Weekday mornings can be quite hectic – especially for parents who have multiple children who must get ready for kindergarten or school. But it doesn’t have to be all stress and no fun. Here are five hacks to help people make their morning routines more relaxed, easier to manage, and considerably more zen.

1. Wake Up Early

This one is a bit tricky because it requires parents to sacrifice sleep time for a more enjoyable morning routine. Experts advise people to wake up at least an hour before their children. This will allow them to spend some quiet time with their significant other while enjoying their coffee or reading the newspaper. It’ll also provide them with enough time to prepare breakfast and help their kids get ready for daycare or school.

2. Organize Essential Items

Morning routines often feature people running back and forth from one room to another in an effort to find their homework, backpacks, phones, socks, coats, etc. Organizing essential items by storing them in particular places will save a lot of time and will significantly reduce morning commotion. Have the kids prepare and put their homework in their backpacks, which once ready will be placed near the front door. Also, set up sock and shoe baskets that’ll allow everyone to easily locate and put on their footwear. Finally, keep all keys in a container near the front door to ensure a smooth transition out of the house.

3. Invest Time in Exercise

Physical activity is known to release endorphins, which interact with receptors in the brain and bring feelings of happiness, as well as increase self-esteem and boost pain tolerance. Waking up early gives parents the opportunity to move their bodies. Even the simplest form of exercise, such as walking to a nearby coffee shop, can considerably improve mood and prepare people for the challenges of the day.

4. Have Everyone Pitch In

Tag-teaming can drastically reduce stress caused by weekday morning routines. Both parents should be involved in tasks such as preparing school lunches and dressing the kids. To make things even better, moms and dads can keep healthy foods stocked in easy-to-reach drawers and cabinets, as well as purchase child-proof knives so that kids can prep their own fruits and breakfasts. Moreover, children’s dishes can be stored in an accessible drawer so that kids can get what they need without requiring the assistance of their parents.

5. Make the Morning Routine a Habit

All successful morning routines have one thing in common – they are a carefully orchestrated array of tasks that everyone follows to the letter. Being consistent with morning chores will transform the routine into a habit that’ll make everybody’s life easier. In fact, it’ll become like second nature, which will surely make weekday mornings more fun, enjoyable, and peaceful.

These five simple yet effective life hacks are a great way for parents to streamline their mornings. Implementing them will do more than save time and energy, it’ll also enable families to create superb memories.

Parents often encourage their kids to be independent and feel good about themselves, but these worthy goals could have unintended consequences in social-media culture. Psychologists have suggested that in recent decades, the capacity of kids to care has plummeted while self-absorption has skyrocketed. This apparently puts the humanity of children at stake. Recent research has suggested that giving children opportunities to learn and show empathy can help them personally and reduce other complex problems like violence.

The Capacity of Kids to Feel Empathy Has Diminished in Recent Decades

Doctors who have worked with kids in schools have given many specific suggestions for helping children learn empathy and be kind and inclusive. The recommendation is that they be given the opportunity to develop the ability to read nonverbal cues in gestures, facial expressions, posture, and voice tone. Spending time with a baby is another powerful way for children to learn emotions. Kids can also spend time with cousins, neighbors, and siblings to learn empathy. Studies regarding such practices have been found to be effective.

Kids Should Build a Feeling Vocabulary to Learn Empathy Faster

Building a feeling vocabulary is a great way to teach kids empathy. The more words representing feelings a child knows, the more understanding he or she will be about how other people are feeling. Interestingly, studies have pointed out that parents often use more emotion words around girls than around boys.

Face-to-face communication is another crucial factor when it comes to teaching emotions. Kids learn to read someone’s emotions through eye contact, so when talking to your child, people should really stop whatever else they’re doing. Reminding a child to do this with other people is also very important. A good trick to make a child face people during conversation is to make it more fun through games like staring contests or anything like that.

In general, scientists recommend that children spend less time with screens and more time with each other and their parents. By adhering to such an approach, parents can ensure that their kids have greater odds that their empathy will blossom.