No matter how early she wakes up, my daughter never seems to have enough time to do everything she needs to. It doesn't help that I'm not a morning person either. Normally, I'm a calm and even-tempered guy, just not in the morning. My problem is that I have a tendency to putter and then panic when we're running late. Panicking is never good, and this has resulted in a number of very spectacular morning breakdowns.

For us to get to school on time, we need to leave our house by 8. At about five to eight when my daughter's still getting her clothes on and hasn't had breakfast yet, let alone cleaned her teeth and gott her shoes on, I have a tendency to shout, and the problem with shouting is that the louder you do it the less your child listens to you. And lately, she's started shouting back. Screaming at each other is never a good way to start the day. So here are my top 10 tips for avoiding morning meltdown.

Tip 1: It helps you and your child to have a morning to-do list with all things they need to do to be ready on time. This list includes, getting dressed, brushing hair, having breakfast, cleaning teeth and getting shoes on. To make it more fun, I've decorated the various incarnations of our list with images of whatever my daughter is into at the time.

Tip 2: Once the list is done, time each activity so your child will know how long each one takes. This allows them to get a sense of when they have to wake up, and how long they can snooze in for. It really allows them to take control of their mornings, and get things done in their own time.

Tip 3: It sounds obvious, but having a proper alarm clock really helps. After a few late mornings last year, we looked into what was delaying her so much and realised that the alarm clock we got free with a DVD one Christmas was too quiet. I took her to the shops, and let her pick out an alarm clock that rings louder as time goes on.

Tip 4: My daughter's school starts at 8.30am. To be there on time, we need to get out of the house by 8am at the latest. The first thing I do after I've showered and had a cup of tea is make sure that she's up and knows how much time she has. What you don't want to do is micromanage, but help with anything that they might need, like finding a missing shoe.

Tip 5: This is where having a school uniform really helps. My daughter lays out the clothes she wants to wear the night before. This saves time in the morning searching for clean clothes. It also allows us to know if we need to wash or iron anything for the morning. This stops any morning surprises like 'I have no clean pants' or 'I only have one sock'.

Tip 6: Use a star chart. This really worked when she was younger, especially when she was in Year One and Two. If she did all the things that she needed to do by the time we had to leave, I gave her a star on her calendar. After she collected five stars in a row she got a treat. Having a clear goal and a reward helped to focus her.

Tip 7: Now that she's older, she's outgrown the star system. Instead if she's ready by 7.45, I cook her breakfast. Her choice of eggs: fried, boiled or scrambled. If she's late, she only gets cereal. You'll be amazed what the promise of a warm breakfast does in helping your child get ready in time. If she's not ready by her 7.45 deadline, I have a clear punishment: no video games for the rest of the day. So far she's only been banned from playing video games once, and even on that day we got in before the school gate closed. By having clear rewards and punishments, she is encouraged to be dressed and ready with time to spare.

Tip 8: Sometimes, though, everything goes wrong. If we are running late, I make sure that we have some cereal ready to go if we need to eat breakfast on the bus to school. This really helps when you having one of 'those' mornings. Having a breakfast ready to go saves time if you are late and keeps morning meltdowns at bay.

Tip 10: Finally, it doesn't help that I'm not a morning person either. I'm not exactly great at getting up and being ready myself. So over the last year, I've been waking up 10 minutes earlier to give myself plenty of time to do all the things I need to, and also give myself the space I need to ease into the day.

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