WITH back-to-school time upon us, a father has shared his must-know trick that makes it easier to get his kids ready.
He used a popular tech item in the hack that helped his seven-year-old have a consistent routine.
Reddit user Elguiri shared in a post his trick “that might make getting out the door with kids in the morning a little easier” for back-to-school season.
If you ever find yourself “repeating instructions 100 times with no success,” wanting to go back to bed, or bothered by random scenarios where your kids “lose their shoes again,” then this may be for you.
He started to do this because his seven-year-old son has ADHD and walks himself to school without his parent, which admittedly he loves.
Nine out of ten days he said that his son is up at around 6 am.
His son needs to be ready at 7:35 am sharp when his best friend rings his doorbell to walk together.
Elguiri admitted that he “cannot provide structure” because he is also getting his “non-morning-person ADHD a*s ready” and also prepping his five-year-old and two-year-old for their day.
This is where he said “Alexa routines” are a “savior” and ” fun thing to do” in the morning.
Elguiri explained that they are routines you set to have Alexa perform until your selected actions are all done.
” She can sing, give weather updates, do anything that Alexa can do on a timeline that you set,” he added.
He does this through the Amazon Alexa app on his phone.
To help, Elguiri said that he lets Alexa provide his cues and structure.
He added that “Alexa provides a consistent, prompted routine every day” and “takes the emotion out of what usually is an incredibly stressful process for all.”
Elguiri also shared their family’s “exact routine” to get him ready at 7:35 am.
When it’s a 7 am weekday, Alexa will start with a bold announcement and say, “Good morning [son’s name]. Time to get ready for the day!”
Then, she will wait 15 seconds before reporting the weather or any chance of rain, which will help him pick out his outfit and get dressed for the day.
Alex will pause for seven more minutes before saying “It’s time to eat some breakfast if you are hungry” at 7:09 am.
He usually doesn’t want to but the food prompt is there after he normally wakes up his siblings.
Around 7:19 am, she is supposed to announce that “it’s time to wash up, brush your teeth, and take care of your hair.”
He said it normally takes him about seven minutes to do these things before she announces his next task at 7:26 am.
Next, Alexa announces that it is “time for him to grab his things.”
“Do you have your lunch? Do you have your backpack? Do you have your note?” Elquiri wrote.
He explained that they prep these things the night before and have them in their designated place.
“I step in to help to make sure anything that is IMPORTANT is done,” he added.
At 7:19 am, it is his son’s last check-in for the morning before heading out for the day.
The dad said that she normally remarks”Are you all set? Great job getting ready. Hope you have an amazing day.”
Lastly, Alexa finishes off with his “walk off song.”
“It buys him a few minutes in case he is behind. It’s like a race for him to get things done before she hits the next step,” the Reddit user explained.
“And off to school he goes,” Elguiri said.
Sometimes, his son is a minute or two late and “maybe forgetting something” but he added that his structure helps put him on the right track each day.
