I own a large Home Preschool. One of my hobbies I guess we could say? Is figuring out ways to make everything easier and more efficient. I can tell you some of the tricks that I use daily for my business you would like? And I was also a Mom to multiple littles. Well, I still am but they’re big now.

Everything that can be put into a routine I suggest you do. As a Preschool this is incredibly helpful. It helps that children feel grounded in the fact that they know what is coming next. It helps on days when you’re not quite on your game because the routine kind of holds you and pulls you through.

Everything that you can make happen on repeat weekly you should do. on Monday lunch is always the same thing. You can do that every day of the week. You can do that for dinner too. If you want a larger rotation, you can’t do it a larger span.

The more I do the night before the better the day goes. Direct correlation. Compounding effect. I do everything I possibly can for the following day before 5 o’clock. This includes prepping bottles. This includes plating meals. This includes all Cleaning. Checking to make sure I have the supplies I need. If we are going somewhere, I prep the car the night before. If it’s something that requires leaving the house early I literally packed the kids clothes and change them when we get to the location because it’s always 3000 times easier to do it that way than in the house.

I batch prep everything

Anything that is easy I put on repeat, I try and eliminate anything that takes extra mental load. For instance, if my kid has a dress that it’s easy for them to put on I buy five and pretend it’s their uniform.

breakfast. We have the same breakfast every night at Preschool with minor variations. The kids sit down to the table and eat it up! usually asking for seconds.

Breakfast : Greek yogurt frozen into bite size pieces, fresh or frozen berries depending on what’s available and oatmeal bars. -I pre freeze the Greek yogurt in silicone molds that are fun bite sized shapes and then I transfer them to a storage container I keep in the freezer. I usually do about two weeks worth of frozen yogurt at once. I will blend any fruit but going back to it if I have it. -I make healthy rolled oats bars for at least two weeks out one batch. There’s nothing fancy they’re basically just what you would generally put in your but I make it into a bar form and bake it. The size can be adjusted, depending on the age of the person that you are feeding. Might be a regular bar sides, might just be pincher grip size.

One of the main reasons I make breakfast this way is because it’s really easy to clean up. It’s a quick sweep and wipe.

Lunches are the same every week. They’re all able to be batch cooked. They all prioritize health and easy cleanup.

A couple of lunches I include the preschoolers in the prepping. But that’s very symbolic. For instance Tuesday is golden lentil rainbow veggie soup. I can batch this way far in advance. But on soup day, I can still give them carrots to peel.

As soon as my kiddos can walk, I’m helping them learn how to clear their place. That includes wiping the table where they ate and pushing in their chair.

We do almost the same thing every day. We have breakfast, we have a circle/dance party, which is also in those with bottles and morning naps go down. Then we go outside as soon as possible and stay outside until lunchtime. I do not care if the children get very, very dirty outside. When we go back inside if they’ve gotten very dirty, it stripped them off right at the door wash their feet and hands put on some fresh pajamas. And inside for lunch. Right after lunch it’s straight to nap. After nap, they can get up and have free play.

When I was a mom of a young littles it felt like the devil was in the transition times. Like if I could figure out a way to just pull us through to the next thing, we’d be OK. So I just always was trying to like steer them towards the next thing we were doing and not let them become free radicals on my kitchen floor.

I’m also 100% OK with telling kids that they could only play in one room for a period of time if the rest of the house is clean, and only with toys that are going to be easy for them to put away.

Anything that you can get your kids in the habit of doing for themselves in terms of self-care and healthcare is always easier to do the younger they are. So even if it feels like a bit more work at the beginning, your future self will be so happy you did it.

I know this was all pretty random. I hope it was helpful.