GMA:Handling Rough Morning Schedules

Feb. 12, 2001 -- If only it were "just another manic Monday," like the Bangles song. Instead, many families struggle to get out the door every day of the week.

Good Morning America viewers are no strangers to hectic mornings. And after our last segment on hectic mornings aired, many viewers wrote in to share some of their secrets to smooth mornings.

Here are some of those tips:

From Calendars to MusicKaren from Crystal Lake, Ill., has the morning routines down to a science. Her secret? Getting up and ready before the children, planning the night before and keeping a calendar.

"Have children mark on school lunch schedules days they are buying lunch or taking lunch. Check lunch schedule and set out lunch box if applicable. Pack non perishable items so in the a.m. you can complete with sandwich, juice, etc. while making breakfast and put in backpack," she wrote.

"On Sunday night, check school calendars for any special dress days in the week- making sure the 'necessary' items are clean for that day. Lay out clothes (including shoes) the night before. Give your child two choices of outfits for the next day, "Which would you like to wear tomorrow?"

She also keeps a file folder next to a calendar of children's activities, so that if one has a special event, such as a field trip, she knows what groceries she needs to buy.

To keep the mood light in the morning, another mother, Linda, sang to her children.

"It was a little reveille that announced Mom and Dad were coming in to wake them up. Normally, I pulled one layer of blankets off so they started to adjust to the room temperature...we keep our house cool," she wrote.

Breakfast in a Bag Susan from Camp Hill, Pa., said that when her now-grown son was in elementary school, he had attention deficit disorder and was a handful in the morning.

"To help my sanity I put him to bed in his clothes for the next day. Sounds awful? Not as awful as yelling at your kid for an hour and then you both feel crummy," she wrote.

And toast and juice went in the car for her son and her daughter. "We called it "breakfast in a bag". It worked," she wrote.

Another mom in Clarendon Hills, Ill., says that her daughter has to get certain chores done before she can eat in the morning.

"My daughter has to make her bed, get dressed and brush her hair before she is allowed to come downstairs for breakfast. With all the action in the kitchen in the mornings, she's motivated to get moving," she wrote.

A retired mom of eight whose children were born within 11 years of each other, but are now all grown remembered packing 10 lunches the night before school. Anyone who didn't like the menu had to make their own lunch the night before, once they were old enough.

"At the beginning of each week,I listed on the blackboard in the dining area, "who did what" — anything from who cooked the evening meal (I worked until nearly 6:00) — who did laundry, folded it, carried out garbage, etc. and that worked out fine," she wrote.

The Nintendo Trick Candy, from Spencer, Iowa, keeps track of her children's clothing with this laundry trick:

"Using a safety pin, pin your socks together after wearing so that they stay together through the washer and dryer. You'll never have to match socks up again or lose one," she said.

Another mother, Nancy, uses her son's interest in video games to keep him moving.

" After having a number of terrible episodes with my son in the morning (he is 5 and dilly dallies like you wouldn't believe), I started challenging him to `reach the next level', as in 'Nintendo' games. `C'mon Alex, level one is going potty!', then after that `level 2 is brushing your teeth. Are you going to reach level 2?' He loves this. I prod him along without having to yell. He can't stand not to reach the next level. We get all the way up to level 6, and he is happy AND ready," she wrote.

Candice from Auburndale, Fla., has a list of things to do, including setting up the coffee pot, setting the breakfast table, laying out kids clothes and bags, packing lunches, and asking children what they need for the next day.

Then "Parents get up 15 to 30 minutes before kids to enjoy the coffee and the quiet time," she wrote.