Walk to school month with Kia - tips for making mornings less stressful for all the family. | Mum In The Madhouse

Walk to school month with Kia – tips for making mornings less stressful for all the family.

October in Walk to School month and I am joining in with Kia in trying to encourage you to get walking to school. I am lucky with the fact that the boys school is within walking distance and now that they are eight and nine they walk or scoot to school on their own, so mornings are so much less stressful for me.  My biggest tip is to remove all the obstacles from the morning that make life hard.

Steps to feeling confident with your kids walking to school on their own

Tips for making mornings less stressful for all the family

  1. Delegate – encourage your children top be as independent as possible
  2. Get out school uniform the night before or better yet get the kids to put their uniform out
  3. We always get out the breakfast bowls etc out the night before too
  4. Make sure that school bags are packed and by the door
  5. We always keep school shoes by the door too, no more last minute rush searching for that missing shoe!
  6. Encourage your kids to get their breakfast

I am not going to lie to you letting the boys walk to school on their own wasn’t easy for me.  It was a big step, but it was a good step forward for us as a family.  We live in a small village and the jungle drums beat faster than any phone call from them could!

Steps to feeling confident with your kids walking to school on their own

  1. Try a walking bus – Kia are sponsoring walking buses throughout the country in October and it is a great way to let go of the reins safely
  2. Try dropping them off closer to school or walking them halfway
  3. Safety in numbers.  The boys now scoot to school in a group with their friends.  So check out if other mums are thinking of letting their kids walk to school and group up with them.
  4. There is nothing wrong with following them at a discreet distance!
  5. Remember that you probably walked to school at their age and the world is not more dangerous now, we are just more aware of the dangers.
  6. My boys scoot to school and are sensible enough now to lock up their scooters when they get their.  It is amazing what our kids are capable of when we let them.

My stress points in the morning

Kia sent me a a heart monitor to wear for a for a week to see if there was a stress point in our morning routine. I know that if I had worn it on the days when I used to drive or walk the boys to school it would have been through the roof, but the only times it went high was when I was repeating myself asking the boys to brush their teeth!  So we sat down and talked about it and decided to bring a set of toothbrushes and paste to our downstairs loo, so they boys could have breakfast and then brush their teeth downstairs.

Oh I tell a lie, it did get to 102 when Mini told me he had a poonami indedent just as he was leaving for school this morning!

The fact is the mornings are not so stressful now my boys are older and more responsible.  Maxi even cooked breakfast for everyone two of the mornings and brought mine up to me in bed!   I would really encourage anyone thinking of allowing their kids to walk to school.  It really has transformed our mornings.

Disclosure: this post is in collaboration with Kia. 

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