No Screen Mornings

If your child is an early riser and has an hour or two before school starts, then you are likely looking for something to keep them entertained in the morning before getting ready to go. This generally involves at least one screen if not multiple screens - from TV to tablet to phone, your child is often watching or playing something. However, this isn’t always ideal as some children have a pretty negative attitude after using screens.

Going screen free in the morning can sound like a scary thought, but it actually doesn’t have to be that hard. You may have a few mornings as you start that are a bit rough, but once you’re into the routine then it becomes much easier. In the end, it can actually make your mornings much more pleasant and require less fighting with your child - they no longer have to be told 10 times to turn the TV off.

Before we get to the ideas of what you can be doing, you need to put together a basic schedule of what your morning routine will look like. Screen free works better if you have a time you’re aiming towards for your next activity in the day. For many, that will be getting ready for school. However, some don’t have school so set what time you’re working towards for your next activity (perhaps going out for a walk or going to the park).

Once you know what you're working towards, then you can start figuring out how long you need your morning activities to last. If you need 30 minutes, it’s generally easier than if you need 2 hours - you’ll likely be doing multiple activities in the morning vs only needing one for a shorter time in the morning. Below is a list of activities that you can fill your time with - this is in no way comprehensive, just a way to get you started.

Audiobooks while eating

If your kids are usually really fast eaters, then you can slow them down a bit by turning on an audiobook that they can listen to while eating. This has two benefits - they eat slower and they are listening to a book. There are a lot of excellent kids books out there - find books that are fun to listen to and that will help push their reading level a bit. As kids get into a book, they may want to listen to more.

Drawing

Have your kids spend the morning drawing something that they did the previous day or that they want to do today. For younger kids, have them work through a coloring book. Our kids like to spend a few mornings to put together a book - each morning they’ll work through a few pages of the book and by the end of the week we’ll have a book that goes together. It doesn’t really matter too much what they’re drawing, just that they’re spending the time not on a screen.

Play with toys

You know all of those toys that are on the floor? They can be played with, even first thing in the morning. There’s no reason they need to just sit there. Have mornings where your kids pull out a new toy and play with them. For example, our kids have several LEGO sets. Usually once a week we pull out one of the sets and have them work on putting them together - sometimes they’ll get really into it and spend the rest of the week on it as well.

Preparing lunch for the day

If your child is old enough to make their own lunch (which they generally are by first grade) then have them work on preparing their lunch for the day. You can supervise to make sure they get some healthy food in their lunch, but it’s a great way to spend the morning. Not only does your child spend several minutes preparing for the day, but they also become more independent and it’s one less thing you have to do. It’s a win for everyone.

Reading

Spend 10 to 15 minutes reading - let your child choose whatever books they want to read. Make morning reading their time to read anything fun and enjoyable - it doesn’t necessarily need to push their reading comprehension. You can spend time after school reading books that are more age appropriate. Obviously, if they want to read more or something that is age appropriate then let them do so.

Conclusion

There’s no reason that kids have to spend time with their screens all morning long. The above are just a few ways to get started, but feel free to do what works best for you.