Do you have a four-person pile up in the bathroom in the mornings? Maybe it is even worse than that? No matter your family size, unless you have a bathroom for each member of your family who can walk, there is bound to be some delay each morning or evening, as everyone competes for getting in to the most popular room in the house.
Here are some strategies that you can use to make everything run much more smoothly, leaving the pile behind for good.
If you have at least two bathrooms, send the kids to the other one while you finish up what you need to do. Or send some kids into the main bathroom and some kids into the second bathroom. It is okay to have toothbrushes and toothpaste available in a downstairs half bathroom. The same goes for hair supplies. This way, someone can be taking a shower or a bath or using the toilet while the others attend to less private activities.
Stagger baths and showers. Have some members wash up in the mornings and others take their baths or showers at night. This can help a great deal.
If you have only one bathroom, or more than double the amount of people as bathrooms, you’ll have to schedule things. Set a timer. Each person gets 7-10 minutes in there to shower or do whatever they need to do that can’t be done in another room. When that person gets out, he or she can get dressed while the next person gets his or her time. After getting dressed, the person can get breakfast, pack lunch, etc. Think of it in terms of an assembly line.
The adults should consider getting up at least 15 minutes earlier, so they can be completely done with the bathroom, leaving it available to the kids.
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