Parents of children in grades K -12, who are also scholars, can use Miracle Morning Routines to help their children have better academic outcomes. Miracle Mornings are intentional, ritualized routines designed to enhance focus, energy, and purpose. This concept was popularized by Hal Elrod and has evolved into a broader wellness and productivity movement adopted by people all over the world. These routines are tools that automate low-stakes decisions. As a result, there is more bandwidth for important decisions, tasks, and plans. The original SAVERS framework called for practitioners to start their mornings with silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing.
Parents, who are also scholars, face seemingly endless and unsurmountable demands including balancing care, advocacy, and personal care. It is generally recognized that parents are their children’s first teachers. It must also be noted that not all education takes place in classrooms. Often education takes place in the home. Parents must pay attention to what is going on in their children’s classrooms and care for them at home. Children often must rely upon their parents to advocate for them in school. The burden of advocacy is a great one that is time consuming and difficult for parents most of whom are not trained educators. It is parents who give children person care and attention. Parents are also responsible for teaching their children how to care for themselves. This article was written to reimagine SAVERS as a tool for parents that are also scholars, educators, and change-makers.
Why Morning Morning Rituals Matter for Parent-Scholars
Intentional mornings can support clarity, resilience, and legacy-building. These are all important nouns for parent-scholars who need clarity. They need to be able to clearly see where they are, where their children are, and where they want to be in the future. Parent-scholars must build resilience. They need resilience for themselves and they must model it for their children. Life is full of good times and bad times and parents-scholars must learn to handle both ends of the spectrum. Parent scholars must also be concerned with legacy-building. They are creating the world in which their children will live. Most parents want their children to inherit a better world. This is what is meant by legacy-building – creating a better place for those who come after us.
Parent-scholars play a dual role. They must nurture their children while pursuing their own academic or professional goals. Both of those roles are time consuming and mentally demanding. Children need to be nurtured, cared for, and loved. Nurture, care, and love take time, lot of time. At the same time, parents who are trying to manage their own academic journeys need time, lots of time. It doesn’t need to be stated that there are only 24 hours in each day. Even when one is a parent-scholar, the day still only has 24 hours. Trying to divide that day to do all that needs to be done is often an overwhelming endeavor.
Each day starts in the morning. That is why a morning routine matters. When parents find a way to start their mornings in productive, efficient, and empowering ways, the rest of the days are better. Rituals like Miracle Morning routines can also be seen as a ritual of resistance and restoration. They are a form of resistance because it allows parent-scholars to reclaim their time, identity and intentions in a world that seems to demand exhaustion and defeat.
Using the Miracle Morning for Reclaiming One’s Time
Parent-scholars are called upon to navigate their children’s school schedules, their own institutional schedules, academic deadlines, and caregiving responsibilities. A Miracle Morning routine anchored in a SAVERS routine gives parents some uninterrupted time before facing the external demands of the day. The very act of carving out time for oneself is resistance because it is a way of refusing to allow institutions and family obligations dictate how one will spend their day.
Restorative Power of a Miracle Morning for Parent-Scholars
Miracle Mornings allow parent-scholars to have an emotional reset before the day begins. Time for silence and reflection allow parents to take concentrated time for themselves before going into their roles as parents and scholars. The affirmations that are part of a Miracle Morning routine can serve to counter internalized doubt and external visibility.
SAVERS for Parent-Scholars: A Miracle Morning Practice of Resistance and Renewal
The following is a SAVERS Miracle Morning routine that parents-scholars can follow. We advise parent-scholars to try this routine for a few weeks. After a few weeks, they can modify the routine to fit their own personal style, preferences, and needs.
S – Silence
Begin with quiet reflection that honors both your scholarly journey and your caregiving role.
Use this time to breathe, pray, meditate, or simply sit in stillness—reclaiming space before the day’s demands begin.
A – Affirmations
Speak intentional truths that affirm your worth, resilience, and vision.
Examples: “I am building a legacy through scholarship and care.” “My voice matters in every space I enter.”
V – Visualization
Envision your ideal day, your thriving family, and your scholarly impact.
Picture yourself presenting your work, mentoring others, or modeling joy and purpose for your children.
E – Exercise
Engage in movement that energizes your body and honors your capacity.
Whether it’s stretching beside a crib, dancing in the kitchen, or walking between classes—movement is resistance to stagnation.
R – Reading
Read works that nourish your intellect and expand your perspective.
Include voices from within and beyond your lived experience—especially those that affirm your dual identity as parent and scholar.
S – Scribe
Journal your reflections, questions, and goals—both academic and personal.
Capture moments of growth, gratitude, and resistance. Your words are part of your legacy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to note that Miracle Morning Routine are not luxuries. They are not selfishness. They are tools for transformation. If the thought of adapting the entire miracle morning routine is too scary to do all at once, pick one, and give it a try. The other steps can be added as you are ready. Miracle Morning routines are important. They have the power to transform your day and your emotions for the better.
Reference
Elrod, H. (2023). The miracle morning: The not-so-obvious secret guaranteed to transform your life (before 8AM) (Updated and expanded ed.). BenBella Books
Further Reading
The Best Educators Strive to Create Equity-Centered Classrooms
Unlock Your Doctoral Success: Coaching & Resources That Work
Adapting a Miracle Morning Routine for Educators
About the Author
Dr. Janeane Davis is Founder and Principal Consultant at Janeane Davis and Associates: Educational Consultants. Her mornings begin with movement, meaning, and a well-lit desk where rituals become roadmaps. She writes to help educators build mornings that nourish their mission and sustain their momentum.
Sunrise near. Pages open. Always becoming.