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 Martha Putnam, Hanley Center Foundation, Coordinator of Adult Programs

We’ve been in school a couple of weeks now and slowly but surely we are getting on schedule.  But I need to admit it’s rough and for some reason our early mornings are the toughest.  Some days it seems like everyone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.

My husband takes 4 of our 5 kids and drops them off at 2 different schools—all in all it’s about a 35 minute drive.  Several years ago when it was a particularly bad morning with everyone grumpy and picking on each other, he instituted “Singing day”.  For the whole morning you couldn’t talk—whatever came out of your mouth had to be in the form of singing!  By the time he dropped our high school daughter off 15 minutes later they were all laughing so hard they were doubled over.

Try it sometime—it’s really hard to stay angry when someone is singing at you instead of yelling.  It was a great day when the tables were turned and Vince was having a bad morning and the kid’s declared singing day to change his mood around.  What is your best tip to turn a grumpy morning around? Make sure to leave your tips on our Facebook page.  #MomSays