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Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about building a morning routine when you

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Speaker 1: have a family. Mornings are a great time for getting

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Speaker 1: stuff done, and I'd love to read about amazing morning routines.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about many of them on this podcast. I

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Speaker 1: am totally that person who clicks on stories about people

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Speaker 1: doing ten mile hikes and hour long meditation sessions before breakfast.

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Speaker 1: I once wrote a book called What the Most Successful

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Speaker 1: People Do Before Breakfast that was all about routines like these. However,

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Speaker 1: since I have four young kids, I know that attempting

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Speaker 1: to put ten mile hikes into my own mornings presents

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Speaker 1: some logistical complexities. So I definitely sympathized with a few

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Speaker 1: listeners who stumbled upon Before Breakfast and then rode in

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Speaker 1: to ask about doing things before breakfast when you're responsible

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Speaker 1: for people other than yourself. Is that even possible to

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Speaker 1: have a morning routine when you have a baby or toddler.

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Speaker 1: What if having any time to yourself in the morning

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Speaker 1: requires waking up at four am? As one woman wrote,

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Speaker 1: do I just throw it out the window until she

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Speaker 1: was out of the baby stage. Let me be the

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Speaker 1: first to say that that is totally an option. If

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Speaker 1: you are keeping your head above water with a career

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Speaker 1: and a young family, you're already accomplishing great things. But

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Speaker 1: if you would like to experience the upsides of a

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Speaker 1: morning routine and you have little kids, there are a

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Speaker 1: few things you can do. The first thing I'd note

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Speaker 1: is that good morning routines are about creating space for

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Speaker 1: priorities that life tends to crowd out. For most parents,

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Speaker 1: spending time with their children is a priority. Mornings are

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Speaker 1: a great spot for quality time for parents who work

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Speaker 1: outside the home. Family dinner can be tough to make happens,

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Speaker 1: so why not substitute family breakfast. I do my best

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Speaker 1: to keep seven fifteen the seven fifty open most weekday

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Speaker 1: mornings so I can sit at the breakfast table with

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Speaker 1: my kids. In sequence, it's nice to have that time

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Speaker 1: together before we all go our separate ways. This can

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Speaker 1: be a profound owned mindset shift. Instead of thinking I

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Speaker 1: wish I had a good morning routine, comparing myself to

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Speaker 1: the people running marathons before breakfast, I can note that

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Speaker 1: I do have a morning routine, which involves investing in

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Speaker 1: my relationships with the people I love more than anyone

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Speaker 1: else on the planet. The second thing I'd note is

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Speaker 1: that mornings can look very different if your kids wake

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Speaker 1: up predictably or if they don't. If you know your

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Speaker 1: kids never wake up before six am, then you can

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Speaker 1: just build that into your life, maybe waking up at

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Speaker 1: five to run on a treadmill or spend half an

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Speaker 1: hour reading or reflecting to wake up at five. Most

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Speaker 1: people need to go to bed by ten, so you

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Speaker 1: arrange your life to make that happen simple enough. The

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Speaker 1: trouble is when they might wake up at six, or

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Speaker 1: at five, or at some other time. Entirely, it is

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Speaker 1: so frustrating to set an alarm for five thirty hoping

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Speaker 1: to get some quiet creative time before a toddler is up,

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Speaker 1: and then as soon as you're settling in with your

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Speaker 1: coffee to work on your novel, you hear someone yelling

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Speaker 1: for you. This was my life for much of the

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Speaker 1: last eleven years, so trust me, I get it. So

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Speaker 1: my suggestions for unpredictable mornings. If you are co parenting

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Speaker 1: with someone, you might decide to trade off early morning

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Speaker 1: childcare coverage. Each of you gets two weekday mornings per

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Speaker 1: week to do your own thing, and you team up

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Speaker 1: on Fridays, or you might designate a morning parent and

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Speaker 1: an evening parent. My friend Sarah, who co hosts the

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Speaker 1: Best of Both Worlds podcast with me, is part of

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Speaker 1: a two physician couple. For many years, she planned her

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Speaker 1: runs and blogging sessions for mornings while her husband was

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Speaker 1: responsible for the household, and then she was the one

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Speaker 1: who'd be there for the evening routine. If you're parenting

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Speaker 1: on your own, or if your partner travels a lot,

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Speaker 1: this is obviously more complicated. My husband and I have

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Speaker 1: looked at our weekly schedules and if I wanted to

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Speaker 1: go for a run outside some early morning, I'd planned

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Speaker 1: that for a day we were both there. It isn't

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Speaker 1: a routine, and I normally run in the afternoon, but

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Speaker 1: it's nice to use mornings once in a while. I've

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Speaker 1: also definitely taken advantage of days when relatives are visiting

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Speaker 1: to slip out for an early morning run. If you

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Speaker 1: have some flexibility with work and child care hours, you

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Speaker 1: might still be able to take advantage of morning hours

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Speaker 1: here and there, even if you are on your own.

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Speaker 1: Maybe your kids go to a daycare nearby two days

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Speaker 1: per week. You dropped them off at and go for

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Speaker 1: a forty minute run, shower at home or at your gym,

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Speaker 1: and then go to work. Or if you have a nanny,

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Speaker 1: maybe that person might agree to come early and work

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Speaker 1: an extra hour or so. Two mornings a week, you

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Speaker 1: go to a nearby coffee shop or diner to work

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Speaker 1: on writing your book before heading into the office. I'd

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Speaker 1: also say that kids do grow up. My youngest child

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Speaker 1: is now four. He can watch cartoons while I run

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Speaker 1: on the treadmill or get some reading done in the morning.

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Speaker 1: I can't leave the house if my husband is traveling,

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Speaker 1: but I can do most of the things I would

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Speaker 1: do in one of those morning routines you read about

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Speaker 1: and clickbait articles. Well maybe not the hour long, totally

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Speaker 1: silent meditation session, but let's be honest, I don't want

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Speaker 1: to do an hour long meditation session anyway. I can't

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Speaker 1: blame my kids for that. If you've got a family

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Speaker 1: and a good morning routine, I'd love to hear about it.

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Speaker 1: You can email me at the for Breakfast Podcasts at

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Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.

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Speaker 1: H