The Cabinet

Alternate Title: How $75 Made Our Mornings Better

Most mornings in the house are hectic since the arrival of Brandon and subsequently Sophia. Getting 2 boys who are highly distractible off to the bus stop by 7:40 in the morning was a challenge. Justin and Ryan would start off our mornings by getting dressed and making beds. Then they would come downstairs for their breakfast. Afterwards they would return upstairs to brush their teeth and hair and grab socks (because they would never put them on while getting dressed much to my amazement). That second time upstairs was usually where I lost them. The pull of their GoGos or Silly Bandz or whatever else was out that morning was to much to bear. They would start organizing, playing, discussing, or whatever else came to mind at the moment.

First the reminders would start nicely "You have 5 minutes left" I would say up the stairs. "Don't forget to brush!" I would bellow. I would still be waiting. "Guys? Lets go!" Finally by the 4th or 5th time I was getting stressed and it would show in my voice. They would come running downstairs and inevitably someone would have forgotten socks, have hair sticking up every which way or have the dreaded Dragon Breath (cue the townspeople screaming). Most mornings would end up on the wrong foot, many times just barely making it to the bus stop if at all.

I tried many things to make it work. I put up a Morning Routine sign (which we still use as a reminder but it has been adjusted), I offered incentives I even tried the "if you miss the bus you are going to lose privileges" always to no avail.

My organizing guru, I mean friend, gave me an idea months back but I never tried to put it in place. Then, after reading a chapter in this book I decided to try it out.

You see I wasn't setting them up to succeed. So here is what I did.

I bought this cabinet for the bathroom and two extra toothbrushes and an extra tube of toothpaste. I bought a box to store in the shoe closet. I came home and set every thing up and reorganized our morning routine.

imagine a picture of a bathroom cabinet here. Our bathroom is so small I can't get a decent picture of it, though I have tried a few times now.

Now in the morning they still get up at the same time and they still get dressed and make their beds. But now when they come downstairs to eat they never have to go back up. Socks are right next to the shoes in the closet. The cabinet was placed in our small downstairs bathroom (yes it is crowded but it is worth it!) with their toothbrush and hairbrush. Because not many if their toys are down here they don't get distracted as easily and our mornings go much better. They make the bus with less yelling, stress and many more good mornings.