encouraging independence

First day back at school today... and I was nervous. School holidays are brilliant, for some reason my children have taught themselves to sleep in. Late. Im talking 9am wake up for a two yr old, 8.30am for the 4 yr old and sometime around 8am for the 6 yr old. Its unheard of, I know. And so, when the holidays come to an end and I know I have to have all three kids in the car at 8.30am ( clothes are optional for two of them) I am filled with dread at having to get back into the routine that is SCHOOL. Im not a fan, can you tell???

So this morning, I was determined to be not only organised, but calm and flowy so that the school term can start happily and without my voice ringing in her ears to get ready/brush your teeth/ get your socks on...

Last night, I made the lunches. I hate doing it at 11pm at night but really, it does work to have it done. I set out her clothes ready to go, right in front of the tv so it would automatically happen. It did.

And to help with the breakfast routine I decided to try something different. My kids are shockers at breakfast, take ages to sit up to have it, then demand I do it right then and there, then promptly leave if Im doing something. We then have tears in car cos its been forgotten.

I want them to be more independent, but I get that 2ltr milk is heavy and scary to pour, and that a WHOLE box of rice bubbles will almost definitely end up on the floor if not assisted.

So, when I got up to go out to take some photos this morning of the sunrise ( YES! finally I got up early too) I set this up for her.

Its simple, and makes her life easy too. And it gives her just enough help to not need me right there hovering. She loved it, I loved it :)

So she was dressed, and breakfasted, all in 25 minutes, give her enough time to chill and watch tv and begin her day calmly. I had barely had to remind her to anything.

How long it will last I dont know. But with a morning that works, Im keen to keep it going :)

Not only that, Im going to start letting all three do their own breakfast this way. Its a great step to doing things for themselves and gives them a great sense of accomplishment.

Having a great start to the day meant the whole day just flowed. I set up some simple outdoor areas for the other two, the dolls house and little people, which I had hidden away for some time. I love doing things like this... hiding toys away for a few months and then pulling it out for them to play with. Its like they have new toys!

The other cool area I set up today was a really easy fishing activity that I collected things from Big W. Two packets of plastic fish, two fish nets, one tub and some food colouring and I had a really cool fishing game that Jared just loved.

Simple things make life easy, fun and breathable.

Do you guys have any tricks for simplifying life??