17 Tricks to Help Get the Kids Out the Door on Time
This year, you'll get it right.
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It's back-to-school season, which means time for the family to settle into a new school schedule. Getting everyone out the door on time sounds deceptively simple. In reality, there's a ton of sub-routines that have to be executed before you can all step out. There's waking up, getting ready, eating breakfast, packing lunches, organizing backpacks, remembering schedules, corralling sports equipment and making sure that no one and nothing is forgotten or left behind. When you realize all that goes into it, it's amazing anyone ever gets anywhere without being late.
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The secret to having it all run smoothly is to automate as much of it as possible, so the whole family can get through the process, uncaffeinated and bleary-eyed, without having to think too much about each step. With that in mind, these are the best tips for getting kids out the door on time. Some of them are ways to set up and organize your school routine, so everyone knows where everything is and no one has to track down any stray pieces of paper during the morning crunch. Others are way to keep track of everyones schedules, permission slips and other tasks that have to be handled as a family. And then there are a few parenting-approved tips to keep the whining and griping to a minimum. Keep these in mind, and you'll have the mornings down pat in no time.
Have a designated spot for all their stuff.
If kids know where to store their backpacks, jackets, and shoes as soon as they get home, they won't have to rush around the next morning trying to collect it all again. Stick-on hooks can place things at child height, so they can hang up their own backpacks and jackets.
Field trips won't sneak up on you if the day's events are posted right on the fridge. Going paperless? Organizing expert Jeffrey Phillip recommends the app Cozi for a streamlined home management system. It syncs up with multiple phones and includes daily schedules for each family member. Skylight, FamilyWall and Hearth are apps, devices and digital calendars with similar planning features for families.
RELATED: The Best Back-to-School Organization Ideas for Students and Parents
Avoid last-minute scrambling by asking kids about permission slips, tests, reports cards or any other papers you have to review at night, before the morning rush. Create a family inbox for important paperwork so anything you need to see will actually get to your attention (and not stay stuffed in a backpack).
This strategy tops lots of parents' lists for a reason. Lay out clothes for the next morning (or even the next week), and preempt any debates on what's considered appropriate school attire.
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Prep lunch the night before.
When dad Chris Pegula, author of the book From Dude to Dad, noticed his friend's kids packing their lunch at night, a light bulb went off. "I looked in amazement as they made their choices," he said. "Within seconds they filled their lunch totes, and were onto the next task of getting ready for bed."
RELATED: Your Kids Should Make Their Own Lunches Starting in Third Grade
Keep backpacks packed.
Besides putting homework away ahead of time, professional organizer Janet Bernstein has her kids' phones charge on top of their backpacks each night, so they never forget them. "Implement this rule, and you've also solved the 'no devices in the bedroom' argument," she says.
Make it easy for them to know the time.
Keep clocks on hand — in the bedrooms and in the bathroom — so kids will know if they're falling behind schedule. For older ones, an old-school alarm clock is better than a smartphone alarm, because it'll reduce the temptation to start checking social media first thing in the morning.
RELATED: The Best Alarm Clocks You'll Be Happy to Wake Up To
Invest in timers ... and doorbells.
Setting a timer to ring intermittently ("15 minutes 'til the bus! Five minutes! Time to go!") is a popular tactic, but one of our Facebook fans took it to a new level: "I bought a wireless doorbell and put the bell part in my kids' room," she says. "I set the sound to 'gong' and press it several times in the morning to wake them up."
Admit when you're the weakest link.
Moms aren't immune to lateness either. Find ways to improve your own routine: Designate a tray for keys if you're constantly misplacing them, invest in a programmable coffee maker that'll start brewing before you wake up, and fill your gas tank in the evenings to make for a smoother start to the day.
Play the zones.
Try to keep herding everyone toward the door, and cut down on the amount of trips you take in and out of your bedrooms. "In our household, no one goes downstairs for the day without being dressed," says Andrea Worthington, owner of BabyGotChat. "It means they're eating breakfast in their school clothes, but not having to drag them back upstairs and then drag them back downstairs is an easy ten minutes saved."
Simplify breakfast.
A brunch buffet may not be in the cards, but you can still get kids fed and full with a quick bowl of cereal, healthy breakfast bars, overnight oats or even frittata muffins. You can bake 'em on Sunday, and then reheat all week.
Choose what you say carefully.
Try to stay assertive, saying things like, "It's time to put on your shoes — do you want the red boots or the blue sneakers?" instead of, "Put on your shoes, okay?" That way, you give your kids a chance to give their input, but you're giving them fewer opportunities to just shout, "No!"
Add a little fun into the mix.
Playing games at the bus stop or making it a race out the door can give kids an incentive to get moving. "I promised my kids muffins from the bakery near the school, which we could only get if we had time," says Stephanie Dolgoff, Health Newsroom Director at Good Housekeeping.
You may dream of shoes neatly placed in bedrooms, but you might be better off stashing them by the backseat. One mom we polled always keeps socks and hair brushes in her car for getting ready on the go.
Set consequences and stick to them.
A few moms reported that the threat of extra chores or less TV time works well in keeping kids on task. Consider making the morning routine part of your kids' allowance responsibilities: Each day you leave late, dock their weekly "pay."
RELATED: 12 Parenting Secrets to Steal From Moms with Lots of Kids
Be consistent.
Standardizing the essential steps can help, so you can go into auto-pilot before your morning caffeine kicks in. "I do things in the exact same order every morning so it's very routine," says Lexie Sachs, Executive Director, Strategy & Operations at the Good Housekeeping Institute. "Then I don't feel like I'm scrambling or forgetting something."
Enforce bedtime.
It's common sense, but a solid night's sleep makes getting up that much easier. "If they're pooped, they'll never make it," says Carla Levy, former Editor-at-Large at Good Housekeeping, "but if both kids hit the hay on the early side, they'll usually wake up without me even badgering them. It's kind of amazing!"
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
Caroline is a writer and editor with almost a decade of experience. From 2015 to 2019, she held various editorial positions at Good Housekeeping, including as health editor, covering nutrition, fitness, wellness, and other lifestyle news. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism and dreams of the day Northwestern will go back to the Rose Bowl.
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