I never knew how much I could do before 9AM until I had kids! By noon everyday lately I am looking at the clock in shock because I had felt certain it had to be close to dinner time. It is amazing to me how much changes after becoming a parent, and one of the biggest things is how HARD it is to get out the door on time, especially with a Toddler! Ok honestly not even getting out of the door on time, but getting out the door AT ALL.
Once we are out the door, it is another whole thing getting situated into the car! That is why when my hubby told me he was buying himself a Tesla Model S for Christmas I immediately wondered how practical it would be for our growing family. I know how cool it is to have a Tesla, but come on… we are a family of 4 and two of us have to be in a car seat, how would we ever survive on a road trip?
Since I am not good at sitting at home (you know, because I obviously prefer making my life more difficult for the sake of my children! lol!), I have had to come up with a system that worked so that taking my girls out for the day or even just down the road to the park, is no longer a completely chaotic and time consuming task. Below I am sharing 5 things I do to make getting out the door easy and efficient, and how we make our Tesla Model S work for our family of 4!
Plan Ahead
Even though my toddler is a toddler, I like to go over the plan for the week with my daughter. Some people believe there is no way a child so little will remember or even understand future plans, but in my experience with my daughter I feel like weather she remembers we have two dance classes, a play date at the park, and errands to run on Friday or not, I will be at least teaching her that sitting down to plan ahead is important!
Using a day planner, every Sunday afternoon I will sit down with my daughter next to me and make note of any outings we have scheduled for the week, and what we will need ready to go. I will then go around the house and collect any clothes, leotards, dance slippers, walking shoes, favorite snack bowls etc… and make sure they are clean and ready to go on the day we will need them.
Make Sure Everyone Gets Enough Sleep
I am lucky enough to have a toddler that actually likes to go to bed. It is funny too because as a kid I hated going to bed! I always thought I would be missing out on something! My parents tell me I used to always say “No NiNi Me!”. Well my daughter actually yells “NiNiNiNi!” like hurry up and put me to bed momma! Making sure she gets a good full nights sleep makes the next days activities all that much smoother, and ultimately getting going in the morning and out the door on time that much easier.
Aside from my daughter getting enough sleep, it is just as essential for me to get enough sleep too. The night before a day when we have plans to leave the house I go to bed one extra hour early. Trust me this works! Kind of like when we turn our clocks ahead each spring for DayLight Savings Time; it actually feels like you are ahead of the game in the morning! Try it!
Stay Calm & Speak Positively
Agitation, anger, frustration; these things only lead to a negative energy that radiates throughout the house and causes more upset, more fits and melt downs, and ultimately more late mornings! I want to raise my daughters to be gentle, calm, and controlled as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong, there are days I could tear the hair out of my head! But I find that the more calm and controlled I am, the more calm and controlled my daughters are because they feed off of my energy. In the midst of chaos do your best to keep a positive attitude, a cheerful voice, and relaxed mannerism, and the day always goes much smoother.
Make It Fun by Using Mini-Deadlines
Train your Toddler to move from one step to the next! I like to tell my daughter what we need to do each step of the way, and then praise her once she finishes each task. For example: “Ok, Aria, now it is time to put on your shoes! Can you go get your shoes please and put them on?!”. Aria certainly is too young to know how to put on her shoes by herself, but the shock and awe of me asking her to do so is SO MUCH FUN! She will go get her shoes (usually the wrong ones and sometimes they aren’t even her shoes they are mine!), and bring them to me. And she will let me put them on with a huge smile on her face! (10 minutes saved right there!) Once one task is done she then knows there will be another one and so on… teaching her the order of events and how to stay on schedule!
**Small Disclaimer** There are days when my daughter does not feel good, has had a bad morning, or just plain won’t cooperate at all. This is inevitable and bound to happen. These tips are things I do that help on most days, not every single day! I just wanted to be clear on that!
Be Ok With Rerouting
With that said… When you miss a turn while driving somewhere, your GPS will automatically reroute you so you can still get to where your going the most efficient way. I use that same mentality when getting the girls out the door on time. OK, so it is just one of those days… you over sleep, your toddler is SO CRANKY because she has new teeth cutting through this week, its pouring rain outside and welp, the world is just fighting you today. Time to reroute. Grab some shoes, swing through a drive through for some Mickey D’s and throw unbrushed hair into a tried and true messy bun! Life goes on and sometimes you just have to go with the flow! Besides a bad day calls for some fries, don’t you think?
Tesla Model S and the Clek Foonf Convertible Carseat
Alright, so now as promised I will let you all in on the secret to having a fun and furiously fast Tesla Model S and still be able to take a road trip with a family of 4. Using the Clek Foonf Convertible Carseat! My husband did some research before he even purchased his Tesla to make sure that we would be able to fit a full sized car seat in it. Something that would be easy to take in and out, fit in the car very well and with room to spare, and large enough for a growing toddler to fit in. Ultimately for long term, for safety, and for space, the Clek Foonf Rigid Latch Convertible Baby and Toddler Car Seat is the only way to go in a Tesla Model S.
A few things about the Clek Foonf Rigid Latch Convertible Baby and Toddler Car Seat. First of all, it is built to look and feel like an actual seat of a car, and which makes it very comfortable and solid. The material of the seat itself is amazing and I say that as a mom who has to clean up spilled milk and crumbs off the seat daily! The material is so easy to clean and literally any spills just wipes right off. It also drys very quickly! The installation was a little bit tricky and it took my husband close to an hour to do. Once the initial installation was set up, however, it is now so easy to put in, take out, and move from one care to the other it takes only a few minutes! We really love this carseat and will be purchasing a second one for our youngest as well.
*This is in no way sponsored and truly just an experience that I felt others may benefit from and appreciate*