Your pre-children vision of it goes something like this: you and the tots peacefully wind your way through the sun-dappled park to the village school.

Once kids are on the scene, however, the reality is very different. It’s just that there are so many variables involved with getting children to school on time, from traffic, to tantrums, to toilet trouble. Here are few tips from those in the know:

School run tips

1. Lay clothes and toothbrushes out the night before. Choose shoes that are easy for children to put on by themselves (not lace-ups), and jackets or coats they won’t have to struggle to get into.
2. Place all items that need to be taken to school by the front door the night before, including bags, homework, and a large note saying PACKED LUNCH, which will remind you to fetch it from the fridge. Usually.
3. Get up at 7.21 am. (Apparently the happiest people in Britain get up at that time.) Consider laying a trail of toys between your child’s bedroom and yours to deter dawn risers from waking you up any earlier.
4. Routines work, says one mother of three: “At 7.30am we have breakfast, at 8am we all put our shoes on, at 8.20am the baby does his morning poo, at 8.25am we all walk out the door.” But bear in mind that a baby will need to be up, dressed and eating breakfast at 7am for bowel movements to slot into the schedule!
5. If you’re a morning person, by all means have breakfast together. If you mistimed it, have a healthy homemade carrot cake ready to grab for breakfast en route. This recipe is from Five TV nutritionist, Nicole Berberian:  Grate 450g carrots in a food processor: add 4 eggs, 3 ripe bananas, 100g golden caster sugar, 60 ml olive oil, 1 tsp vanilla essence and blend. Stir in 150g of sultanas. Mix in 250g whole meal flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda,1 tsp cinnamon. Pour the mixture into muffin cases in a muffin tray and bake for 25-30 minutes at 180C.
6. Avoid television in the mornings. Having to switch off Charlie and Lola half way through could result in tantrum trouble.
7. Keep a few bargaining tools up your sleeve to encourage stubborn dawdlers: “If I count to three and you’re not at the front door, there’ll be no TV tonight”. Don’t forget to follow through later, though.
8. Children should be able to walk up to two miles so why not try to walk every day. Set up a “walking bus”, where parents take it in turns to walk children to school. Find out more at school-run.org/walkingbus.asp
9. Divert children from the chore of walking by staging running races, singing or “collecting” things along the way, such as types of cars or conkers. Set up staging posts that the kids have to reach before they can take a break, such as a bush with blackberries they can pick, or a giant pile of leaves they can rustle through.
10. If your distance is greater than two miles, or if you’re always short of time, investigate cycling or scootering to school. Go to saferoutestoschools.org.uk to check out family-friendly routes.
11. If you use the bus, ease the boredom of long rides with fruit snacks or visual games, such as I Spy. Tackle your child’s bad behaviour by threatening to get off.
12. If you must drive, because distances are too great, take turns with nearby parents. Ask around or go to school-run.org for details of other parents in your area. Have your own car as back-up, just in case.
13. If lots of parents are driving the same route, think about starting a campaign for a school bus to free up the roads. First Student, for example, has set up 13 Yellow School Bus schemes across the country. Go to firstgroup.com
14. If you know a responsible teenager, you could pay him or her to take on the school run, at least once a day. If you are really stuck, or ill, a school assistant may be temporarily available to accompany your child.

Feature courtesy of Jump magazine.