluctant heels, you could make it a race to see who is at the door first, ready to go. If everyone gets to the door 'on time' every day, you could have a family movie treat night on Friday to celebrate.

Aside from this, approach their struggles with empathy and understanding. Acknowledge how hard it is to get back into the swing of things, and of course, it is more appealing to stay cosy in bed than to go out into the cold to school.

Use the journey to school to listen to a playlist you can all sing along to or perhaps an audiobook (if you drive). If you are walking to school, play a game where you jump when you see a red car, hop when you see a bike or spin around when you see a bus. In other words, find ways to make it fun to get to school.