Mornings Before School, How Spend the Time?

They need to run. Kick them outside and let them run, ride their bikes, jump, play tag, whatever. Running some of that energy out of them will help them to calm down and focus in class.

If my daughter had extra time once she was completely ready for school, she could do what she wanted with it.

Send them outside to play when they start getting rowdy. That is the rule in my house. No outside play in the house. If they want to run around, play tag and roughhouse they do it outside. The fresh air and exercise is good for them and will help them focus when they get to school. Also, I would not send them to bed so early. I would slowly adjust to a later bedtime so that they might sleep later in the morning. The same thing would go with the roughhousing in the evening, they could take it outside.

My kids go to bed at 10:00pm and wake up at 8:00am. The get up, eat, get dressed, make their lunches and walk to school. School starts at 9:00am. If they have extra time they walk to school early so they get extra time to play at the playground.

are they hurting each other or something?
so long as their play isn't nasty or bullying, why not let them romp? they're about to get stuck sitting in seats for hours at a time. let them buck and snort! i mean, the same rules that are always in place can apply, right? 'no running or shrieking in the house. if you're going to play fast and loud, outside with your butts.'
if they have to stay in and have to be quiet (if someone else is trying to sleep in or something), this might be just the right time for a bill nye the science guy video. but really, i'd let them work out that energy properly, ie through play, if at all possible.
khairete
S.

For little kids, what is wrong with them bouncing all around and getting the energy out? They are expected to sit still at school for 7-8 hours (at least, that's my son's school day), and that's a lot to expect when there's only a small recess mid day.
By 3pm, my 6 yr old is ready to bounce off the walls. I can't possibly expect him to sit still and read a book or be calm. He's been doing that all day already.

I agree that bedtime at 8 is for winding down and not bouncing around. But first thing in the morning after they wake? Personally, I think you need to adjust your expectations. If you don't allow them to bounce around, they may have a harder time doing it at school.

Once my kids were dressed, fed and ready to go I let them watch TV, play on the computer, etc. What's wrong with that? Our mornings were never loud and crazy and they all did very well in school and got plenty of exercise after school.
Your older ones shouldn't be "going nuts" that's just crazy, send them to their rooms, or outside if they can't be respectful of you and the rest of the family. I simply wouldn't put up with that.

If they have a lot of energy and the weather is good, what about going outside to play for a few minutes? When you say they "go nuts" is that something that's destructive? Does it rile them up for school? If the behavior is bad and not just active, then address that. It sounds like rough housing is the real problem here.

Here we have about an hour before DD goes to school. IF she has everything done, she can watch a little kid programming (Nick Jr and similar). This helps me get my shower in the AM...but I only have one kid. When her brother and sister were younger, it was similar. They aren't morning people, so just getting through breakfast, dressing, do you have your HW, where is your shoe? Usually took up the time. They also showered in the AM when they were older.

When my two youngest get up with time to spare, they play rollerblade hockey in the driveway. Let yours run around outside on a nice morning. Exercise before school is a great way to get out excess physical energy and boost mental energy.

Let them sleep a little longer in the mornings.
You only need time enough to eat, get dressed and ready to go with maybe 15 min to spare.
If you've got more time than that left over them let them sleep - kids need more sleep than we tend to think they do.

Additional:
My husband will wake up 15 min before he has to leave.
Our son likes to wake up slowly - he likes an hour between waking and leaving - and if there's any time he has to wait for anything - he reads - he never goes anywhere without a book.
Maybe you could print off some extra worksheets (simple math problems) and have them warm up their brains before school.
Try reading a short story to them.
Before our son could read, I'd read to him - any time of the day.
By the time he was in to chapter books, we'd read a chapter at a time when ever we got the chance.

HOW ON EARTH???! I'm adjusting to school after homeschooling and it's everything in me to get them out the door on time. What time do your kids get up? 4? We have to leave at 7:15 (I have to drive them). I get them up at 6:15, but they really get up at 6:30 because they're so beat, and it's barely enough time to get breakfast, teeth, clothes, hair, and gather stuff and out the door. And they also go to bed at 8pm. How do you have 2 hours of boredom before school??!!

OK, but you do so...I would treat it like any other time they are not allowed to be crazy. Set up an activity in the living room they can do. They don't HAVE to do it, but they can't go nuts and trash the house either. Enforce. Sometimes I let my kids go nuts, sometime I don't. Just don't let them act that way if you can't tolerate it at that hour. Rules. Consequences. Options. Good luck! I still don't get how they have so much time in the morning, my kids seem low on sleep waking up at 6:15 and going to bed at 8...maybe your kids are overtired?

BTW, my kids go nuts and play tag at the bus stop...do you have somewhere-a yard etc they could run around in the morning? If not, I'd find a way for them to sleep longer!

Can they sleep in longer?

I wish I had some advice? My kids get up at the last minute, scramble to get it all together and some food, and we are out the door. Not better than what you are going through.

Just sounds like they have too much time before school. Have them sleep an extra 1/2 hour.

And I'm totally with you at night....if they stay up too long it is like hyper overdrive!!

Morning family walk?

ETA: By the way, would it be fair to say that you're not a morning person? Seems like you've had concerns about your early birds for a while.

I personally would start by pushing bed time back a little. Our boys have always gone to bed at 830 but then we allow time to quietly read or draw in bed until they feel sleepy, this has helped with our earlier rising issues and they still are forced to calm down and get into sleep mode.

For mornings our boys have morning chores. They need to make their beds and make sure their rooms are presentable, and they have to unload and reload the dishwasher. After getting ready for school and their chores if there is a small amount of time left before we have to leave I will usually allow them to play a game quietly on their iPhone.

How old are the older children? Frankly, I just would not put up with the loud, crazy behavior in the morning. My husband sleeps a bit later than the rest of us, and it takes me a while to get my brain going in the morning, so I expect my kids to be quiet in the mornings. If they started running around, that is when I would be handing them a book- "Running is for outside, go sit down and read until 8 am".
Truly, I would just tell them the new rule and stick with it. Let them know that running, playing tag, screaming, basically being wild and noisy, is for outside, and certainly not before 10 am. They can read a book, play with legos, watch cartoons, color.
It helps to also have a few morning chores as well, fills the time, teaches responsibility and helps so much to have a few areas tidied up before they leave.

Here is our routine:
6:30 11 year old wakes up, bathes. He likes to get up super early so he has some free time to play a video game.
7:00 9 and 6 year old get up. They bathe at night. Everyone gets dressed, has breakfast, hair done.
7:30 Chores- basically they all have part of their bathroom to clean, load dishes in dishwasher. I will probably be adding a couple more chores as I am about to start working again and they will need to pitch in more.
7:45 Gather up backpacks, any last minute homework signing, etc. Kids will watch a computer video or play a video game for 15-20 min
8:05-ish Kids go outside to play and wait for bus for about 10-15 min.

I have the same issue - but not quite as much time as you.
I find it's a good time to play with them. Now that it's nice out, we are going for a morning walk most days. We play 4-square outside. In the winter, we played board games like Sorry. The trick to all of these is that I play with them. If left to their own, they will rough house. If I play with them, they want to do what I am doing :)

What are they eating? Are they eating sugary cereals with dyes, corn syrup, HFCS? Do they get some protein?

My kids get up between 6 and 715 and they are out of the house by 7:55. They watch TV while getting dressed and eat breakfast. My husband is busy getting luches ready (His and my sons), straightens up the kitchen and then gets my daugthers hair done. ( I leave the house about 6:15).

If you are in a house, why not let them outside? They are going to be sitting for hrs when they get to school they do need to get the energy out.

How about having them play board games and things like that together. We have an old game of Battleship that keeps my kids quiet and entertained for a long time. If mine are really rowdy and games aren't working, I tell them to go run around outside for a while before school. Sometimes I have them sit down with a book, and have the youngest read to the oldest to practice. If I give the a fun job like that, they are better.

As for nighttime, we try to lower the lights and keep things quiet after 7pm, but each night at bedtime mine get crazy too. I have been blessed with very active, busy kids with tons of energy. Lately, I have to monitor their bedtime routine to keep them on track and away from each other or they will play and get all excited again. It's like a bunch of puppies.

Our kids get up at 6:40 and leave for school by 7:20 (school starts at 7:40), so we don't have this problem. Do they have their own rooms? You could tell them they have to stay in their room until whatever time you want. Tell them they can play with toys, read books, etc., but they have to stay in their room for quiet time.

Why not allow TV? Instill quiet time in the living room. Cartoons and books. Anyone who doesn't listen gets sent to their room to be alone.

We get the kids up at 7 and they catch the bus at 7:30.

I'd say you are getting your kids up way too early.

BUT if you insist this is the time they need to get up and YOU won't allow them to fill the time with TV then YOU have choices.

Sit and read to them. Sit with them and play games. Do things with them to entertain them. You don't want them to play? They just slept and have woke up with tons of energy. They aren't at school where their mind is occupied and then they have supervised recesses.

I absolutely agree the kids should NOT NOT NOT be going nuts and playing like this before school.

In my years of experience in child care some of the places I worked allowed the kids to run amok before school. Those kids would ALWAYS have reports from their teachers that said the kids couldn't calm down for at least an hour once they got to school. Running around like that and going nuts doesn't get out the energy it turns on their body and they have a super hard time getting in the mental space they need to be in for school.

Other places I worked, my own center included, let the kids watch TV in the mornings. I usually had OETA on but did occasionally allow other channels if it was something I could stand.

The kids that sat quietly and watched TV went to school and were calm, ready to sit down and do their work. They never had complaints that they were out of control when they arrived. They were calm, collected, able to focus, and were fine.

If you don't want your kids to be wound up springs and unfocused either let them sleep at least another hour, you sit with them and do activities that are NOT educational but more family bonding stuff, OR let them watch some TV that's entertaining and NOT educational.

They could watch some DVR episodes of Phineus and Ferb or some other fun show that isn't about idiots getting into trouble or kids that have neglectful parents and teenage role models with kids running around acting stupid.

What time does elementary school start and end where you are? Our elementary schools begin at 7:40 am and end at 2:40pm. Our daughter would wake up at 6:30 to be able to wake up, get ready and eat something.
She was a zombie in the mornings.

I agree to let them go outside and play. If the weather is bad, give them a choice, play quietly, watch a video or read.

How funny that you post this because I thought this morning about posting just to see what others do in the mornings as well!! Only my daughter is in school right now and she gets up between 1-1.5 hours before she goes to school as well. I let her have 1/2-1 hour of cartoons as long as it doesn't interfere with her getting dressed, eating, etc. Usually she plays with the littlest one for 1/2 hour then will get ready and watch cartoons for 1/2 hour then brush her teeth, get on shoes, etc. My daughter goes to bed by 830-9 and wakes up between 6-630.

That seems really early to me. I only get up myself an hour and 15 minutes before we leave. Our routine is as follows:
5:30: I'm up - shower, contacts, teeth
6:00: Get the kids up. They get dressed and take care of personal care (brushing teeth, washing faces). When they are done, they can watch a show until I am ready (usually a max of 15 minutes)
6:20: They take care of shoes, backpacks, lunches - both usually eat breakfast at school.
6:35: out the door

They are occupied the entire time, which keeps them from getting in trouble.

Way too much time in morning. Let them go to bed later. Do they make their beds, feed any animals, take out garbage. You could find things for them to do if need be.

I'm going to assume they are all waking up on their own - because I can't imagine why you would be waking them up if you don't need to and they are acting like that.

Do they all share rooms, or have separate rooms? If they are getting up so early, I would enforce some quite time in their rooms for at least 30 min. Maybe organize a chart for something to do each morning. Games, etc.

I don't understand the TV rule either, unless TV makes them more rowdy. If they are acting that rough, what is a little TV going to hurt?

wow...do they naturally wake up with that much time before school?
My boys leave for the bus at 8am. My older son (5th grade) gets up about 7:10. He makes his breakfast, gets himself ready, makes his lunch (if he wants it) and is usually ready in about 20 minutes tops. When he is done he jumps on his phone and plays a soccer game he has.
My 2nd grader waits for me to wake him up. So, I usually do at about 7:30. I have to babysit him, constantly remind him, as to what he needs to do. "Go eat breakfast. Go get dressed. Where are your shoes? Brush your teeth" It's very frustrating. But he is usually done right before they need to leave for the bus.
No TV, no wrestling, they really just get up, get ready, get out!
Once they get home they need to do their homework (about 1/2 hour to an hours worth), do their chores (garbage, recycle, unload dishes, put away clean clothes), and then we are off to soccer....every.single.day. Once they get home we eat, shower, watch about 1/2 hour of tv and then they are off to bed at 9pm.
L.

My son is not allowed to come out of his room before 6:45. If he wakes up before then, he can read in his room. He's allowed to play in there quietly, but he chooses to read most of the time (he'll be 7 in a few weeks). Once he comes downstairs, he usually gets 5-10 minutes of TV while I make breakfast. Then, he eats, brushes his teeth, gets dressed, brushes hair, sunscreen, packs backpack, etc. Sometimes, once all that is done, he has 5-10 minutes to spare. He usually convinces my husband to play catch for awhile. We leave the house at 7:50 to walk to school, so there isn't nearly as much time as you have.

It sounds like your kids really need to get their energy out before school. If you have a backyard, why not let them play out there for awhile? Being able to run a bit wild in the morning probably makes them less wiggly and able to focus better at school.

How many kids do you have and what are their ages? Sounds like you have two or three kids between the ages of 5 and 7, plus at least a couple more younger ones? With that many, come up with a few games that they can all play together, that allow some running but not too much craziness. Duck Duck Goose, Musical Chairs, Simon Says, etc.