5 Ways To Make Your Sunday Morning With Kids Smoother

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Do you ever feel like Sunday mornings with kids are wild? Some weeks it’s like a tornado touches ground in our house and I’m constantly yelling. Then we do the silent drive to church as if we didn’t fight all morning. And to make it even better, my husband often has to be at church a couple hours early for meetings, so it’s just me getting kids ready for church.

After a while, I’ve figured out a few ways to simplify our mornings, keep everyone in a good mood, get out the door on time, and even make church a little easier.

I can’t guarantee that these tips will make every Sunday easier. We still have some real wild Sundays. But my mornings are simplified, and I’m in a much better mood when I follow this advice.

1. Prep Saturday Night

My Saturday night prep is one of the biggest things helps for me. It only takes me 10-15 minutes. But it saves me so much stress on Sunday mornings. Here are the things I prep as much as possible on Saturday Night:

Diaper Bag

I make sure that I have toys, books, diapers, wipes and snacks all packed. If I am teaching a lesson that week, I print/pack anything I need for the lesson. I know this sounds like a big job. But I simplify this even further! And some of the prep is still saved for the morning.

I have toys and books that are set aside just for Sundays. They are stored in our front closet or just left in the bag all week, so I don’t have to track anything down. If there are any other toys that my kids want to bring, they are responsible for packing them each Sunday morning (I give them a reminder before we get in the car to choose a toy to bring).
For snacks, I have learned that less is more. I bring almost the same thing each week. 1 snack ziploc bag of either crackers, veggie straws or goldfish (that I pack the night before) and a fruit like grapes or apples (that are sliced and packed the morning of). Every once in a while I mix it up. Or I don’t have time to slice an apple so I grab a hand full of fruit snacks instead. But really, less is more with snacks! I used to serve a 3 course meal in our pew to my kids. Trust me, they don’t need all of that.

If your kids are out of the diaper bag stage, I have several friends who keep a specific “church bag” with everything they need. All they need to do on Sunday is grab the bag, and after church it goes right back to the closet.

Clothing

In our house, this is the most important step. If I don’t do any other prep on Saturday, I at least do this one! Gather each child’s church outfit, and lay it out on the couch or counter where it is easy to find in the morning. This includes shoes and socks!

My sons wear pretty much the same thing each week, so it’s mostly just a matter of finding everything and making sure it’s clean. If anything is dirty, I have plenty of time to run a load of laundry before the morning. For my daughter – she picks out which dress she’ll be wearing and I’ll grab shoes and socks. Honestly, she’s all about clothes right now so 9 times out of 10 the outfit she picked the night before is the wrong outfit by the morning, but we at least have shoes and tights ready to go.

Right now I only do this for my kids. I really should start pulling out my own church outfit the night before because the time I take to choose the right outfit has become the biggest time suck on our mornings. But for now, I just do this for the kids.

2. Wake Up Before The Kids

I like to get up before my kids on Sundays so I can shower, and do my hair and makeup before they wake up. If I don’t do this before they get up, then I never really get a chance to get myself ready before we have to leave, or I’m trying to do my makeup while surrounded by 3 kids who are constantly asking me questions or distracting me. It’s just significantly easier to do this before they are up.

This was a lot easier when my kids were still in cribs or hadn’t yet figured out doorknobs. Now they get up and out of their room pretty early so it’s a bit trickier. But here are a couple things I do that help me out:

Put a small snack in or just outside their room. I often leave a little snack bowl just inside the door of the older kids room with a water bottle for each. I do this almost every day actually, and I’ll have to make a separate post about this and how I got it to work! But basically the agreement is, I leave a snack and they enjoy their snack and play quietly until I come and get them from their room.
Do your hair the night before. I only wash my hair once a week. So, I often wash, dry and style my hair on Saturday. Usually, I curl my hair so on Sunday mornings, I just touch up a few pieces, and I’m on my way. If you don’t want curly, or that style doesn’t work for you – try to find some easy and quick hairstyles that you like.
Simplify your makeup routine. I love makeup and I wish I still had time for a full face of makeup on Sundays. But I’ve really been loving my simplified routine right now. I have been focusing more on skin care. And all I add after skincare is concealer, brow gel, and lipstick. I have a whole post on my simple and quick makeup and skincare routine here.

I know it might feel a little rushed at first. But really, being able to start the day with taking care of yourself feels so good.

3. Plan Breakfast Ahead Of Time

Here’s the thing, breakfast is my least favorite meal of the day. I’m hungry, the kids are hungry, and I have to get everyone fed and happy and dressed. And on Sunday’s we are on more of a time crunch than any other day so I don’t really like wasting time in the kitchen making a big breakfast when I need to be prepping for church.

I started planning out breakfast ahead of time. One of my favorite and easiest ways to do this – just buy it the day before. If I’m at the store on Saturday, I’ll grab donuts or muffins or something fun for breakfast on Sunday. Is it the healthiest breakfast. Nope. But everyone gets fed and it takes me a very small amount of effort. You’ve got other stuff to worry about. Just buy donuts.

4. Pick A Great Playlist

Music brings such a great spirit to our home. And on Sunday mornings, I don’t allow screens. So I play music instead. I’ve found a few playlists on Spotify that I love. And I connect to our tv sound bar to play through the house. This is the one we have. So easy to switch from tv to bluetooth.

But I really find that it just puts everyone in a better mood to be playing peaceful, beautiful music. And it helps our minds and spirits prepare for church.

5. Try To Incorporate Come Follow Me

Last spring, I was STRUGGLING with attending church. I love my church and the gospel. But at that time my husband often worked on Sundays, so it was just me and 3 kids. My youngest was just a baby. And honestly, if I didn’t have a church calling and responsibilities, I probably would have stayed home often. I have amazing women in my ward who really help me with the kids, but getting through church was hard at that time. I prayed about it a lot. Then in the April 2022 LDS General Conference, Mark L Pace spoke and reminded us of four specific blessing that President Nelson promised us we would receive from using the Come Follow Me scripture study. And one of the promises was “Your sabbath days will be a delight.”

That one part of his talk really stood out to me, and I thought “That’s exactly what I want! I want Sundays to be a delight!” So I started adding more scripture study in our week. And let me tell you, it completely changed our Sundays. I’m not kidding. Little things started falling into place that really lifted the burden of Sundays. One big example was that the company my husband works for announced that no one should be working on Sundays. So he could now be with us at church! After just a few weeks, I kept saying to my husband all Sunday long “This really is the best Sunday we’ve had in so long. Our Sundays feel good now.” I think I even said “This Sunday is delightful!”

But How To Add More Come Follow Me?

I’ve seen a huge change in our Sundays ever since we started doing more scripture study in our home throughout the week. And I know that you will too. Here’s a couple ways to incorporate Come Follow Me more in your home:

Come Follow Me Toddlers: Each week they share a few activities that go along with the weeks Come Follow Me curriculum. The activities are simple and short. They are low or no prep, and right on a toddlers level of understanding. We use them for Family Home Evening each week, but you could easily modify the lessons for a primary class or even singing time. You can follow them on Instagram or they have a subscription (that is crazy affordable. Like $4/month) where you get the lessons (with notes for big or little kids) with printables for each lesson, a quote of the month and activity pages. It’s so amazing. I highly recommend this one.
Read just one verse a day: I just started doing this with my kids. We usually get to school drop off a couple minutes early. So we have time to read at least one scripture verse each day.
Have conference talks playing during play time: Sometimes I just keep a conference talk playing while everyone is running around playing. Maybe they get something out of it, maybe they don’t. In my opinion, at least they are hearing it and becoming familiar with it.

Hopefully these tips can help you have easier Sundays. I know firsthand that Sundays can be so hard. The gospel is amazing, but sometimes bringing several young kids to church can make it hard to want to be there. I hope that these tips help you to have a good Sunday again. Comment below if you try these, or if you have any other tips that help your family!