How to Minimise School Run Drama

I've been doing some reflecting on school mornings, and the drama that can sometimes ensue in getting everyone organised and out the door on time. 

I'm certainly enjoying the slower mornings during the summer holidays!

I thought I'd share my thoughts on how we can minimise school run drama ahead of the schools going back, so that you can think about any changes you'd like to make in advance.

As a single mum, I've not only to get myself showered, dressed and ready... but I also have two kids to organise (oh, and there's the dog too!). It's gotten easier as they're getting older, and I'm now working from home which also helps massively too, but I can still vividly recall the morning madness as I tried to get two toddlers ready for nursery on my own whilst simultaneously getting myself organised to go into the office!

There are some hacks that you can try however to get your mornings from chaos to calm:

• Plan your week on Sunday evening. I like to take an hour to look ahead at the calendar for the week on a Sunday evening. It allows me to address any conflicts before they become issues. This way you can also make sure that you've got time to make any arrangements for the kids if there are particular events at school (last minute World Book Day costume perhaps!).

My journal for my morning routine

• Get up before the kids. This is something I've only been doing in the last couple of years. I used to be a prolific snoozer, and would sometimes hit snooze 6 or 7 times before actually getting up and would typically only get out of bed after the kids woke me! Whereas it's so helpful for my mental wellbeing and readiness to get some time just for me to fill my cup. You can read more about my morning ritual here.

• Lay out clothes the night before, including choosing what you're going to wear. If there is ironing to be done, ensure it's done in advance so you don't have to deal with it in the morning... that always used to catch me out!

• Are there ways that you can use automation? I'm not talking robots, but for instance, I get my milk delivered from a local dairy on a subscription... so I know that I'll always have milk for breakfast. I had seen me in the past frantically texting friends to see if they could drop me off milk at night, or even popping to a neighbour to ask them to fill a jug for me in the morning!

• Wake the kids before they actually need to get out of bed. I've found that rousing the kids around 15-20 minutes before they need to wake is helpful. I go into their rooms, open their curtains to let some light in, and let them know what time it is.

• Put the clock forward. The wall clock in my kitchen has been set 10 minutes ahead of time. It helps keep us on track! The digital clock on the microwave is at the correct time... just to be sure!!

• Have everything you need by the door. I used to have two dedicated hooks by the door for each of the kids school bags, and we've a bench by the door that stores their shoes. We've also got an apothecary set of drawers in the hallway, and each of us has a drawer for our hats, gloves, scarves etc. In one of the drawers I even have a hairbrush with a few hair bobbles wrapped around the handle. This is for any last minute drama from my daughter if she needs to put her hair up! Thankfully it seems we will no longer need the drawer that houses all of our Covid face masks! I've got a dedicated dish where I keep my car & house keys too, so they're always to hand.

• Think about where items are stored in your kitchen. I've got plastic cups for the kids in a cupboard at their height, as well as plastic bowls and the cereal is in a cupboard they can reach. This way they can be taught to make their own breakfast.

• Have a planner/calendar on the wall. For kids that can read, I've found that having a daily planner and/or calendar on the wall that they can consult is helpful. I've got my colour coded time blocked Google calendar, but they obviously don't have access to that. I sometimes forget that unless I put something on the wall they won't know what I've got planned. It's particular useful if there are any changes to the schedule - such as school trips or whatever that might impact the morning routine. My free digital planning templates are available here to download. I use a meal planner (included in my templates), and in the morning I'll consult what we're having for dinner that night and take anything out of the freezer if needed.

Hopefully these ideas will spark some ideas of your own.

I did also ask my nearly 13 year old son if he had anything else to add to the list. This was what he came up with...

• To wake up sleepy pre-teens, you could perhaps suggest that they have a quick shower in the morning. This has been super helpful for my son, and he loves his morning shower with some of his favourite music playing too.

• Stick to a routine. If you follow the same routine every morning, everyone will be used to the order of events and this will also help things go smoothly. 

He then followed his suggestions with the comment 'So do I get any revenue out of this?' 🤣

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Let Me Reintroduce Myself

There have been a lot of changes here in the last few years, and I thought it might be time to reintroduce myself.

Hi! I'm Sarah...

I can vividly remember creating my 35 at 35 list just prior to my 30th birthday... it was a list of 35 things that I wanted to achieve before I turned, you guessed it, 35! And now I find myself sitting at my laptop aged 40!! Where did the time go?

So who am I? 

If you had asked me this question 10 years ago, even 5 years ago... I think you'd have gotten a very different answer to the one I'm going to give you now. A combination of different things - getting older (& hopefully wiser!), the Covid-19 pandemic, navigating some difficult situations with the children and investing in my personal development - have really opened my eyes to what's important in life. Perhaps you can relate?

I'm a single mum of two pre-teens... gosh, what a tricky age they are both at! My son is nearly 13 years old and my daughter has recently turned 11. The hormones are really kicking in! When I was newly single (just before my 30th birthday!), they were 9 months old and just over 2 years old... and I thought it was difficult then. I had believed it would get easier as they got older... spoiler alert, it hasn't. It's a different type of difficult. When they were little it was physically demanding, whereas now it's emotionally demanding. Perhaps it's compounded by the fact that I'm a single mum.

A year ago I gave up my employment, and ventured into a new territory... I had been a Senior Director of Global Program Management at a large pharmaceutical company with teams of project managers across America and Europe, but it just wasn't feeling right anymore. 

You can read more about how I left my corporate career here.

I had been investing in my personal development, the kids were in a difficult spot and I had this realisation that I was prioritising the wrong things. It felt good to step back. I still work in pharma, as a part-time consultant... this means that I can choose the hours I work, and I'm no longer on work calls in the evenings (which came as a result of working with the US and the time difference). With this change in work circumstances, and some other strategies, I've managed to carve out time and space to build my creative businesses.

I'm a certified transformational life coach (although I acknowledge that this is a phrase that's banded about a lot now and perhaps it's not always so clear what it actually is! I've a post on life coaching on my website which might be of interest - you'll find it here). I've decided to call myself a 'productivity coach and small business mentor'. Essentially, I work with small business owners, and help empower them to make sustainable changes in their businesses using project management strategies (drawing on all my corporate experience), plus a mix of mindset work and practical activities so that they get more time. Organisation, systems and processes are my jam!

In addition to the coaching, I'm also an abstract artist and I sell my art via my website. Everyone is creative in their own way, and what I love most is sharing my story... whether that is through my art, my blogs or my weekly newsletters (you can sign up here if you'd like to receive these).

I wholeheartedly believe that it's possible to build a business whilst still being present with your family.

I also believe that it's possible to do this whilst not burning the candle at both ends, or worse yet - burning out.

I am an advocate of living mindfully or more minimally; if you can simplify & streamline your home life then this is one way of creating additional time... giving you freedom to choose what you do with the time you've created.

Freedom and adventure are important to me. One way that I use the additional time I've created is to travel in my campervan, Verity (@veritythevw). My future vision involves more travelling and exploring Scotland. I'm building a business that will allow me to do just that.

Generosity or giving is another value, and I now volunteer every week at the local hospice. I run mindfulness and meditation sessions each week for the out patients at our Living Well Hub. Find out more about my volunteering here on my website.

Lastly I'm passionate about nature and the environment. I get a lot of inspiration from nature for my art, and I love to take walks in nearby parks and forests with my dog, Evie.

Getting clear on my personal values has been an impactful personal development exercise. Being in alignment with my values, in both my personal life and my business, means that my life and work feels good.

Hopefully this gives you a flavour of who I am...

I'd love to hear more about you. Let me know in the comments what is important to you (and if you want some help figuring our your values - this article that I have written might be helpful).

Sarah x

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Here are some ways that I can help you - 

 

🤍 Free training

Slide into my DMs on Instagram with the words ‘Get More Time’ and I'll send you the links to a couple of video training sessions I've recorded on how I use my Google calendar to time block, plus my morning routine and evening routines to book end my days.

 

🤍 Take my 5-day course, ‘Project Manage Your Life’

My popular challenge is now available as a self paced course. Click the link above for more information. In just 5 days, and for £55, I'll have you feeling more organised. 

 

🤍 Work with me 1-to-1

I currently have space for 1-to-1 life coaching clients. Are you a small business owner feeling burnt out, overwhelmed and stressed? I can help you find more time in your day, get organised using project management strategies and personal development techniques, and have you feeling calm and back in control. Find a spot in my calendar here to book in for an introductory call (this isn't a pushy sales call, but rather a genuine desire from me to help you).

Planning for the School Summer Holidays

For those of you in Scotland, the school summer holidays are now upon us!

As a single parent, and a business owner, getting organised for the summer holidays is no mean feat.

I put a poll up on my Instagram, and there were a lot of parents in my audience who are yet to get their holiday plans sorted, and were keen to understand how I do my planning.

So here goes…

• As a single parent, in the first instance I need to understand what my childcare rota is for the holidays. I had put forward a proposal to my ex a while ago, but it was only agreed now… so it’s delayed my planning somewhat. It’s also meant that some of the clubs locally for over the holiday are already fully booked out, and we also have the added difficulty that the summer club we have previously used isn’t running this year. Out of my control unfortunately, and so I just have to manage around these things.

• I’m a really visual person, and I like to ‘see’ the time that we’re playing with. Have you come across the visuals for a human life in months, or even weeks before? I’ve included a monthly version below for a 90 year old. It’s powerful being able to consider time in this way. Full blog post from Wait But Why here. Anyway, what I’ve done is I’ve created a planner for the summer holidays that breaks the weeks down into days, so that I can have a 1-page snapshot of what we’re doing each day.

If you want to get your hands on my summer holiday planner, as well as my other planning templates such as meal planner, daily habit tracker and my to-do list then you can head to this page on my website.

• My kids are older now, 11 and nearly 13 - so we had a family meeting to chat about what we’d like to do over the summer. Gone are the days when I could pick & choose by myself!

• I’m going to be taking the kids away on a few trips this summer, and so this is one of the first things that I blocked out in my planner. (I’ve got some campsites booked up now, and the arrangements are in place - can’t wait!).

• I am also going to have to do some work over the summer - I’m not yet in a place with my business where I can step away altogether for the full 7 weeks. So using my planner I’ll determine which of the days, or parts of the days, I’m going to work, and figure out what the plans are going to be for childcare on those dates… this might be summer clubs/activities, or play dates with friends etc. 

• Get creative! Can you offer to take a friend or neighbours kid for a half-day whilst they work, and then see if they’ll offer the same in return?

• Have a think about what activities you can plan and schedule in advance for your business that will take the pressure off over the summer months…. perhaps you can schedule your email marketing and social media now? Have a look at this blog post on being more efficient with your social media.

• Are there tasks that you can blast out in the mornings during the summer holidays before the kids get up, or once they are in bed - maybe get yourself an accountability buddy and get a few Zoom power hours scheduled each week?

• It’s also a great time to mull over what tasks you can delegate to free up your time. I’ve a blog post here on prioritisation that should be helpful.

• Lastly - have a think about how you want to feel over the school summer holidays, and make sure that the activities you’ve got scheduled will help you feel that way. I’m craving adventure, and so I’m excited to get away in our campervan, Verity, as much as possible.

Would love to hear your thoughts - how do you plan for the school summer holidays, and what exciting things will you be doing over the summer months?

It's been a long minute...

Hey! 

It's been a long minute since I last posted here on Glasgow Mummy! How have you been?

I wanted to provide you with a wee update on the latest in my world...

Well, wasn't the Covid pandemic an experience to say the least!! It felt so surreal at times, and I also can't get over the devastation that it caused. It's been a wake up call, that's for sure.

Since I last wrote, I've left my employment in the pharmaceutical industry and am instead following other creative pursuits that truly light me up! I do still work in pharma, but on a part-time basis as a consultant whilst I build and grow my other businesses.

I qualified as a transformational life coach in 2021, and am working with mums starting out in business as a productivity coach and business mentor. I love that I can bring to the table my 13 years of corporate project management experience into this space. 

I'm also an artist, and sell my unique and colourful abstract art via my website shop.

You'll find me blogging on all things productivity, personal development, small business, creativity and art over on my new website, www.sarahstewart.co.uk

I also write a weekly newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

Lastly, if you want to hit me up on Instagram (where I hang out most days!), you'll find me here:

@sarahstewart.co.uk

@sarahstewart_art

@sarahstewart_wellness

@veritythevw

Best,

Sarah x