I love learning about systems. At work, I like finding and testing new ways of working that make me faster or better at my job, especially these days as a parent trying to jam more into my day than ever. Of course, there are endless schools of thought out there. Lean. Six Sigma. Agile. (Any black belts in the audience?)
But when my kid’s world got turned upside down with some big (for her) life changes, our mornings started breaking down in very big but predictable ways. Last week, out of pure desperation, I grabbed my big visual focus timer off my work desk and brought it down into the kitchen.
And… it worked. (Surprisingly well, which is why you’ll see it show up as a tip this week.)
Which made me think: if we can borrow proven “ways of working” principles from the workplace — bottlenecks, signals, constraint fixes — what else could we apply to home life? So this issue is about doing exactly that.
Are kids still unpredictable hyenas that cannot/will not be controlled? Well, yea. But give these a try and let us know what you think.
In this issue:
✅ What ops teams get right about bottlenecks —> and how it applies to getting out the door
✅ Why moving a task (instead of fixing it) can instantly unblock your morning
✅ The simple signal swap that reduced transitions without more explaining
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🧘♀️ The Exit Completion Board
👉 Things fail when people have to remember what’s left to do. That’s exactly what’s happening every morning: you’re carrying the checklist in your brain, and your kid… is not.
The fix is to externalize completion. You may have seen this tip trending like this from @abchildrenstherapyyqr on social, and turns out, it's rooted in some pretty strong cognitive science.
What to do:
Pick one spot near the exit to be your Exit Completion Board (working title- pick your own a bit more on brand for your kid lol)
This board represents tasks, not belongings
Add one tap light (like these*) per must-do task, for example:
Breakfast finished
Lunch packed
Shoes on
A light only turns on after the task is done.
When all lights are on, you leave.
What success looks like: You stop narrating the morning (“Did you already…?”) and start responding to visible progress.
⚡ Move the Chokepoint
👉 In ops, you don’t always fix the whole system. You start by fixing the one step that blocks flow.
It's the same thing at home: most mornings don’t fail everywhere. They often fail in one predictable place (i.e. your kid hates putting on their shoes).
Instead of forcing that step to work “the normal way,” move it.
Examples parents swear by:
Shoes go on in the car
Pants get chosen the night before (or, yes, even slept in)
Teeth brushing happens in the kitchen
Breakfast is always portable
Hair gets handled at drop-off, not at home (worth a try?)
The rule:
The task doesn’t have to happen in the house or the way other people do it. It just has to happen. So get creative!
We interrupt this newsletter to bring you some free stuff. 😉
Grab our FREE resources below!
📲 The Parent Tech Stack
Smarter ways to use the tech you already have to make parenting easier.
📢 AM Routine Builder
Create a custom morning routine with Alexa or Google Home that saves your sanity.
💬 Replace Words With Signals
👉 Under stress, brains process signals faster than speech. Which explains why repeating yourself louder almost never helps.
Instead of talking through transitions, let something else signal them to reduce toddler power struggles.
Two easy options:
Option A: A visual timer
The kind that turns from green → yellow → red and then beeps, like these.
“When it beeps, mommy goes to work.”
“When it beeps, we put on shoes.”
"When it beeps, we're going upstairs for bathtime."
Can personally vouch for this one, and now my kid yells at me "TIME TO GO TO WORK MAMA." I just wish it worked for school meltdowns, too.
Option B: A routine cue
An Alexa routine, song, or sound that always means the same thing.
Same cue, same transition, every day.
Use our free smart device routine builder tool for inspiration.
K that’s all. You’re the best and we love you.
-CK “Parenting White Belt” Fuller (Editor) & the JB Crew 🫡
P.S. Next week: Screens: The Hypocrisy Olympics - We’re on screens for work. We’re addicted to our phones. And we’re trying to raise kids who aren’t.
*Quick note: Some links in here may be affiliate links. You know the drill- if you buy something, we might earn a small commission that helps offset the time we spend making JuiceBox. Thank you for supporting this project of ours.