I do not own stock in Amazon Alexa but I should, or rather—WOULD, if I could. (Jeff Bezos, call me.) I am not shy about my love for Alexa. As I’ve mentioned before, she is the 7th member of our family—if you count the dogs, which I do— and she has given me sanity and entertainment through these weeks of social distancing. She reminds me of my 4-minute timer when I’m making French Press coffee. She plays the songs I request for my QuaranTUNES series. My dearest, Alexa, answers my questions, converts Fahrenheit to Celsius (a very needed tool living in Mexico), and sets a reminder for each and every ZOOM meeting my kids have (and there are a lot). She has been the overall soundtrack to our life in quarantine—for cooking, cleaning, and waking up. But perhaps, the most crucial of all my Alexa needs is the Alexa morning routine.
Alexa’s alarm goes off at 9am, Monday through Friday. Don’t ask me why the kids listen to that alarm quicker than they listen to me, but they do— #kidsarebitches. They turn off the TV and head to the kitchen (where Alexa lives).
You can set up a routine so that when you say a certain phrase, Alexa responds. You can program her to do a number of things (and in our case, this is where it gets fun):
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Our Alexa morning routine is programmed so that when the kids say “Alexa, good morning,” she responds, “Good morning. Let’s start this day. Make your bed, get dressed, have breakfast, and brush your teeth!” (Sometimes I throw in a fashion challenge to make the days feel different. Wear something (fill in the blank)—with stripes, yellow, with a cartoon character, wear a hat, etc.)
Then she reports the date because no one knows what bloody day it is anymore so that’s kinda helpful and finally, our Alexa morning routine plays whatever upbeat, motivational song I’ve chosen for that day. Yes, I change it daily but changing it takes 5 seconds if you have a list of songs ready, which I do and which, now, you have too.
I add songs to my Notes app so I can cut and paste if I need one quickly and I’ve made you a downloadable list of upbeat songs to make it super easy for you to get started. (*You can choose to do a song of the week if you don’t want to change it daily.)
>> UPBEAT SONGS to start your day <<
There is something about an upbeat, fun song in the morning that starts your day on a positive note and, often, this turns into a 3-minute dance party—at least it does for me. Either way, we are feeling good.
The Alexa morning routine has been game-changing. I start off the day without nagging while still getting the kids to do what I want them to. (It’s a brilliant mom move if I don’t say so myself.) Somehow, they just respond better to a robot woman telling them what to do. And on the days they do drag their feet or complain, I shrug my shoulders and point to the robot woman, “Don’t blame me… Alexa said to do it.”
I hope this helps your morning routine a bit and I’d love to hear any ideas that work for you and your family. Don’t forget to save your starter list for upbeat songs to get your day started.
P.S. Staying sane with a Coronavirus schedule and cutting yourself a break during times of craziness.
