Motherhood - The Stress of running Late

Imogen and Samuel - ready for school!

 Hi at last ladies;
Finally this week i get to write a post, aaaaahhhhhh! My week has been hectic as usual, the house is still being painted and i am still frantically interviewing for staff............ finally I found the perfect angel today. Excuse any weird grammar mistakes (thank god for spell check) but after trialling her today my nails are now far too long.


I have ran late every day this week, it is becoming a serious problem, and I am never late. Its this whole getting to school by 8.30 thing, its so inconvenient ha ha x And it doesn't seem to be me, its everyone else in the house.
Do you have one or more children in your home that seems to repeatedly run late? 

Perhaps they run around looking for their shoes, jumper or homework? 

Maybe forgetting where they placed their school back pack the afternoon before. 

Does it raise the stress level for your entire family? It sure does in our house. I read somewhere once that a woman's stress level peaks at around 8am (I wonder why?)

It isn’t a very good way to start your day, is it? 

Think of this…..Do you run late?  Do you often forget where your keys are? (always)  How about finding your purse or shopping list?  Do you see the correlation?  Maybe not if in fact you are a mum who is pretty organized and then it frustrates you even more that you have a child that seems to be in disarray!

If running late is a key component to your mornings it is time for a change.

I know we can get our children to gain tremendous pride in their accomplishment of being prepared for their day and getting out the door on time in the morning, its just putting it to practice)  You have heard it time and time again; learning by example will get someone much further than just being told what to do.

I find that some  mums I work with find it just plain easier to continue yelling 3 or more times trying to address the issue rather than changing their response.  Why do we fall into those habits?  Because – it is easier to stay the same than change.  Face it, we are creatures of habit, and yet even when a pattern of behavior is NOT producing what we want, we seldom see another method to reach the outcome we desire.  So stop and think about how your morning runs and how you could in fact be enabling your child to continue their pattern of running late and being forgetful.

You know helping our children develop new habits starts with us.  Plain and simple.   As we venture into the middle of the school year, and Spring, it is the perfect time to develop some new habits, both for our children and us!  I have found some obvious points that can help our children, but it doesn’t take a lot of thinking to see how we can adapt these simple tools into our lives too.

Being Prepared (my "always" intention)

What can you do in advance to make things easier?  Thinking ahead can certainly help make a difference and calm things down.  Does your child have an activity the next day?  Is his/her backpack placed in a spot where it is accustomed to being?  You can even lay clothes out for the next day if that is a battle that ends up producing anxiety for anyone! I always have good intentions of doing this but all of a sudden run out of energy around dinner time......... every day he he x

Remembering Tasks

I started using check lists when my kids were very young.  These are all items that need to be accomplished by a certain time, normally before leaving in the morning. (making their bed, teeth brushed, pajamas put away, etc.). This helped me out because I didn’t have to be the drill sergeant and it also gave my child a great sense of pride as he/she accomplished these tasks on their own!  In addition, once the checklist was finished they can spend the remaining time before leaving doing an activity they enjoy.  I find too many parents let their kids watch TV or play video games before the work is done and then wonder why it is such a battle.  Work before play is a standard principle in our home.

Decide what type of system is going to work for you and your child.

Work on it together and brainstorm about what will help them.  You may be surprised at what they come up with.

Staying on Task

This one can be completely aggravating for many parents – because you have a dilly dallier!  You know, the one who looks up from one task and is completely distracted by something else. (me for sure)  We have used different things at different times, but a few that work well are using a kitchen timer to keep a child on task, having a one task at a time policy – where they cannot move on from one thing until one is completed.  Also having them check in with you during their progress is helpful too.

Listening

Truly making sure your child hears you and understands the instruction can be half of the frustration.  So, have your child repeat back instructions and then verify he understands.  We also found giving too many instructions at once was not a good combination.  Give one task at a time and wait until that is completed.

Set a Schedule

We set up a schedule for Imogen that has helped her use her time better in the mornings.  She knows what time to get up, what time she had to start eating breakfast, cleaning up, getting dressed, all of that.  We have tried to spell it out for her

Celebrate

If getting out the door in the morning has been a thorn in your side, sit everyone down and discuss how different the mornings are when things go smoothly.  How much happier everyone is, how enjoyable the ride to school is.  Then think together what you could in fact do on the days that everyone cooperates and takes care of their own business to help the family out.  Have a special after school treat – it doesn’t have to be big, just something little, like a certain favorite cookie or ice cream, or playing a game together or maybe this – you do one of your child’s chores that afternoon since they helped you out?

Get creative, you can have fun finding ways to motivate you child to step up to the plate and be more responsible.

Now the funny thing is, we all know these things are the things we should do, but do we? I am always falling off the wagon after a good weeks work, but definitely if things run smoother its worth a try for sure, anyway better get on with some stuff instead of getting sidetracked blogging. xx A