Getting the kids out the door on Monday mornings is awful. They move so slow. They aren't ready to go on time. Yelling occurs. Crying occasionally occurs. They don't want to go. I try to prep on Sunday night. I try to get the bookbags and clothing ready. Yet on Monday mornings, something always goes wrong. Milk gets spilled on the good shirt and we have to rummage around for something else that matches. Nothing matches, so now we have to change the shorts and socks as well. I start to get anxious about getting to school on time. The little one takes 20 minutes to put on her socks and shoes. I've done it for her for years, but she needs to do it herself. I sit and tell her what to do and get up to do something else. When I come back to her, she's done nothing. I tell her to put her sock on. I leave. She does nothing. Times 10 times in 20 minutes and I am ready to blow my top. The instruct and walk away method worked with her sister, why is this not working now??? She finally gets her shoes on as my voice begins to rise in volume... but she has to take her toast and milk with her in the car.
We prepare the bookbags, but as the LH and I get them in the car, she suddenly remembers her school picture form. She panics. I can't find the form, she can't find the form. More panic. Crying, raised voices. I find it 10 minutes after they leave in her room. It's not due until Thursday.
We have already changed the routine so that I get them up a full half an hour earlier. I get the bookbags and clothing ready the previous night. Breakfast orders the night before, hairbrushes put where we can find them. Division of labor so that their father and I know exactly what we need to get done. Yet, the stress remains, nothing seems to have changed. What now? Right now, I am so stressed that I cannot do Morning Prayer. I'm going to go take a shower and do some deep breathing exercises....
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