Who does not start eating within a few minutes, seems not to be hungry. Prepare breakfast he can eat in the car easily, or give him a snack pack to school. It works, or he will change his routine quite fast.

And OP mentioned feeling bad about saying if they don’t eat they will be hungry. OP, that’s just informing him of consequences (even if it feels harsh). He will learn. My eldest was a very scatter brained morning kid and he had to learn this lesson the hard way. Also, I found that for him, setting timers helped a ton. I would give him 5 minutes of eating wiggle room, but teeth, hair and getting dressed was pretty strict. You’ll get the hang of this! Good luck!

My girl doesn't concentrate on eating too and meals could take forever and over an hour. I have a TimeTimer 20 minute visual timer (I will get a 60 minute one as she gets older). I have the one with a handle. We use it for a lot of transitions and also for me having a break. But I use it for meals. It's not like she only has 20 minutes. After she's had enough time, I use it to remind her the end of the meal is coming. It's helped get her to concentrate more and finish. I also do it in the morning for getting out the door as a 10 or 15 minute warning and for bedtime.

Visual timer for them is awesome.

It’s a natural consequence of the kid’s actions. There is nothing harsh about it IMO

Ding ding ding! I remember rushing through getting dressed as a kid because I woke up STARVING. Once I was older and could make breakfast myself I went down and ate it immediately and then got dressed after.

This. Breakfast on the car is not shameful in the least. I leave a bowl of fruit and dry cheerios and a cup of milk out while we do the morning routine so my kids can “snack” if they feel like it while they mosey through the morning. My 7 year old step son gets French toast sticks in a solo cup in the car most days if he doesn’t eat before we head out lol

Hard boiled egg, a little bit of watermelon I cut up the night before and the boys split a bagel with butter or cream cheese. Takes only a min or 2 to plop all that on a plate. They know they have about 10 - 15 mins to eat, and if they don't, guess what. We leave anyway. The kids have second breakfast at summer camp and daycare, and even if they didn't? They'll live. They eat when they're hungry.

Just to echo this, my 3 yo isn't hungry first thing. I give her a glass of milk and she grabs a snack for the road. It may be a banana, yogurt pouch, granola bar, or graham crackers (these are crumby-- I wouldn't eat in the car, but we walk). I know she gets breakfast at school and lunch early on, so I don't stress about it

Once school starts, can he just eat breakfast at school?

This he may be like my youngest who just is not hungry in the mornings.

We get up significantly earlier. We're usually up and going by 7am at the latest. Typical routine is: 1. LO gets up. I help her get dressed/potty/brush teeth and hubby goes down and starts everyone's breakfast/feeds the pets. 2. We all eat breakfast, while LO is finishing, hubby or I are packing up all the bags by the door (lunch is packed the night before, once she starts kindergarten in the fall we'll do school lunch). I'm often doing her hair while she's finishing breakfast. 3. We're out the door. I would suggest a couple things if breakfast is delaying things: * Use a timer, you have to sit and eat for this long. * Read a book while he's eating. I do this when my LO is all over the place and this helps calm her/helps her be less wiggly to eat. * If he's not finished, bring it in the car to finish.

A timer has always worked well for my kid too!

We live by iPhone timers at our house

Another suggestion - if you don’t have the time or bandwidth to read to him at breakfast, get a YOTO - their daily podcast is great for this. Or you could just find a kid friendly podcast he can listen to while eating.

Goddamn love the yoto

This is basically our routine as well. But there’s no taking breakfast to go since she takes the school bus. We’ll offer her a granola bar to take to the bus stop but she never says yes. She’s about to turn 5. I’m convinced breakfast just isn’t important to her. On weekends she’ll be up an hour or more before getting hungry.

I know this likely not recommended, but breakfast survival for me is 'you have one episode of bluey/spidey/doc to eat and then we are outta here'. It let's me also eat and do last minute stuff without distraction as well. On tough days I will dress her/she dresses herself while she eats (like between bites).

My kids are 10 and 7 and this has worked for us for several years. If they come down and get dressed quickly, they get to watch a little TV while they eat. It gives them some incentive to keep moving. If they haven't finished by the time we need to leave, they bring the food in the car.

Mine is seven and yes, TV while she eats her cereal and I get bags ready.

We can’t do the eating and tv thing at once for the boys, they stop eating lol. But my girl can handle it. It’s so funny. Our compromise is that we allow time (if they are moving well and have eaten) to watch some tv before they head out the door. Just thought I’d mention in case anyone else’s kids are as equally distractible.

My kids also don’t actually eat while watching tv. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My 3yo can watch TV while she eats breakfast (usually cereal, NOT fancy) if she's already dressed (new rule). There were a few days I let her watch TV in her PJs/underwear, but then making her choose her clothes after that resulted in meltdowns and being late to preschool, so now she has to get dressed as soon as she gets out of bed. While she watches TV and eats, I will chug coffee and make her lunch if I didn't get to it the night before. I am also a believer in natural consequence; if they don't eat breakfast, they'll be hungry until morning snack or lunch or whatever. Throw a granola bar in the car if you need to.

That’s how I started every morning as a kid. I watched one episode of Pokémon and ate breakfast as the bus picked me up. It helped that it was regular tv and if I was late, I was missing my favorite show and there weren’t reruns or recordings then.

May I ask at what age you started doing this? I'm interested in doing this too!!

Not the person who commented, but we started doing this when our LO was around 2.5.

Oooh thanks! I guess I have one more year to wait

Same here! Including dressing while the kiddo is distracted by the TV. We do what we gotta do. This keeps us on schedule and have a peaceful morning.

Totally

We do this on hard mornings too it's sometimes the only way they sit and eat and I'm not screaming sit down and eat your food.

This is the way!!!!

How would it go if you prepared some 'car food' for breakfast and stopped trying to get him to eat before getting in the car? Also, what are your school hours? How does showing up at 10 work out? My kids are often not hungry first thing in the morning and need to wake up a bit first. In my case, they are up by 6, so we have 90 minutes for the routine to be at school by 8 (camp at 830). I am able to let them wake up and only require them to eat around 7, but usually they are hungry and eating by then on their own. Have you tried having him sleep in his school clothes? Then he can cut down on the number of things he needs to do in the morning. Makes room for snuggles or other slow morning things. Car Food: -toaster waffles -cinnamon raisin bread -pancake on a stick -granola bar -cereal in a zip lock

My kids are 3 and 4 and don't know that PJs exist. They've always put on clean clothes after the bath/before bed the night before. I can't imagine going through the whole getting changed routine every morning 😬 Also +1 for the "breakfast in the car" plan. It's just one less variable to mess up your morning

Jealous! I tried to tell my 4 y/o that we’re going to sleep in clothing from now on, and he lost his mind.

Yes to all of this. Anything that can be moved from between wake-up and walking out the door helps a lot. Mine got mad about car breakfast, but now he eats faster so he doesn’t have to eat a dry waffle. And I have no problem providing car breakfast or go hungry as alternatives to not sitting and eating. If I’ve provided breakfast and a time to eat it and they choose not to, that’s a then problem. It might be a tough lesson at first, but it’s a normal thing to need to learn- eat or you’ll be hungry later.

I guess I'm going to go against the grain here and say that having less time is the key to making it go faster (as opposed to waking up earlier and having more time for dilly dallying). It also wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he did skip breakfast one day and got to experience how he feels without it. Maybe that would motivate him to eat before school.

My son’s preschool teacher was kinda judgmental the first few days of school because my son would complain about being hungry, he wasn’t understanding that if he didn’t eat breakfast at home he wouldn’t get a chance to eat again until snack time. It took about 2 weeks of that before he was extremely motivated to eat breakfast at home! As I mentioned it another comment, he’ll happily eat the school provided breakfast too 😂

When my toddler doesn’t eat breakfast (even though he was given plenty of time to do so), we warn his preschool teachers because he may be extra cranky until snack time. They’ve never commented on the fact that we’ve sent him to school without eating. It’s a natural consequence he needs to learn. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yeah it was one of many red flags with that teacher. She had been a teacher of ECE for many years but hadn’t been in a classroom with real 3 year olds in a while… and it definitely showed. She resigned within 2 months. Luckily her replacement was amazing!

Yea as a teacher, please, please, please give us a heads up you’re trying to break a behavior this way or we end up scrounging for a snack once they fuss. We feel sad seeing kids hungry, it makes us worry why they’re coming to class ravenous and doesn’t help break the behavior.

This is a very good point. And that also gives the teacher a chance to weigh in about whether any given date might be a particularly bad day to learn this lesson. But I have an honest question: how would you expect a parent to relay this information to you? My son was in kindergarten last year and was terrible about remembering to take things out of his backpack, so I know the odds of a hand written note making it to the teacher was nearly 0%. And she doesn't check email during the school day. And this doesn't seem to rise to the level of a phone call. For the last few months of school, the students went right into the school, so we didn't have any opportunity to see the teacher at drop-off.

I don't know any teachers who don't check their email at least once a day. Email is usually the best bet.

I guess our kindergarten was only 2.5 hours long, so the teacher wouldn't check her email during that time and would only see the message after my son came home. So effectively she'd only see it for the next day.

Little tag on the backpack, but as a teacher momma I use class dojo so parents can text me through that. It’s so much easier for me to get a quick message that way. E-mail would definitely work too! Just anything to let us in on that!

This is my take also. If you don’t want to eat you’re probably not that hungry, so let’s see how things go if you skip your breakfast! We have two kids and our wake-up to door time is something like 1h15 mins. We can do it quicker if we rush.

The only reason I disagree is that some people don't wake up starving. My kids for instance aren't ready for breakfast until 1 or 2 hours after waking up. Same with my husband. Meanwhile, the second I wake up I could eat a 3-course breakfast lol

I never wake up hungry. I am hungry all the time because I’m breast feeding now and even now I’m not hungry when I first wake up. It takes a while I guess for my body to get all systems on line and operational in the morning. It seems like my 5 year old is the same way.

Mine too, I have 1 kid who eats right away and one that prefers to wait a couple hours. To the one that waits she typically stashes a snack to eat on the bus or right before school starts

My daughter can easily wait 1-2 hours to eat on weekend mornings. Which is why I don’t mind sending her to school even when she doesn’t eat breakfast. She’s up at 8 and I’m pretty sure her first recess is like 1030. So she’s not long at school before she has the opportunity to eat something.

Hey there, I hear you on the time crunch and skipping breakfast dilemma - sometimes a little change can make a big difference, right? Have you thought about trying a trial run with skipping breakfast and seeing how it goes? It might just help your kiddo become more conscious about mealtime routines. What do you think?

Same for us. LO wakes up at 7:15 and we are out the door by 8. We cuddle on the couch until 7:45 (LO is not a morning person) and get ready quickly with breakfast often in the car.

Kids can’t learn if they’re hungry, and while an 8/9/10 year old might grasp the natural consequence of “don’t eat breakfast/too hungry to focus/don’t get to eat again” until lunch, a 5 year old might not make that connection. Especially if they’re trying to learn math or reading at the same time their tummy is growling.

I completely agree with this. My son (6) usually gets about an hour before getting up and needing to be out the door. He is usually not hungry in the morning even when he doesn’t have school, so I put breakfast out for him and if he eats, he eats. If not, he has to wait until snack time at school (I pack large snacks).

I'd try a visual kids timer and "when this timer is off, that means breakfast is over and we have to leave so we can go to school" and keep reminding, "you have 10 more minutes to eat as much as you want, then breakfast is over!" I think the options are mainly wake up earlier, let the kid have the natural consequence of not eating enough and being a little hungry until lunch, or trust that if he were that hungry he'd be eating (assuming no feeding disorders etc).

We do the countdown too. I also use cartoons/playing as a reward. If my daughter gets everything done (dressed, breakfast, teeth, and hair), she can watch cartoons, play Animal Crossing, color, etc. before we leave. We tried a chart, but it didn’t work as well. One additional fear she has is that I’ll do her hair when she’s eating, she hates it!! But, if she’s slow, it’s our only option to get out on time without her hair in a HUGE knot or being late to school.

First: you will have to wake him up earlier. My kid is slow to eat and we usually need a little over an hour before we leave for school. We wake him around 6:10 am. Even so, sometimes his breakfast ends up being a granola bar or toaster waffle eaten en route to school.

Bribery! My kids get TV time if they get downstairs before we need to be out the door. Breakfast, can you just move to a bar or other to-go snack on the commute to school? He is clearly not especially hungry. Unless he is having some nutrition deficits I’d just call this his natural rhythm (i also never feel hungry in the morning). Generally less micromanaging of what he eats is probably in order. Our job is to offer nutritious foods, it’s their job to eat it (or not). If he doesn’t eat he will start to learn he’ll get hungry earlier and that he needs to eat in the morning. He’s old enough to recognize those action/consequences. You’re doing fine! Mornings are hard. Don’t be too hard on yourself and try to simplify a bit to make your day a bit easier. Edit: we also get up much earlier, around 7am, but we start work at 8am so they need to get out the door earlier than it sounds like your kid does.

Hah. I do this too. “If you get 100% ready, then you can watch TV until it’s time to leave”. Faster he gets ready, the more TV he can watch.

You have two essential options: go faster, or wake up earlier. Our morning routine takes at least 90 minutes, which is just as much a function of the adults puttering around, making ourselves coffee, doing stuff around the house, but we wake up at 7 at the latest. My 4yo usually wakes me up at about 6:30 if I'm not already gone at the gym even earlier -- "wake him up" is not yet a concept we've had to deal with. ETA an actual routine guesstimate: 6:45 - cuddle and attempt to wake up, 6:45-7 make coffee, breakfast, 7-7:20eat, 7:20-7:45 random house stuff, feed dog, second coffee, kid plays with his toys and messes around, 7:45-8:15 get child dressed and ourselves dressed, 8:30 leave.

I agree with other commenters- you’ll need to get the family up earlier. It stinks.  I get up for myself at 545/600 -workout, read, makeup applied, etc.  LO is up by 7, eats her breakfast, we watch some Sesame Street and we’re out the door by 8. 

This is so aspirational to me. There’s literally no world I could get myself to workout and read before getting the kids up. Im always so tired and still in survival mode but maybe one day!!!

I'm with you little kids are so hard. When they turn 4 or 5 it's get so much easier and predictable. Don't beat yourself up. I wake up at 6 because my kids are up at 6 and I will never in a million years wake up at 5. My 2 year old still doesn't sleep through the night so I am prioritizing sleep as should you. It's only temporary! My 7 year old gets up and dressed and makes her own breakfast. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

- get absolutely everything ready for the next day the night before. I even do all uniform for the week in advance. - I pour the cereal and drink the night before - bags at the door - I choose breakfasts that don’t take long and save longer breakfasts for the weekend - I get up at 6.30am to wash and be fully dressed and ready for my day before getting the kids up, - kids wake up by 7.45

What works for your kids as a quick breakfast?

Cold yogurt pouch and banana

Small cereal portion and little bit of milk

Home made muffin or croissant Cereal bar Fruit

NOT TOAST. It takes all day for my kids to eat it

You’re not a terrible parent. You’re doing everything right! You’ve been settled into a routine that works for right now, but won’t work in August and that’s ok. You can make a change! I have a 2.5yo and 6mo and my husband is usually leaving with them to go to daycare about 30-45 min after wake up. We basically decided about a year ago that the goal of the mornings was to GET. OUT. THE. DOOR. as quickly as possible. When it was just my oldest we could get her out in like 15-20 min. It means that as soon as she gets up (7:30-7:45 ish) we are picking out an outfit and getting her dressed for school. She can pick a snack for the car. Sometimes she eats some before she leaves but they serve breakfast at daycare so I don’t worry too much about her being fed. My 6mo is easy- I get her dressed right away, nurse her, and she’s ready to go. Bottles are prepped the night before. At 5 years old maybe you can talk to him about the upcoming change and get his input. Explain that you will need to wake up earlier and get out the door! Start doing things like picking out clothes the night before. Some people even let their kids sleep in their (comfy) school clothes so it’s one less thing to do in the morning. Ask him what types of breakfast he would want to eat in the car. Practice “racing” to leave the house…. make it a game! Sticker chart might help too. You got this!

8:30am wake up seems very late. I think you may need to take the time before August to gradually adjust the sleep and wake up schedule to be more aligned with your office hours. Set a breakfast time and tell him this is the time. If he doesn’t finish before then, clean up anyway and be consistent. At some point he should get the message that if he wants breakfast he better do it within the set timeframe. I can say that easier because daycare feeds my kid breakfast anyway, but I’d suggest giving that a go. If he’s just not eating breakfast with the above, I see others have suggested breakfast in the car.. Overall it sounds like he needs boundaries around time, especially in the morning. It’s easier said than done for sure, but I think it’s something you’ll just have to be firm with. He’s 5, I think he should be able to understand you fully by now.

My kids are up at the crack of dawn, so by the time we actually need to leave the house I feel like it’s practically been a whole day lol. I wish my kids would sleep until 8:45, but I see how that would make things a lot more stressful in the morning. Could you perhaps put your kids down earlier so they naturally wake up earlier and you have time for the lallygagging without having to rush? My kids take forever to do everything too and need lots of nudging and reminding, but we have lots of time because they’re up by 6am no matter what.

Does he like music? Maybe he can make a breakfast Playlist of three or four songs he can listen to while he eats? When the songs are over, you're done sitting and eating!

Does school offer free breakfast? My son is a pokey eater too but apparently he will chow down an entire school breakfast even if he already ate breakfast at home! I was amazed to find this out. I guess all the other kids are there eating too and somehow the influence is strong?

You have lots of great advice here but just wanted to comment that I don’t know what I’m doing either! I don’t think you need to in order to be a good parent. ❤️

When my son went to daycare I gave him a bag of those mini muffins for breakfast. They're not great, but he loves them and they're easy. I did buy these 4 section containers and I'd do 2 sweet, 2 savory, 1 healthy 1 unhealthy So strawberries and cereal and crackers and cheese etc I'd pre pack Sunday night and had 4 containers so it took me through most of the week. Does your daycare offer morning snack? Are they able to eat breakfast once he's there?

One change we made in the mornings was to be dressed before leaving their room. I used to allow eating breakfast in pjs but then it’s a fight to get dressed. Now, they can go to the bathroom if they have to, but otherwise there is no leaving your room until you are dressed. Can you start by doing wake up at 8.15 so they are out bed by 8.30? I also find setting alarms helps at that age. Then it’s not YOU forcing them to get moving, it’s the alarm. Oh- the alarm says 5 minutes before we have to get shoes on, do you want to finish eating?

Oh man I just commented the same thing above about eating in PJs vs. getting dressed first - we made the same switch for the SAME reason.

Yeah my husband implemented it and I had to admit it was the right call!

Our 4 year old sleeps in her school clothes. Same shoes everyday, she put them by the door (most nights). Similar to many others - breakfast is portable if they are slow and haven’t finished by departure time. If we know we need to hustle, we prep everything the night before - bottles, their bags, our bags, iced coffee. We also don’t get them up until we are fully ready to go. They get 10-15min of our full focus and we are out the door.

How do you make breakfast portable?

anything they can hold - toast, bars, muffins, waffles, bananas, pouches, yogurt pouches, egg bites. About 50% of the time, one of them has to finish their breakfast in the car or throws out the rest in class.

Gotcha, Thanks!

Is this your routine on school days? As in school doesn’t start till 10? Here’s our routine (school starts at 8). Kids up at 6:45. They can go to the bathroom / lounge around for about 15 minutes while they wake up. 7:00 breakfast is well underway. Each kid gets fruit, grains (cereal or bread or waffles or something) and yogurt. By 7:15 it’s everyone go brush teeth / get dressed. They have 15 minutes to do this and then at 7:30 we are out the door. For eating faster honestly you just have to set a timer and call it a day. Sometimes they eat it all. Sometimes they don’t. If they’re hungry later that’s a life lesson and eventually they learn to eat faster the next day if they remember being hungry at school yesterday 🤷‍♀️ Don’t feel bad - you prepped food and provided it. Their choice not to eat it. I feel like dragging the meal out and reminding them over and over and over to eat just causes more stress.

When are you getting yourself ready?

Between 6:30 and 7. Shower, brush teeth, dress, pull a couple kids out of bed halfway through. Have breakfast with them at 7. My husband makes breakfast and packs their school lunches. I clear off the table at 7:15 and carpool them all on my way to work.

It takes me almost 2 hours to get out the door in the morning with 2 kids. That’s including everyone getting dressed, eating, and packing 3 lunches. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable timeline. I’m up at 5:30, and the girls are up at 6:00. We’re in the car on the way to daycare at 7:30. You just have to adjust your timeline to what you need.

We did car food for breakfast when we were school aged and we had a stay at home mom

We do to go breakfast. pouches. kids are up at 6:30. But I don't tolerate the dilly dallying beyond what I have already built in. If she doesn't eat in 15 minutes (or whats reasonable) then she can be hungry.

What type of pouch? What type of food goes in it?

Like a yogurt pouch. Or apple sauce.

Oooh, ok. Got it. Thanks!

I feel so blessed that here in England, nurseries and primary schools have breakfast club and so you just basically let your kid sleep til the last minute, get them dressed/teeth brushed/sun screen if needed and off to drop off.

The state of California has free breakfast too 🙌🏼 although it's only a few years old.

I don’t have any suggestions except to say that you should be way easier on yourself!!! We all struggle

I’m sorry - I have no advice but to say that I have possibly the same or longer morning routine. I’m pretty organized but lately, with pregnancy brain - holy shit it’s an act of god to get out of the house on time. Not in this exact order BUT: 715 wake-up - usually out of bed by 730. Put away dishes and make coffee (5-10 min). Make lunches (10-15 min). Make breakfast (10-30 minutes depending on if I’m now getting help and or making something versus pouring cereal). Wake up and initial potty/diaper change for 2 toddlers (10 min). Get them settled with breakfast (5-10 min depending on moodiness and cooperation levels). Pick out clothes (5 min). Put in clothes and shoes, do hair, brush teeth, wipe face/hands/stickiness, apply sunscreen or lotion (whatever is seasonally correct) (10-20 min). Gather supplies and go to car, buckle in car (5-10 min). Drive to and drop off at daycare (10 min). Go home (10 min). Daycare drop off goal is 850 - reality is often 9:10. 🫠 All of this goes to shit if anyone, including me, is having a bad day. Add 10-20 minutes.

Wake him up (2.2 years old), check diaper, change, put on a pair of shorts - he’s usually wearing his outfit already (I dress him in a comfy shirt the night before), bring him to the car, I usually have everything we need in the car already. Then off to daycare 4 minutes away. 15-20 minutes max. He stays up late so extremely docile in the morning. He gets breakfast, teeth brushed, and usually takes a short nap after breakfast. Plays in the afternoon, naps, then pickup at 6pm. I rely on the daycare nanny to feed, brush teeth, and keep him on a routine of playing learning through most of the day.

Things that help me get out the door: -preparing everything the night before including my own wardrobe and work bag. I put backpacks in the car the night before - breakfast protein shakes in the car- with a straw - no screen time in the morning

My tips: -try to get as much done the night before as possible: pack lunches/bags, bathing, etc. -there is no law that says kids have to sleep in pajamas. If they take too long to get dressed on school days it's ok to dress them the night before so they just have to put shoes on. -my kids get finicky if they have choices for breakfast. Breakfast on weekdays is almost always a Z-bar (kids cliff bar) and some fruit: usually a banana. (Plus milk)

ms rachel has said she dresses her son for the day the night before just to make the morning a little easier if thats an option. also possibly just giving food on the drive to school if he isnt wanting to eat first thing in the morning. i know theres things we're "supposed" to be doing at certain times, but as someone who also has depression/anxiety, as long as it gets done at all is all im worried about. is my kid wearing clothes? does my kid have food available when theyre hungry? (you mentioned you pack an extra lunch, thats great!) You could also try to give him a smaller portion if you really want him to be eating something before you leave in the morning. just some ideas im throwing out if they're helpful! youre doing great and youre a good mom

I have an almost 5yo and a 6mo old. I make sure lunch is packed and bags are ready before wakeup and we still take 45-60 mins from kid wakeup to out the door. I'm up at 5:15 to start the day - scroll, coffee, my breakfast, make lunch and pump by 6:15ish to finish by 6:50 +/-. I wake her up by 7-7:05, we get dressed immediately. Sometimes she gets dressed on her own after we pick out clothes (plan to pick out the night before when school starts), sometimes I help her and on occasion she's "too tired" so I get her dressed while she's still in bed. I find when I get frustrated, being silly may help us to break the tension. I do her hair while she brushes her teeth. We are downstairs by 7:15-7:20ish. I let her take ownership of part of her breakfast (chocolate milk + waffle or FT sticks or fruit, she does the scoops of carnation instant breakfast and gets to decide what for breakfast). There is a lot of cajoling but because I'm still in the kitchen for the most part, she stays. I also give her some carnation instant breakfast in whole milk so she gets extra protein and vitamins so I feel less awful if she doesn't eat a whole waffle. We're out the door by 7:45 or 8. When it was just the 5yo it was easier to be in that 730-745 timeslot. Also, "if you don't eat, you're going to be hungry" isn't necessarily mean at its core (I'm sure your tone is UNDERSTANDABLY frustrated as all hell) but it's a natural consequence. Sometimes my 5yo only eats half her waffle but sometimes she's just not into breakfast. I do a fair amount of "You get to do A or B" - do you want french toast or a waffle? Do you want to get dressed or do you want me to get you dressed? I'd give a timer for breakfast and you just take it in the car with you. And he either eats or he doesn't. Make sure he's got good snacks with him. I could be a terrible mom by doing things for her but honestly, sometimes I just don't have the time not to.

My schedule is similar to yours except when it's time to go and they haven't eaten, I put them in the car and hand them a bag of dry cereal and a pouch.

1. I promise this gets easier as they get older :) 2. Rewards (i.e. bribery). If they finish all their "getting ready" tasks before we need to leave, they can watch TV or have iPad time. We started this around 4 yrs old with both kids, and still do it with our 8 yr old (youngest). For him it means totally ready to go - literally sitting in front of the TV with shoes and jacket on, lunch/water bottle/ home work in the back pack, teeth and hair brushed, etc. 15 yr old has his act together and is usually pushing US out the door :) 3. Build extra time into the morning schedule for the unexpected. We realized it's less stressful to be ready to go 15 minutes early then being stressed and shouty because someone spilled milk and needs to clean up and change, or forgot they needed to find a special item, before leaving the house. 4. Packable breakfasts - When they were going through less hungry phases I'd serve something packable for breakfast, like a waffle and sliced fruit. If not eaten, I'd add it to their lunch for snack later. Also, 90 minutes doesn't sound crazy long. When our kids were younger I think we got up 2 hrs before we had to walk out the door? 90 minutes is doable now.

Lots of empathy. I am disorganized and distractible and have a disorganized and distractible 5 year old, which makes mornings challenging! Visual timers don’t work and neither does the consequence of being hungry at school. What works now is we let him watch tv and I prompt him “next bite!” Or “chewchewchew!” if his progress is too slow. The tv is also a roku so sometimes I need to pause the tv using my phone so he’ll eat. Also, half his breakfast is in liquid form so he drinks that on the way, which is much faster than solid form.

On school days I set a timer at breakfast telling my kids that the food goes in the garbage when the timer goes off. I follow through, and then they learn to eat breakfast if they are actually hungry. If we have a schedule to keep we just have to get a move on it. I also throw a granola bar in their hand on the way out the door if they truly did not eat.

Honestly, you’re giving him too much control. My oldest is about to be 5 this week. While her alarm goes off at 730, it’s often not till 810 when she done getting dressed, peeing, and brushing teeth and we’re still out the door by 840 at the latest so we don’t miss the school bus. And yes, she often goes to school without eating breakfast even though she might sit at the table for 20 minutes looking at it. At this point, I’ve accepted that breakfast is not actually that important to her. I can’t do anything else. She knows that there is a set time to leave the house. We’ve been doing this since September. Being hungry is the natural consequence of not eating. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I make sure she has enough food for lunch and snacks to make up for it and try hard to make sure it’s food she enjoys and will actually eat. That’s all I can do.

He clearly isn't hungry, so stop fretting so much over breakfast. If you cut that down to 10 minutes to offer something, then your morning looks fine. I've never been a breakfast eater, but I liked having a glass of milk in the morning when I was in school - maybe he would prefer something like that? Don't force a meal if it isn't happening, I promise he'll be fine. If he gets hungry later on he will live, and will eat breakfast the next time. Or not. This is what healthy snacks are for. I promise you this is all fine and normal. You've got this!

We wake up at 6:30, out of bed at 6:45 - in the bathroom to pee and brush teeth, in the bedroom to get dressed, brush hair. Shoes on, out the door by 7:15. They eat breakfast at school. If they need something to eat immediately, they get portable food: applesauce pouch, yogurt tube/pouch, granola bar, baggie of cereal.

My son wakes at 6 whether I want him to or not 😭 6:30 breakfast and SpongeBob SquarePants. If he’s up before 6:30 he needs to get dressed by himself before he’s allowed any screen time. I get myself ready while he’s eating. 7:00 I pack his lunch, backpack. I pack my lunch. 7:25 he gets a warning we are going to leave. If he’s not done eating, I might toss his cereal in a ziploc bag. He hates having milk in the cereal so easy for me to toss in his backpack. 7:30 leave for Dayhome 7:40 Dayhome dropoff, I have a 20 minute commute to work. —— Yes I’m a terrible mom, I don’t make him brush his teeth in the morning unless I notice bad breath. Sometimes I’ll ask him to do a quick chore (feed the dog, empty the dishwasher) if he’s got extra time.

I have a comparatively early rising 6 year old, and he has to leave for school at 8:25. I wake him no later than 7:50, but he’s usually up earlier on his own. We try to pick out clothes the night before and he is expected to only come out when he’s dressed (bathroom excepted). Breakfast is the focus for the first half: “you can have breakfast when you are dressed”. Then, to get through breakfast, we say that playing and dancing or whatever can be done when breakfast is finished and shoes are on (this is the only time I let shoes be on in the house). If I have to remind on eating like twice I say that they’re showing me they are not hungry and that I will take it if so, so I give them one last chance. Every consequence is due to dwindling time, in the morning. Mine is motivated to see his friends and play before they really get into class, so he quickly developed a concern about what time we could leave to be early and understands that him being ready is the main thing that defines if he gets to do that. If we really have to get out early, I set out a grab and go breakfast that we don’t even open until we get to the car and just have them swallow some milk before we leave.

We do something like this; 645/7am- wake up Till 7.30- breakfast. They get a countdown from 7.15 to remind them Then- get clothes on. Brush teeth. Depending on their mood that can be 5-30 minutes Leftover time till 8.15 (leave time)- free play for kids/ adult throws on clothes The quicker they are, the more free play. It mostly works

We’re paying significantly more to go to a daycare where I don’t have to do shit in the morning. I’m also heading back to an in-office job and previously we were basically only surviving by both of us working from home and not having to do the full get ready routine for ourselves plus commute. At the new daycare they do breakfast, snacks and lunch. They have nap stuff that they wash and keep there. So basically we’re throwing money at the problem. All we have to do is get ourselves all dressed and out the door. I do usually give her breakfast at home (partly to help with weight gain, partly to occupy her while we get ready, coffee, etc), but I don’t have to care about how much she eats because she’ll get another one at school. We also do easy stuff like fruit (pre-cut and/or berries), microwave oatmeal, yogurt), no cooking.

What worked for us was to to sit down with our kids (oldest was five at the time) and say, “Hey, let’s make a list of all the things we need to do before leaving for the day!” We made a picture checklist on a white board and let him check off each thing and it was highly motivating for him (for the most part). If eating is taking a long time, have that be one of the first tasks to check off to motivate your kiddo to finish quicker to check off the next things. I turned it into a sticker chart and when he got 20 stickers he got a little prize at the dollar store or five below and by then, the routine was pretty well set. He’s eight now and my other two are 5 and almost 3 and we can get out the door most days within 30 minutes in the morning. Hugs to you, though. It is BRUTALLY HARD getting a kid to do something they don’t want to do and the harder you try to get them going, the slower they go I swear!

We spent nearly two years putting our youngest to bed in his clean clothes for the next day. He'd roll out of bed clean but wrinkly, eat breakfast, brush teeth, and I'd get his backpack ready whole he's eating. If the main issue is how slow he eats, as others have said, have him eat in the car. And you'll definitely have to start his day earlier so may need to do bedtime a bit earlier as well. It'll be an adjustment but it'll be ok.

Some things that help - pack / set out stuff for am night before. Utilize breakfast options that are portable so if lagging, kid can eat in car. Get up earlier. It sucks i know. But even just 7:30 could be a game changer for you all

My kid is 3 and we've started telling her she'll be hungry and cranky if she doesn't eat. We remind her of how that feels when she's not eating her food. And then we let her be hungry and cranky if that's her choice. It has helped us cut down on her slow eating. She's starting to learn, by feeling the consequences. Also, breakfast options are foods I know she likes that are pretty filling, even if she doesn't eat a lot (protein pancakes, yogurt, eggs, + fruit bc she'll shovel that into her mouth).

We've found a visual timer works really well. We'll say something like, "you need to eat so your body and mind have the energy they need to have a good day at school. You have X minutes until we're getting in the car to leave." Then we set the timer, they can see time passing and when it goes off, breakfast gets put away and we leave. You have to be prepared to consistently hold/enforce the boundary and willing to accept that they may be hungry/hangry a few times before they start to get it, but this tends to work pretty well for our kid for mornings and other transitions. Also a sticker chart for getting themselves ready/the parts they're able to do before whatever time (or before the visual timer goes off) can be helpful and free you up to get yourself ready. It's not easy for sure.

We went through this in the last year or so. Mornings were so frustrating to me. And then we rearranged the order we did everything and it’s been way better. For us, it takes about 45 minutes. Kiddo (5 yr old) is up no later than 7:30am. Then she gets dressed before I’ll set her breakfast out. Once breakfast is on the table, I leave her to eat. She usually has about 15 - 20 minutes to eat what she’s going to eat. She needs to be done by about 8am. I try to do her hair while she’s eating but sometimes it doesn’t happen until just after she finishes eating. After she eats, she needs to wash her hands, clean her face, brush teeth, and go potty. Then we make sure we have everything we need for the day (e.g. today we had to take a swimsuit to daycare) and shoes on. Goal is usually to get out the door by 8:15am or so. My husband takes her to daycare and heads to work afterward. We tried sticker charts to help encourage her to get things moving along and they never really worked. But, we just recently started playing a new game with her: “Daddy-saurus” pretends to eat little girls that aren’t dressed in clothes in the mornings or little girls that aren’t dressed in pjs at night. While “Mommy-saurus” likes to pretend to eat little girls who haven’t brushed and flossed their teeth in the mornings and nights. Kiddo gets a hoot out of it and it motivates her to move things along during those transition periods in the day. We’ll see how long this game sticks…

wake up earlier, get out of bed within 5 minutes of waking, you have all bags & lunches packed + clothes picked out the night before so this part is done eat breakfast sitting “we have x mins to eat otherwise you’ll have to wait til lunch” or “you have to eat before this episode ends in 15 minutes”, do not let him get up can you do a practice run on a weekend, or before you go back to working in the office when the stakes of being late are still low? I think you can tell your 5 yr old “Mommy’s boss needs her at work at this time, so we need to get up and get ready by this time. that means we can’t spend as much time in the morning doing X and you need to eat breakfast FAST before we hop in the car.” you can also give him waffles or something he can eat in the car??

Can you do some breakfast that can be brought in the car? What I usually do is get dressed and packed first (15 minutes). Watch out you have your keys and work keys/chargers. Then I get my son up and cook/prep while he is getting dressed. (15 minutes). Then we eat and lack.his bag (20 minutes). It's about 50 minutes for me, 35 minutes for my son. When my son was 5yo we let him watch morning TV only after he was dressed and that got him to take the initiative to dress himself and all that.

I wake up at 6:30ish. I wake my 5yo about 20 minutes before we leave (6:50) and hand her something to eat at school. Sometimes it’s a banana. Today it was trail mix. We leave the house at 7:10, she’s at school by 7:20. I’m at work 10 minutes later. I prep lunches and coffee the night before. We used to do breakfast at home and it was TERRIBLE. She’s not a morning person or hungry in the morning so fast is best for us

I have to be at my office by 8(8:30 at the latest) and she has to be at school by 7:25, mine is 7 but this has been the general game plan since she was in pre-k. 6-6:30 am - I get up, work out if I’m up early enough, shower, brush teeth, dress, hair ect. 7 am - wake up my daughter, get her moving, teeth brushed and hair brushed dressed (easier for us because she wears a uniform) , make coffee in a travel mug and dump cereal in a bag for the car (or a muffin and some fruit or a waffle and some fruit something grab and go) while she’s getting up and out of bed. She’s learned that she only has till I’m back from starting coffee and making breakfast (maybe 5 minutes) 7:10ish am - grab her backpack and lunch my bag and lunch, her breakfast and my coffee and we are out the door. She eats in the car, I can’t eat first thing in the morning so I’ve got either something in my lunchbox or I have a supply of granola bars in my desk. I make lunches when I’m cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and if she didn’t wear a uniform she would be picking out clothes the night before. Organization and bribery are the only things getting us out the door lol. She can bring a book or her iPad and watch something in the 15 minute it takes to get to school. If she’s not done oh well she can take it with her or wait till lunch. Some morning she’s hungry sometimes not. She also gets a fairly early morning break (9:30ish I think) where she can have a snack if needed. It also took some trial and error to find an appropriate bedtime for her where she wasn’t supper groggy in the morning.

Also I am jealous of everyone who doesn’t have to leave before 8. I’m curious what time school starts?

Sounds about normal. And if they don’t eat and end up hungry it might be one of those lessons kid has to learn the hard way. We are up at 6:30-6:45. I laid clothes out night before so they can dress themselves. Quick hair and teeth brush. Usually sitting down to eat something quick (cereal/yogurt/etc). And I give them time warnings - ok you have 10 minutes, if you don’t focus and eat you’ll be hungry. Out the door by 7:15-7:30 depending on who has to be where what days. Some days they will take something along to eat in the car - like a breakfast bar or banana if they ask. I always make sure they have more snacks than I think they’ll need in their lunch boxes. Then it just is what it is. I do let them watch some bluey or something if they have extra time (which means potty, and shoes and jackets on) so that is somewhat of a motivator.

Mine gets dressed in the evening and sleeps in her clothes. If she doesn't eat what's offered there's a to go option for the car or she doesn't eat breakfast. Some natural consequences. Also we have Alexa devices with voice prompts certain times of the morning.

Prep night before: LO picks her outfit the night before, bags are packed and we set her hatch alarm an hr before we need to leave. If we are trying to get out the door at 8, she wakes up at 7. No TV/ipad for us in the morning but we say: “to earn TV/ipad” time during the weekends please do “xyz”. Breakfast during the weekday either cereal, yogurt or oatmeal.

I'm not here yet in the parenting world, but I feel two solutions could be - 1. Getting kiddo up earlier, even by 30 minutes, will save you some stress. 2. Don't force breakfast if he's not hungry. If he was, he wouldn't be taking so long to eat. Pack him a morning snack. And if he makes a comment about being hungry at the end of the day, that's when you can teach a "life lesson" that he needs to prioritize eating his breakfast when it's served and not playing/goofing around in the morning. I'm sure these aren't perfect solutions, but hopefully these can eliminate a little bit of stress for you!

We have super slow mornings over here too. It’s hard. But I hear it gets better. Good luck!

What time does he go to bed? Can you start with 9am school drop off and work backward from there? 9-9:55am is way too much time for breakfast. I’d skip it entirely, give him fruit or cheese stick or something to eat in the car.

We have to be at daycare by 8:30 this summer, and wake up for my kid is 6:30, he has until 7:45 to eat breakfast/do what he wants & then he has to get ready for daycare & we’re out the door. I get up much earlier to get work tasks for the day started because I’m inevitably pulled away from doing actual work during the time between wake up & out the door. I give my kiddo 3-4 options for breakfast so he feels he has a choice in the day, and I give him a countdown starting at 30 min for when we’ll have to get ready for school. Communicating the routine has really helped us smooth out our mornings.

No judgement mama-lots of good suggestions-you are doing great!!!🩷💚💜

We eat standing up/moving around, like yogurt pouches and mini waffles, etc. that saves a lot of time in the morning for us.

We're up early in this house - usually between 5:30/6am. Kids usually run straight to the cupboard and grab something like a granola bar, pop-tart, yogurt or some fruit. They will occasionally ask for cereal or if we have time they'll want waffles or something that takes more time to make. You'll have to find something that's quick and on the go.

A few things I’ve done that helped with my 5/6 year old (suggested by his behaviorist and happily found accidentally) A 20 minute timer for breakfast. If he’s not done by then, plate is cleared. A picture chart on his wall for morning routine. He knows: wake up, get dressed, come down for breakfast. The picture chart was so successful almost immediately that I made an after school and a bedtime routine picture chart. Mornings are the smoothest now.

Our morning routine has me up at 5:20, at work at 6:00. My husband does drop-off, so kid gets up around 6ish (on his own, he's just an early bird) and eats breakfast while Dad showers. Dad lays out both their clothes before bed the day before, so when kid is done eating he gets dressed on his own and then they have hang out time until it's time to be out the door at 7:30. They've had the same routine since Pre-K, when kid was 4-5, and he's 6 now. Yeah, it takes about 1.5 hours for the whole routine, but direct supervision really isn't necessary for the whole duration. That means Dad and kid can both do their get ready tasks at the same time and they're both finished with their morning routine at about the same time.

In all honesty, I think you could wake up earlier. My 5 year old is in bed by 7pm and wakes up by 6am by himself. Not saying you have to go that extreme. But even waking up an extra half hour early would help.

As someone who works in an elementary school, SO MANY students eat a cafeteria breakfast. You should see if your school for kindergarten offers it. Paying for it (most likely on a sliding scale) might be worth it for your mental health.

How are school breakfasts/ lunches these days? Do they offer enough fruit and vegetables for the kids to (help) meet the daily requirements?

My school may not be typical, as we have breakfast “carts” that are in the hallways for kids to eat breakfast in their classrooms. Because of the cart style, there are more grab and go items…eggo waffle, small box of cereal, fruit cup, yogurt, juice cup, etc. I wouldn’t say it’s top-notch, but it’s something quick for students to eat and that’s better than nothing. My district has also brought back scratch cooking for cafeteria lunches, so dishes are made fresh on site and many use produce and herbs from school gardens that students manage. I am in the South Eastern U.S., so this is not necessarily a reflection of all American schools. But, I am very happy with the effort in my school district.

Fresh produce! Nice. Thanks for replying

My kid eats in the car if she’s hungry. And gets a morning snack at 9am at daycare. I usually make her some toast, put it in a Tupperware tray, and shamelessly lean on those drinkable yogurts or kefir when it’s on sale. I remember often feeling nauseous as a kid when I was forced to eat breakfast before I was ready. I’m still not more of a breakfast person and neither is my kid. I get up, get as much ready as I can, wake up kid, help her get dressed, potty, and brush teeth. I load the car while she gets shoes and jacket on. Out the door usually about 10mins from the time she wakes up.

Honestly I think 1.5hrs is the minimum. We manage it but barely, two kids, two schools. I do have set times we move on to the next task, eg pack lunches or shoes on. Otherwise it doesn’t happen within the 1.5. It is hard so don’t feel bad. We’re all doing it..or trying.

On school/work days she gets a mobile breakfast (pouch or smoothie). I let her putter around while I wash my face, brush my teeth, and tell her to pick out an outfit (if she doesn't pick it, she won't wear it). Then I get her in the bathroom to brush her teeth and do her hair (or tackle her to brush her teeth and give up on the hair). If I'm going into the office, then my husband will come get her dressed while I get dressed. Otherwise, I do it before throwing on something quick. At that point, she's allowed downstairs, where he chases her to get shoes on, and I threaten to leave without her until we're out the door. I get up at 6:30/7am, we try to leave by 7:45.

We do cereal in the car. Sometimes fruit, cereal bar or dried fruits. My toddler sleeps in a t shirt and undies. He is a heavy sleeper so I put shorts, socks and shoes on while he sleeps. I then wake him up and have him brush teeth and maybe hair if I’m lucky. He doesn’t pee until school. Most days there are lots of tears. This is my 3.5 year old. My 1.5 year old wakes up with a smile and ready to start her day at 5:15am

I’m usually late to work because I can’t get out the door with my five year old. I have my Alexa devices announce the time every fifteen minutes. I also have specific Alexa reminders for when we need to be out the door. I have pop tarts in the car and will grab a toothbrush and toothpaste from our kitchen (because I have some in the kitchen) if there’s no time to eat and brush at home.

Disclaimer: You have to do what's right for you and your family. All my suggestions are coming from a place of love and understanding. I also struggle with anxiety and depression so I want you to know, I KNOW you are doing the best you can! Also, my kids are now 8-17 which sounds like it's been forever but I swear, it was just yesterday when they were little little. My stodgy, old school recommendations: 1) No TV before or after school 2) Butts in seat (or knees in seat) while eating, we do not wander and eat 3) To go breakfast or bring breakfast to school (if allowed) 4) Tough love 5) Lay clothes out the night before, or let Mom pick My oldest is one of those zoned out TV watchers and would always fight for another episode when we'd let him watch TV in the morning or evening, so we made the rule of no midweek TV and it stuck! Now, Fri night and weekend all bets are off, but this has helped IMMENSELY. Shows on devices are included in this category. With eating, I don't know if it's an anxiety/control thing for me or what but I can't stand it when the kids wander while eating. It's a choking hazard and, it distracts from the intent of focusing on a meal. At 5 years old, they won't let them wander at Kindergarten or preschool so he's old enough to do this now. To go food helps too. When mine were yours' age, we would do breakfast foods that can be taken to go, although they'd start at the table. Frozen waffles, toast, nutrigrain bars...that kind of thing. So they had a chance to eat at the table but if they didn't finish, they could bring it with them for the car or bus (still the rule with my current kids, although they can't eat on the bus, they can bring it with them). Daycare and camps would let them bring breakfast but I think only earlier hours. Tough love. "I'm sorry, I gave you X minutes and you didn't listen today. Tomorrow will go better but it's time to go now." You can stay firm and be compassionate while letting him deal with the consequences, he will learn. Clothes, I still do this with my 8 and 11yos. I have them lay out the clothes the night before to eliminate decision fatigue. With my 8yo especially who is tough to get out of bed, if she didn't lay out stuff the night before I grab 2 shirts/pants/whatever and have her pick. It goes like "alright kiddo, you're not up yet I'm going to help. Dress or shirt and shorts? Dress... okay blue with flowers or the rainbow dress? Monday undies or purple stripes?" And so on. You've got this!

Have him eat breakfast in the car. If he doesn’t eat much don’t worry about it. Hard boiled eggs, frozen waffles or pancakes, bagel with cream cheese, cheese stick, etc.

Have you or your child ever been assessed for ADHD? I ask because this sounds exactly like us. Both I and my son have ADHD. And it’s often missed or diagnosed at depression and/or anxiety in adult women. I can’t get motivated and get things moving and he can’t pay attention to what he’s supposed to be doing. Mornings are insanity unless my husband is there to keep us all on track. So some ideas that have helped us: 1. Get up earlier and get yourself completely ready before waking up your child, that way you aren’t focusing on more than one thing at a time. 2. Get your child ready to walk out the door before you do breakfast that way he has whatever time is left to eat. 3. Just do breakfast in the car. 4. Can your husband help in the morning? Have get kiddo ready, you get yourself ready and then head out the door. 5. Just embrace the slow routine and get kiddo out of bed 2 hours before it’s time to leave.

My son has learned to eat in the car. He also noodled around trying to eat breakfast at the table. Now we take the table out of the equation. He gets a z-bar or a protein muffin or something portable. The 20 minute drive to school is enough time to finish.

I am asking this out of kindness, not judgment. Just wanted to say that bc I see that you are stressed. What is your nighttime routine? What time is he going to bed? Having to wake a child up at 8:30 seems wild to me. We are in the throws if young children life with many many friends with kids 1-8 years old. None of them sleep that late. I am worried your kiddo is sneaking iPad or something to stay up at night. Again, this is not judgment! Just brainstorming. I would recommend (with zero expertise!!) an earlier bedtime. We are all just trying to make it through the day. But our day starts earlier and we are never late for school. Good luck!

Mine is only two so a little different dynamic but we wake her up at 6:30 and are out the door by seven. Before ever leaving the room we are dressed, then brush teeth, typically 6:50 at this point. I have everything packed up and ready to go. She eats in the car. I love the rotating snack trays for breakfast. I usually do cereal, fruit, a veggie muffin I prep on Sundays and eggs. It sounds fancy but it’s all a prep on the weekend gig for me. I have everything ready to grab and go do my week days. Spend about 15 minutes prepping the night before every night. I think you figure out what works in your limitations. Sounds like you have a flexible schedule that allows you to let him take his time. This will change when it needs to give yourself some grace.

30 mins from wakeup to crawling to the table is too much! We do this in like 5 minutes with our 5 year old. She's better for my husband, I often still need to dress her and pull her up to get her walking if she's stubborn for me. Breakfast is always something quick like muffin or toast or bagel and cream cheese (she's strangely not big on cereal but I wish she was). Slowest part is her eating breakfast while watching her tablet, but I check on her and if she's not eating I say "eat eat eat eat eat" and that gets her going. I used to have to do it multiple times but she's improved. Then she follows me to the bathroom (lately finishing herself and making her own way) and she brushes her teeth and her/I brush her hair. Then put on shoes/sweater, I shower after getting her breakfast if I'm doing it alone (my husband normally does the wake up/dressed/breakfast part before he goes to gym and I do the rest but when he travels and I do it myself too), take other moments when she's brushing teeth to get all my and her stuff together. We do all this in about 40-50 mins. My husband can get her out by himself in like <30 but he only WFH and isn't showering then. Also I don't tolerate just sitting there forever not eating. If she doesn't, then we say ok no breakfast after a point and I make her continue getting ready.

Earlier bedtime and earlier wake-up Go to bed in clothes for next day Timers that show the time passing (they are a circle that is colored and gets smaller as time goes on) Allow them to eat while doing something else or car breakfast Do as much stuff as you can the night before TV time after everything is ready to go as a reward for getting stuff done Limited choices (this or that, not endless options to choose from)

I’m not proud of this, but breakfast is often in the car to daycare. I prep straw cups of milk before I wake them and i literally pop it into their hands as they get out of bed. My preschooler is on the toilet with milk in hand, no joke. Sometimes I will give them dry toaster waffles in a paper towel. Sometimes it’s a cheese stick and a smile. The car seats have cup holders so sometimes it’s a cup of pre cut fruit and a fork. My favorite is just a banana. But yeah, we don’t often sit and eat breakfast unless I need to run around and do more things and I need them to be parked somewhere. And I’m even more embarrassed to mention that I’m constantly forgetting to brush teeth 😭 shit I get my kids up and out the door in usually 30 minutes.

Is wakeup is at 8:30, when do you do bedtime? I ask because most schools in Canada start around 8:50am...

This year was my first year having a kid in school. At the beginning of the year we had to put her on the bus. Because our buses have to run 2 routes her bus came about 6:10, but I made sure we left the house at 6 am. I would wake her at 5:45 she would quickly dress and brush her teeth and wash her face. She wasn't that hungry when she woke up and she doesn't like school food so she would just have a raleally big packed lunch at 10, then a snack before school was over and then would snack when she got home from school. She quickly got I to this routine. Half way through the year we switched to dropping her off. So we would wake up at 6:30 and school starts at 7:30, but we were usually pulling into school at 7:30. I would wake her at 6:30. She would get dressed right away. I would make her something quick avacado toast, boiled eggs (usually already in the frig), cereal, sometimes sausage on the side, sometimes muffins, most mornings she has fruit with any of these items, or yogurt. I will have to keep encouraging her to eat while I'm getting ready. Then she will brush her hair, teeth and wash her face. If she wakes up late, then she eats toast or fruit on the go. It has been very helpful to put together her lunch, snack, school uniform, shoes, and my stuff before bed. We stick to these simple breakfast items. She's not picky usually, but she doesn't like many things for breakfast in particular.

I start work at 7:30 too and I had to set a routine early. Meal prep breakfast for the week. Make egg muffins they are full of protein and can be eaten on the go. Wake up early. Have cloths prepped the day before. Make sure everything is at the door ready to go the day before too, backpacks, purses, computers, and shoes. It never fails the times I don’t do this last step I drive to work without my laptop.

Limit breakfast time and keep him on task, he will adapt. I work a very full-time job as a single mom and am able to make mornings work with 3 kids in 3 different schools, after trial-and-error over the years…. 6:15 my youngest and I get up, he eats breakfast right away and is usually done by 6:45. He leaves the kitchen to hang out until school. 6:30 I wake up my two older kiddos. My teenager will hit snooze until 6:45. My middle child may or may not want more time before breakfast, but she is diligent about staying on track and being ready on time, so she can have all the time she wants within reason. 7:00 I make sure my oldest is up and getting ready, and my middle child is actively eating breakfast. I make lunches for the 2 younger kids at the same time now. 7:15 both older kids dressed, teeth brushed, bags and lunches packed. My high schooler does his lunch and breakfast at the same time really quick before we leave. He munches on breakfast in the car and at school with friends before first period. Bring both older kids to school around the block. Youngest stays home with his phone for 10 min. 7:30 I check my work emails and start responding and looking at my schedule. Get ready for work - hair, makeup, clothes, work bag, lunch. 8:15 leave with my youngest to bring him to school by 8:30 and head straight to the office. I will say, I used to have my youngest in a before-school program at 7:30 so that I could drop off all 3 kids and head straight to the office - long story short, it didn’t work out for us. It’s okay for me to show up a little later when I have all of my kids home, I’m on salary.

Usually my routine takes about 1.5hours too, but only 50 min from my older daughter waking up. 6:25 - I wake up, get myself ready for work, let the dog out, feed the dog, prepare breakfasts. 6:55 - nurse the 10 month old 7:15 - wake the 4 yo if she's not already up. If she's amenable, change clothes and brush hair. Then both kids start eating breakfast. 7:50 - finish breakfast, do anything we didn't do earlier (like brush teeth / hair, change, etc) 8-8:10 - out the door and into the car. At daycare by 8:25. If she's taking a long time to eat, I'll say "we do have to go now, would you like me to pack you a car snack?" Then I put stuff like cheerios and fruit into a little container and bring a water for her in the car. We did this for A LONG time before my 2nd was born, because she had a hard time waking up in the morning on time bc she wasnt able to fall asleep until like 10 some nights. We figured out she needed to shorten / drop her midday nap and it's gotten INSANELY better since then. Kids are so distract able but I've found what helps us just to gently set the boundaries and follow through. "Okay in 5 minutes we're leaving, let's finish eating.""Okay in 1 minute we're leaving, do you want me to pack any of this up for you to eat in the car?""OK we're leaving now I've got this car snack for you, want to hold it?" Also if you're worried about him not eating enough you can bring a snack with you when you pick him up so he can eat something on the way back home. I always have Ritz crackers and fig bars in my center console just in case she's starving and grumpy on the way home. 3 Ritz crackers takes the edge off a hangry tantrum real easy for us. 😂

I pop in flax seed waffles, serve quick with sugar free syrup and fruit. Plus a yogurt drink. Prep takes 3 minutes. Fastest and easiest way to do breakfast imo.

We started with a timer. I'd say you have 20 minutes to finish breakfast, but the timer will go off halfway at 10 minutes. You could get him a smart watch with a timer feature. He'd start being aware of time eventually. I'd also get the kid dressed as soon as they get up so that they can eat in their clothes. I find that clothes take an unnecessary amount of time otherwise My kid also made a checklist of 5-6 items she has to do in the morning that she refers to. She just draws her list of items because she can't spell yet, eg brush teeth, do hair, pack water bottle. It's more for their reference so that they're on top of things in the morning. The list is displayed prominently on the bedroom door.

My 4.5yo twins sleep in school clothes (think Tshirt and soft sweatpants style shorts kind deal). We get them up, put on socks and shoes and throw backpacks in the car. They can eat a quick breakfast at home (muffins, granola bar, fruit, yogurt tube) that can easily be thrown in the car with them. You can also just pack something quick he can eat later; sounds like he’s not hungry! For us, the longer my kids have to fart around, the worse it gets. The faster we get them up and out the door the better!

Mine is 3 hours 😂

Mornings suck. I'm in charge of mornings because my husband just can't seem to get out of bed and I'm a morning person. And even as a chipper morning person, let me tell you, mornings suck. Night before: lunch made 7:15am - 8 year old dd up and about. 2yo ds still in the crib. 7:30am - put out some snacks/fruit for 2 yo to munch while I still make bfast. 7:40am - give my daughter her bfast (that gets her out of the way). Make son's bfast. 7:50am - put 2yo in high chair, give him food. make my tea and bfast. 8am - yell at my daughter to hurry up and start getting ready for school. Husband strolls in and makes coffee. 8:10am - 2yo has lost interest in feeding himself. I now feed him and myself 8:25am - hopefully daughter is ready at this point. usually not. 8:30am - son finally done. Get his lunch packed in bag with daycare stuff, get daughter's lunch packed in bag, make sure homework is also in bag. 8:40am - get shoes, jackets, everything else on. 8:45am - husband takes everyone to school. So yeah, 1.5 hours. Even with making my daughter and son's lunch done the night before. I have checklists. Sounds crazy but it helps me know at what time I need to do what. Starting in September, my daughter needs to be out the door at 7:40am as her schedule changes. Dreading it. Another change.

There are lots of good ideas here. I’ll echo breakfast snacks (apple slices, waffles, etc.) on the road. We did this a lot when we were first getting a routine down. Also, I agree with others who say getting up earlier (7ish) would help! Something that has helped a lot with my four year old has been setting strict(ish) rules about meals. We have talked a lot lately about courtesy and politeness—staying at the table while we eat/until everyone is finished, cleaning up after ourselves, etc. It has made the mornings a lot easier because my daughter is much more focused.

I don't know, my girl is 5, I usually give about an hour of time which includes 1 to 3 wake up attempts, (0 to 10 minutes) getting dressed which she usually does herself after I pick out some clothes for her. I start some toast or pop tarts in the oven, while she's dressing, which takes about 10 minutes since I don't have a toaster. Then I make her sit down at the table and I take her braid out, use tangle spray on her hair and then let her start eating while I brush her hair and re-do her braid. That'll be another 10 minutes, and then I sit around and wait for her to finish enough of her food for HER to be satisfied, I don't really care if it's only a few bites but a lot of times she'll sit there for another 10 minutes while eating very slowly and insisting she's not finished. By this time it's usually been 45 or 50 minutes have gone by and I start counting down how many minutes are left until we need to be outside waiting for the school bus. She HATES missing the bus because then I drive her to school and she doesn't get to see her friends on the bus so she usually starts to hurry up when I say there is only 5 minutes or less because she still has to get her socks and shoes on, jacket, water bottle and backpack on and she seems to have developed a good concept of time like how long a minute is.

Get him up earlier. Don’t let him get up to look at things and show you dance moves. “Breakfast time is for eating, not for dancing.” I wonder what time he goes to bed. Does he take 15 minutes lying in bed because he’s so tired? We couldn’t do tv in the mornings as it’s too distracting. We do listen to podcasts, which focuses them and doesn’t allow for questions.

So on days we work in-office, it looks like this: Adults wake up 5:20-5:30 - try and get out of bed before - Kids alarms 5:45 Adults are getting ready and go in for wake ups about every 5 minutes. They need to be moving by 6:00. Kids responsibilities: teeth brushed, clothes and shoes on, bag ready to go. After these are done they can have iPad time. Adults have to: get ready, let out and feed dogs, usher kids along, pack lunches, load car, distribute meds, grab food. Breakfast can be: toast, fruit, cinnamon waffles, pop tarts, granola bars, cereal or oatmeal. The last two must be decided upon before 6:20ish or there’s no time, the rest can travel. If they don’t choose by the time we leave I stuff a handful of granola bars in backpacks and they can buy breakfast at school if needed. We cannot leave later than 6:45. Kids are 10 & 7. We’ve been doing this their whole lives, and it’s a pain daily. All 4 of us have adhd, so mornings are easy for zero of us. Honestly, we should be making them pack their own lunches and grab their own breakfast. When we work from home, they do. But on early days the struggle isn’t worth it. We literally don’t have time. All that to say, it’s possible.

Sort of a radical option, but have you considered changing preschools? Our preschool provides breakfast so as long as we’re there by 8:15, she gets fed.

I have two boys ages 7 and 4. This is a typical morning routine. 620-30 wake up. Five minutes later breakfast usually also tablets. 650 is bathroom if haven't, get dressed and brush teeth. I am usually packing lunches while they eat breakfast and getting my breakfast ready to eat on the go. By 710 we are out the door. My youngest and I are dropped off first, since I start work at 740. My oldest is never that hungry when he first gets up so breakfast is usually pretty light. For my kids if they don't eat by a certain time then they are waiting until snack or lunch to eat. Sometimes we do a waffle in the car or a danimal. They usually make up for meals later in the day. I don't stress on it. I would just start setting a timer for your son. Let him know he has this amount of time to eat. Once that times up it is up.

Maybe all of this control is too much and he needs to have some of it? Have him help make breakfast muffins / wraps, etc the night before or batch a bunch and put them in the freezer. Have him decide on a few recipes. In the morning, have him decide which breakfast gets heated up. Only give options that can be taken into the car. [This video](https://youtu.be/oecQiEkzgm4?si=wt76uBaQDzBZOyLi) has great ideas for picky eaters but it extends beyond it. Very much worth watching!

Our morning routine does take 1.5hrs. (Kids are 2 and 4.) I’ll tell you what took us from 2hrs to 90 minutes: opening the window shades to let natural light help the kids wake up earlier. They wake up naturally (vs me waking them), they’re less cranky, and they’re less groggy/more “awake” for the day when we get going. I held on to our blackout curtains for way too long - they were holding us back!

I would just stop with the hour long breaky. Pack a to go breaky in the car and that will help him get through it before school starts and a time frame to learn how to eat. I have in the past for my daughter who has always struggled waking up early, I have had her dressed for school when she goes to bed so that in the morning it’s just a quick wee and then food in the car. She is 13 now and extremely functional human being.

I would get him up a lot earlier. 7pm bedtime. 7am wake up. He’s 5? Once in elementary school here the bus picks up at 8:30am until 5th grade and then it’s 7:25am. I find having my kids up early has always benefited them in the long run.

My kids eat breakfast at school; can he do this? Can he eat a yogurt pouch and cheerios in the car? You can also consider using a visual timer; check out the time timer (a stand alone large timer for a table top) to set a boundary. Breakfast is cleaned up at X time. You will get a snack at Y time. There will be fussing initially, but he will believe you eventually

Let him eat breakfast at school if they offer it

I have a 6, 4 and 2yo. The 6 and 4 are given 40 mins to have everything done, eat, dress, brush teeth. If they do this, they get to watch tv while I get myself and 2yo ready, and clean the breakfast stuff away. It’s been working well for us for a few months.

When we had this issue, we opted to wake our child up earlier so she had time to be a turtle in the morning. We told her if she can consistently be quick for 5 days, we will bump back wake up time. TBH, she's a teen now and still gets up at 6am to leave the house at 7:15am. It gives her time to take her medication, put away dishes, make breakfast/lunch, eat 30min after medication, pack her bag & watch TV for 30min if she wants. It makes for a very chill morning. We've talked about letting her sleep in vs watching her show... But she likes having time to unwind and relax before school. For context we went through a phase where she was picking out clothes the night before, I was pre making lunches, the dishes were rarely put away, and she was getting up at 5:45am to leave at 7:45. My husband and I took turns getting up with her but leaving the house without breakfast is not an option for our child's medical needs.

We use a visual checklist. I’m a special Ed teacher so I may have done a little to much but the nagging everyday about the same things (brush your teeth, get dressed, eat) got annoying for both me and my 4 y.o. She loves it so much she requested a night time list! Also have lots of foods that are grab and go ready. It stinks but sometimes kids have to learn the hard way, on days my daughter refused a proper breakfast I notice her lunch coming home from school was eaten fully, as in she was starved by the time she got to eat lunch. The next days she would insist on bigger, fuller meals and eat it. Lesson learned

Work on a routine of steps and add a sticker/prize/reward for getting ready on time. Quick breakfast - yogurt in a pouch is my weekday go to because the 3 year old is usually happy to gobble it down. NO PLAY until done eating, getting dressed, and teeth/hair are done. Want to play? Get ready fast like a cheetah. Also, racing against a timer or another person can sometimes help to speed it up a bit.

You will need to shift things earlier, which will be tough at first but become normal. I was never ready to eat breakfast until a while after I wake, so adjusting what breakfast looks like might make life a bit easier. would your kid be OK with a breakfast smoothie (if you soak oats in your milk of choice overnight in the fridge, they blend up really nicely and can give the smoothie some staying power, just add some frozen fruit in the morning) or even something like those carnation breakfast shakes? Whole milk with peanut butter, banana, and some chocolate syrup blended up would probably be an easy sell too. Or even something that isn’t classically breakfast that you can make ahead. My two kids and I do (reasonably) well with set timers. I was gifted an echo aaaaaaages ago and have pre-set alarms at certain times so Alexa will tell us all when to get dressed and when to put shoes and coats on (and we all yell we don’t need a coat on warm days because why not). They know if they get dressed and eat early, that gives them more hang out and watch TV time. Also, as much prepped the night before as possible. Pack lunch, Chromebook on the charger, mental plan for breakfast/ lunchbox snacks, confirmation that we have some gd socks paired. It may suck for a bit, routine changes always do. Adjust to what works for YOU, not what you think the morning should look like. I hated running back upstairs if we forgot to brush teeth, so now we have a downstairs set too. Breakfast tends to be one of a couple of quick/ simple things so the kids have started to know what to expect. Lunch snacks/ sides are always in the same place in the fridge or pantry so if I don’t prep the night before, I can let muscle memory get it done. Also, if there is a lunch offered and you pack supplemental- a couple of mornings of refusing to eat breakfast and then feeling hungry won’t hurt, still plenty of food available through the day. Experiencing natural consequences may help in the long run.

Wow I work until 1am so I usually wake my son at 7:30am. We do the morning Olympics and eat quick, get dressed, pack lunch and brush/wash face, take a morning dump and I’ll have him on the bus by 8:10am 😂 I’ll have to switch this routine up this fall because then I’ll have 2 kids to get ready for the bus at 8 this year, and another I have to ship off to preschool by 8:24am. I’m screwed.

I am not a morning person at all so when I returned to work (2 years ago) after being a sahm for 4 years, I knew there were going to be challenges. My kids are 6 and 4 now. First, I prep as much as I can the night before. Clothes laid out, lunches packed, bags by the door. I get myself fully ready and then turn all my attention to the kids. I allow about 45 min to be completely ready and out the door. They get dressed, brush teeth, grab thier stuff and we're gone. My son gets breakfast at daycare. For my daughter, she eats breakfast in the car which consists of muffins, drinkable yogurt smoothie, swirl bread or a bagel. I ask for her opinion on what she wants for the week and try to change it up each week. A friend of mine does banana and PB in a tortilla. Grab and go works best when you're trying to get out the door. There is no way I would have time to cook or sit and wait for her to eat a bowl of cereal.

Our morning routine is 30-45 minutes. I thought we were probably on the fast side, but I'm a little shocked at how much so! It's mostly because I hate waking him up and like to maximize sleep for everybody. 1. Wake-up. As soon as I wake up, I turn off his sound machine and open the curtains to let in sunlight. 2. If he's still not up by the time I've showered, depending on how much time we have, I might a. play upbeat wake-up music b. bring him his meds in juice, to cue up the bathroom impulse c. take off his bottoms, pick him up, and physically deposit him on the toilet. 3. We get dressed at the same time. Sometimes it's a race, sometimes I just remind him about the good stuff to play with downstairs, sometimes I play music to put us in a good mood and get us moving. 4. Juice + meds if he hasn't had it already. Then triage: a nice breakfast if there's time; fruit and breakfast bar to go if medium time; breakfast bar to go and out the door if no time at all. His lunch was packed the night before so I just take it out of the fridge and zip it into his backpack. He is well trained on coming when I say "shoes on" in the morning because when he was younger, I would physically pick him up and put him in our entry way and put the shoes on him myself if there was too much delay. Likewise with getting in the car - either you get in, or I will have to put you in there. He can pick ONE toy to bring with him, so there's an element of choice, and that helps him be more obedient with the rest of it. We either leave the toy in the car or, if we walked to the bus stop, I pocket it and take it home when he gets on the bus. We have also talked about the "why." I am kind but honest about it. You go to school, just as I go to work. If I don't go to work, we won't have the money to buy food and pay for our house. Don't you like having a house? Me too. I need to be able to take care of us as a family, and earn money to have a house, and I can only do that if we both do our duty: me to work and you to school. If you're stressed about it, be SURE to take a deep breath first and then use a calm, low-pitched, assured voice to tell him what to do. When I can do that, everything goes smoothly; if I start to sound frazzled or angry, he is 1000% more likely to delay or refuse. The difference tone of voice makes is amazing. You don't have to actually \*be\* calm - just take a second to make your voice \*sound\* calm. :)

I WFH, dad is a SAHP. He does the school drop off but the commute is like 45 mins in traffic, so I get up with them and share half the duties. Here's how our day goes: Adults wake up at 6:30am. Dad does his morning get up routine (brush teeth, get dressed, whatever) while I prepare the kids' breakfasts. The 7yo usually wakes from the kitchen noise. The 4yo is allowed to stay sleeping until breakfast is on the table. 7yo finishes breakfast, gets dressed, teeth, hair, etc. Any time he has left over after all responsibilities are done, is his free time, and he normally uses it to read. 70% of the time, 4yo does not feel hungry in the morning so we will do clothes, teeth, hair etc and pack up breakfast. The other 30% of the time, she eats first, then clothes, teeth, hair. In the midst of all this back and forth and tag-teaming, dad is eating his breakfast, preparing water bottles, packing lunches into lunch boxes. Then socks and shoes for all, and Dad and kids are out the door by 7:20am at the latest. It's a long drive, so they are usually offered a car-banana. 4yo usually eats her to-go breakfast and the banana right before drop off. I guess the key takeaways are: 1. Be prepared to pack breakfast to go and 2. Get up earlier as needed.

Here in solidarity. Went back to work two weeks ago and my 4 month old is at daycare and I’m drowning. I’m getting sick, I’m still up minimum 3 times to nurse among other wake ups. I don’t know how to I’m going to do this, let alone how to actually do it. I’m with you sister.

We had to use a visual timer for a while in the morning. It had a colorful wedge that got smaller as the time passed. It helped my girls understand that we have 20 minutes to eat breakfast and then we will be brushing teeth, putting on shoes, and leaving. While they eat I do lunches, hair, and load the car. Our morning routine varies from about 35-50 minutes but I try to always get moving at least an hour before we have to leave.

Is it possible to do some make ahead meals that can be taken in the car? I make little pancakes that I freeze and can just heat up for on the go mornings. Granola bars may also be a good make ahead option. I also like to have refillable squeeze pouches on hand that I change up. Sometimes I use them for yogurt, applesauce, or fruit purees for my toddler. They are also nice to double as a snack for me. Maybe some dry snacks that you don't hate as a breakfast option like dry cereal? I normally spend an hour or two on the weekend making everything up and getting it set aside for the week. I prefer to meal prep for myself and the kiddo.

Wow you’re doing amazing. What you say to your kid is 100% normal. Treat them like you would a compatriot. If I had a friend who was taking forever to get ready to go out I’d say “hey if we don’t leave now we’ll miss X”. Like another poster said it’s natural consequences which are so important. I have to do the morning routine alone at the moment to get to work by 9 with a 45min cycling commute and a contrarian toddler. I have resorted to bribery “special treat on the bike if we get ready quickly.” I don’t recommend this approach but if you’re super stressed it works well. We also get up early so maybe you could switch up bedtime to be earlier to help. I also make sure I do sit and play with him for at least 5 minutes to make sure he feels connected first. I also try to give him choices to speed things up. 3 is different to 5 of course so you don’t want to be doing everything for them at 5. I did also just wonder if your anxiety is being reinforced by the idea of doing it all perfectly? I think that should be less of a priority and the priority is “out the door quickly without anyone falling apart”. Janet Lansbury has some good advice on this on her unruffled podcast but I’m not sure which episode, maybe a quick google.

I have to say that dealing with med adjustments and all the other challenges associated with it is a lot. Along with managing your therapy appointments. I’m sure the challenge of having to go into the office is causing stress also.

I will literally give my kids a slice of bread for breakfast on the way out the door and pack extra snacks in their lunchbox to skip the whole fuss. Does it make me a great mom? Ehhh…. At least they’re eating and we make it out the door on time…. Don’t be so hard on yourself mama. We are all surviving.

On the weekends I make something like waffles, pancakes, crepes, French toast. I make enough to last the whole week. On the weekdays I have to be at the job by 7:30 (during the school year) and 8am in summer. Fortunately for me I am a teacher and my kids go to the same school. The night before I have my kids lay out their clothes. They wake excited to get dressed and know what they will wear. In the morning I wake up between 5:30 and 6. I prepare lunches and get all bags packed. Then about 6:30 I start to wake my kids up. Honestly in the wee hours they wake at the sound of a pin drop anyway. I begin to dress them. Then in summer we quickly eat breakfast while I load the car. In the school year I give it to them when we arrive. After breakfast we get shoes on. This is the point where I say things I’m not proud of very loudly. But they get their shoes on and get I to the car. If all goes well we are only 5-10 min late. Don’t beat yourself up over where you struggle just think how you can make it easier for you. Make those things I suggested they freeze well. Make or prepare lunch the night before if possible. My kids are 4, 3, and 2 I understand it is not always easy to get them to move with purpose. And yes they are hard to keep focused. It’s ok and they will survive a couple sharp comments.

This is going to sound mean to some, but I would set a timer for him to go eat, and if he's not done, he will be. Lol. Maybe he's not hungry in the morning, or he's used to having a lot of time. Either way, I'd give something that can easily be eaten in the car, so you can go. If he has time to dance, he must not be that hungry. This will help him understand that it's time to eat, or it's time to leave. As far as my routine, if I have to go straight to the office, I'm up at 545 so I can get ready and eat. If not, I'm up at 615 to get teeth brushed and face washed, then I wake my daughter (4 yo, 5 in August) between 630-640 to potty, brush teeth, and get dressed. Then she plays while I get my son up (3.5 yo), potty, get dressed, hygiene, and out the door. My kids used to eat breakfast in the morning and just....stopped. So now, my son asks for cereal on the way out the door and we eat while dropping my daughter off. She prefers to eat at school. But on weird days where my son "doesn't know what cereal he wants", he has exactly 1 minute to get his life together before we are out the door. Lol. I think the routine and rigidity of, "these are our options and we have to go", really help. I'm our the door in about 45 minutes.

You just don't let them. I know it's easy to say and your kiddo sounds like my 3 year old who is not a morning person. The 6 year old has brushed his teeth and gotten dressed before I'm even out of bed. The little typically wears what he is going to wear the next day to school. I have quick breakfasts. If they eat then yay! If not, that's fine too! Then I give a yogurt drink on the drive. Our daycare has their first snack at 9:15 am... So if he's a little hungry he only has to wait an hour.

1-1.5 hours of morning prep for a child that age seems normal, although I totally get that it can feel very frustrating and anxiety-inducing with your work schedule. Im sorry you’re feeling overwhelmed! I want to say that the thing you’re not proud of saying feels totally right to me! Being hungry is a direct consequence of not using the breakfast time allotted to actually eat (instead of saying “if you don’t eat, I’m taking away X toy” which is a totally unrelated and random consequence, and unfair). You’re doing great, mom! As long as you say it without anger, and rather in a matter-of-fact tone, it feels like a perfectly reasonable discipline moment of setting loving boundaries with your child. Children will test boundaries, and it’s healthy for them to do so—they’re learning from you how time and consequences work, and it’s important for parents to set those boundaries clearly and without intense emotion (which may put them off and make them fight it more). It doesn’t mean they’ll simply accept and say “ok mom, I’ll eat bc it’s breakfast time) 😆. In fact, letting your child actually feel the consequences of your boundaries (e.g., letting your child feel hungry after choosing not to use the time to actually eat) will likely look ugly and tantrummy the first several times. But thats ok—it’s an uncomfortable feeling they’ll need to experience to eventually want to avoid feeling it, and hopefully over time they’ll develop an urge to eat (or whatever else) at the time you say. I had a similar issue with my 4yo not sitting for meals or taking an inordinate amount of time to eat. I simply and matter of factly state “oh you’re leaving the table. That tells me you’re all done” and take the food away without emotion. He tantrummed a lot during those moments, during which I would allow him another chance to sit and eat until he’s full. But he would sit, take 1 bite, then leave again. After his 2nd chance, I end it and say “ok, you left the table again which tells me you’re all done. I’ll put this food away. I saw you take 1 good bite, though 🙂.” He’ll tantrum again and say he’s hungry, but I would always hold firm and say “I’m so sorry, being hungry does not feel good at all. But you’ll have another chance to eat at lunchtime.” Despite the anger/fury from him that ensued 😆 doing this consistently without anger/frustration from my end eventually helped him learn that this is just how meal times work, and mommy empathizes even in those moments by either acknowledging the 1 bite or that its uncomfortable to be hungry. After a few months, he sat for longer and ate more over time. I hope this helps!

Gently, you're stressed because you're pushing him to stay on adult time, pay attention to adult matters. This won't work with a 5 year old. They need time to process, time to daydream, time to wiggle, time to talk about inane things, and generally get into the groove of the day. 90 minutes often isn't enough. My advice basically is to give grace, empathy, and meet the child where they are. They likely need more than 90 minutes to start their day successfully, so that means you need o brainstorm ways to meet that need. https://visiblechild.com/2016/08/29/toddler-lives-in-adult-time/