Morning Routine

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post in which I shared one of our missteps.  I hadn’t worked on getting Michael independently getting ready for his day.  Here’s the post I shared back then, if you’re interested in reading it.

Since Then

I have been working with him on his morning routine.  We ended up dividing it into two separate parts.  The first is in his bedroom.  Michael turns off his own alarm clock and then uses this list to get himself dressed, put on deodorant and make his bed. We leave it right on his bedside table and we rotate the dressing list out each season to reflect the clothing he should be wearing.

Then, he has a separate list in his bathroom to do once he has made his bed.  

Two Quick Notes

1. Michael never has ‘use the toilet’ on any of his schedules.  He has been reliably potty trained since he was 4.  Although he may decide to use the bathroom when he first gets up, sometimes he has woken up before his alarm and has already gone into his bathroom to pee. He can handle this part of his morning routine on his own. So, in our case, putting ‘use the toilet’ on the list might cause frustration and annoyance for Michael.  You might need to include the potty and washing hands as the first two items on your list.
2. Michael uses face wipes to wash his face.  I know this isn’t the most environmentally friendly option.  We started with face wipes so that he could easily wash his face each day at school when he was learning. Since then, I have exposed him to the washcloth and face soap method and he is not impressed.  Although face wipes aren’t my first choice, he is his own young man, and this is the choice he has made.  As a parent, my line in the sand is that his face needs to be clean.  How he gets there is up to him.

Mikey does all of this before he comes down for breakfast. Again, this was not ideal since I would rather he brush his teeth after he eat breakfast, but this is what works for him. He also continues to work on these skills at school so he brushes and washes his face after lunch. Building in redundancies in hygiene routines is very helpful (in fact, I may make that its own post at some point). Whatever keeps them clean and healthy, I say, “Go for it!”