I have a game-changing clock hack that gets my 5-year-old ready for school in 40 minutes -mums are amazed we’re so quick
A MUM has revealed a “game-changing” hack that gets her five-year-old ready for school and out of the door in just 40 minutes.
The first few weeks back at school can be a struggle, as kids have grown used to having a lie in over the summer holidays, and may find it hard to wake up early.
It can seem like an impossible task to get your children out of bed, fed and dressed in such a short period of time, however, lifestyle Natalie Evans has come up with a hack that just may make things a little easier.
The mum of two explained that her five-year-old daughter Layla, doesn’t yet understand the concept of time, so saying she needs to be ready in a matter of minutes, doesn’t mean anything to her.
“My five-year old has no idea of time,” she said in a video posted to her Instagram page @livingwiththeevans.
“[Telling her] ‘you have minutes’ means nothing to her!”
In order to help her daughter to understand the passage of time better, she takes an analogue clock, and divides it into sections.
She makes colours the sections in different colours, and then allocates each different section to a different morning task.
For example, she coloured in the section between the 12 and 1 in red, to signal a five-minute window.
Then on a piece of paper, she wrote “wake up” in a red pen, to indicate that her kids have the time it takes for the little hand to pass over the red section to wake up.
She then created a bigger 15 minute section for breakfast, a five minute section for brushing teeth, 10 minutes for getting dresses and five minutes for heading out of the door.
“[It’s] perfect for children who can’t read the clock and have no idea of time!”, Natalie said.
“This is a game-changer for getting ready, out of the door and being on time every morning.”
“Can also be used after school for things like homework, screen time & bed time routines!”, she added.
Natalie’s hack has likely left many parents impressed, as her video has racked up over 466,000 views on Instagram.
Could this hack be a game-changer for mums?
Sarah Bull, Fabulous Senior Writer and mum-of-two shared her thoughts on Natalie's hack
Sarah Bull said: “Five more minutes and then you need to get dressed!”
“It’s a phrase I utter on a daily basis.
“But it can be difficult – especially for my youngest – to comprehend exactly how long that is.
“So this mum’s suggestion to divide up a clock to indicate different areas of the morning could be a game changer.
“With different sections for having breakfast, brushing teeth and getting dressed, it breaks the morning down into more manageable chunks.
“However, like others, I agree that 40 minutes is far too short a time to go from just out of bed to absolutely school ready.
Why not give the hack a go with longer segment times? That’s what I’ll be doing, and I’m interested to see how it goes!”
Social media users raced to the comments section to share their thoughts, with many praising the hack.
One person said: “Oooooh well this is bloody clever!”
Another person said: “Genius idea love it.”
A third person said: “This is so smart.”
One person even added something you could add on to the hack.
They said: “An extension is to write the time on the paper too so the child understands,”
“Get up 7am /7o’clock, 7.05am /5 past 7 brush your teeth with pictures etc. – then it helps more with learning the time.”
However, some people share a flaw with the hack.
One person said: “If anyone tried to get me up, washed, breakfast and out of the door in 40mins I’d have a complete meltdown!”
Another person asked: “Who does all that in 40 mins? My kids need a good hour. This looks more stressful.”
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