Tackling the Morning Rhythm with Your Teen
As your prepare your teen to go back to school – it can be helpful to work with your teen on their morning rhythm, which encompasses all of the things that they need to do from the time that they get up in the morning until the time that they need to leave for school. Weekday mornings are often one of the most stressful times for both teens and their parents due to the number of things that needs to be done in a short period of time. While it will likely take some strategizing to figure out how to help the teen become as independent as possible in doing each step, this effort will undoubtedly lead to less stress in the morning for the entire family.
Here is an example of a teen’s morning rhythm that was developed after observing his morning rhythm for an entire week. This teen has a smartspeaker (e.g., Amazon Echo) in the kitchen that can be used to provide reminders for various steps of his morning rhythm.
| Step | Is this step done independently? | Possible strategies/solutions to implement |
| Wake up at 6:15am | Yes | — |
| Get dressed and put dirty clothing in hamper | Sometimes (3 out of 5 days) | Put laundry hamper near bedroom door |
| Feed the dog | Sometimes (2 out of 5 days) | Set reminder on smartspeaker for 6:30am |
| Make breakfast smoothie and have a bowl of cereal | Yes | — |
| Pack lunch and water bottle | Yes | — |
| Take vitamins and medication | Often (4 out of 5 days) | Set reminder on smartspeaker for 6:45am |
| Brush teeth, Brush hair, Wash face and hands | Yes except for brushing hair (3 out of 5 days) | Put hairbrush next to toothbrush and toothpaste |
| Pack backpack | Sometimes (2 out of 5 days) | Create a checklist and post it where he hangs his backpack |
| Pack any supplies for after school activities | Sometimes (2 out of 5 days) | Include this information on the backpack checklist |
| Check weather and wear appropriate shoes/coat | Usually (4 out of 5 days) | Have smartspeaker give the weather forecast at 7:00am |
| Free time (until it is time to go at 7:25am) |
The teen and the parent set a goal for him to complete 8 out of 10 steps in his morning rhythm independently. He and his parent set up the smartspeaker with the reminders and created the backpack checklist to hang up by his backpack hook.
As a daily natural reward, they also decided that he would be allowed to have free time in the morning after he completed his morning rhythm steps. He also earned a reward if he met this goal 4 out 5 days during the week (choice of dessert or snack from the grocery store) and 5 out of 5 days during the week (1 hour of extra screen time on the weekend).
The teen and parent also committed to re-evaluating the morning rhythm goal on Sunday evenings before the start of the week, and put a calendar reminder to do this each week so that they would not forget. The parent also provided regular verbal praise during the week when the teen met their daily morning rhythm goal and often discussed any issues that needed to be addressed in the car on the way to school (e.g., additional items to add to the backpack checklist, snoozing reminders if he is not yet ready to do that task yet).
More from the Blog
Creating an After School Rhythm
Identifying the steps in a teen’s after school rhythm can make the transition from school to home a lot easier and more peaceful for the entire family!
Read More
30 Day Life Skills Challenge – COMPLETED!
Learn about how we finished the remaining life skills in our 30 Day Life Skills Challenge and how the whole family got in on the action!
Read More
Halfway-Point of the 30 Day Life Skills Challenge
An update on what life skills my 11-year-old son has learned at the halfway point of the 30 Day Life Skills Challenge!
Read More