Morning Basket with Older Kids: How to Make it Work

So you’ve been doing Morning Time in your home and that now your kids are getting a little bit older, you’re wondering should I still be doing Morning Time? Can I still do Morning Time and how is that going to work?

Maybe you’ve been doing Morning Time for quite a while and now some of your kids are starting to get a little bit older. They might even become a little reluctant to keep participating in Morning Time.

Listen or read more of this post

One of the best things about Morning Time is the fact that the entire family is learning together. You’re reading the same books and you’re building a family culture.

This is something you want to continue until your kids leave home. What do you do to start aging up your Morning Time to continue to include those older kids?

Tips for Morning Basket with older kids

The first tip I have for you is to make sure that there is always something in Morning Time for every age group in your home. As your child gets to be 10, 11, or 12 years old make sure that your Morning Time is not still aimed towards just children who are seven or eight years old.

You want to start including things in the Morning Time or in the morning basket that those older kids would really enjoy. Instead of doing Bible Stories, start doing some apologetics — some meatier topics that they can really sink their teeth into.

Or maybe you want to do some current events and discussion or some logic. Make sure that you’re reading books that are really interesting to them and are on their level as well.

What happens when your older kids start to get too many commitments for Morning Time? It could be they have a lot of other work to do.

Maybe they’re taking online classes or dual enrollment classes. Maybe they need to finish their school work so they can go and work at a job.

[box]

More on Morning Time with older kids:

[/box]

Then Morning Time becomes something that is keeping them from moving on with outside obligations that they have. In that case, then what you can do is you can structure your Morning Time in such a way that you begin with the subjects that you want everyone to do together.

That might be something like prayer, reading your Bible, or a specific read aloud. Go ahead and put that first. Allow the teen to do that with you and then go on to finish their schoolwork so they can meet those other obligations.

On the other hand, as kids grow a little bit older, they may have a need for more sleep. Studies have shown that teenagers actually do have a legitimate need to sleep more than your 10-year-old does. So it’s perfectly okay to start Morning Time with some of the younger kids and let the teen come in a little bit later to do the whole family things together.

It’s ok to have expectations

Regardless it’s not too much to ask a teen to continue to do Morning Time with the whole family because this is something that you prioritize. It is important to you so they could certainly be expected to be there.

You just want to make sure what you’re doing is age-appropriate and is honoring the other commitments that they have as a student or as a young adult.

Morning Time is the time of day where you’re really working on those family relationships and building that shared family culture that’s going to create so many memories for you and your kids long after they’ve left your home.

It’s always good to keep the attitudes light and everyone having fun together and really enjoying this time together. I would make sure to ask everyone’s opinion and see what parts of Morning Time are important to them. And you can have a part of Morning Time that’s important to you. That’s a non-negotiable.

If you have older teens and you have worked with transitioning your Morning Time from younger kids to older kids, we would love to hear about that down in the comments.

About
Latest Posts

Pam

Pam is the author of The Your Morning Basket Guide and Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace. She also is the host of three popular podcasts -- The Homeschool Snapshots Podcast, Your Morning Basket, and The Homeschool Solutions Show. She lives in the Deep South with her husband and three kids, where she is the go-to lady for great curriculum recommendations or a just a pep talk on a rough day.