I wonder if when I was a child my mom had to tell me to brush my teeth, comb my hair, get my books ready for the next day and all that stuff. I wonder if I just did it, or if my mom had to remind me every. single. night and day like a million times like I do with my own kids?
I have to remind my kids every. single. night and day and they still sometimes forget and they mostly always give the me, “Ugggghhhhhh mmmmmoooooommmm, but I, but I, but I, but I…” It’s so annoying.
Me: Go brush your teeth.
Me: That wasn’t two minutes!
Me: Go brush your teeth again.
Me: Brush your hair.
Me: Is all your stuff ready for school tomorrow? Everything signed that needs to be signed? All homework done? Any notes that I need to read? Clothes and socks picked out? Shoes by the front door?
And still every morning, “Mooooommmmm, I can’t find {insert some must have item- this morning it was a library card}. I can’t find socks! I can’t find my shoes! I can’t find my backpack!” It’s never ending. And just for the record, the backpack, shoes, socks and all that are where THEY put them the night before. I really don’t make this rocket science for them nor do I late at night sneak around the house hiding their items for the next day contrary to what they might think.
One morning I would love to let them sleep as long as they think they need, go to school in their p.j.’s because of course, waking them up is a process. Go to school with messy hair, stinky breath, no {must have item} and see how it works out for them. Then maybe - just maybe - they will see what I’m doing for them by “nagging” them to do this. Do that. Make sure you have this/that/ and everything in between ready is a blessing! I should get mother of the freakin’ year! They really should bow down to me as I enter the room because I take such good care of them. But of course, if I do let them “just do their own thing” they will come home with “Moooommmmm, you let us go to school all yucky and I had nothing for school and it’s all your fault! I hate you! You’ve ruined my life!” And I’m sure the school will call me and be like, “Did you mean to let your kids come to school this way? You know that’s not ok, right?” And that is when I will have to say, “Yes. Yes I did. Do you know what I have to go through every morning?!? Leave me alone. I’m rocking this mother thing. Good. Day!”
Do you remember being nagged by your parents growing up to brush your teeth, brush your hair, and get your stuff ready for the next day?
My oldest had trouble getting out of bed sometimes last year. Twice I woke him up, he assured me he was climbing out of bed, and the other boys and I did our stuff and left when we were ready... I called the oldest at 10:30 or so to wake him up... then I called the school and explained exactly why he was late.
ReplyDeleteI still have to remind the youngest two -- and one of them is 15 -- to brush their teeth sometimes. They'd eventually get around to it over the course of the day, but I want it first thing in the morning so I don't have to breathe in their bad breath all day long.
Delmer- Great! By the time my kids are 15, I'm STILL gonna have to ride their ass??!?! Oy! I don't remember being this diffcult with my mom. But I'm sure she probably would have a different view, LOL
ReplyDeleteHmmmm....sounds familiar. Like, JUST like my evenings and mornings. To top it off, they (mainly my daughter) make ME late for work because of the morning fight to get them out the door. I just wish for ONE.SINGLE.MORNING we could all get ready and out the door without me feeling as if I have worked a 16 hour shift before I even make it to my "job that pays the bills!"
ReplyDeleteThis school year I've decided to take things a different direction and give them choice about their night and morning routine. My son usually gets up and gets ready without too much difficulty. His main problem is getting distracted by T.V. or playing with some toy instead of getting his teeth brushed and clothes on and shoes on(with socks - for some reason he thinks it's okay to skip this step). My daughter is a different story. She whines and cries and just generally acts like a BRAT in the mornings,which in turn delays us getting out the door. She has been asking to for a later bedtime, to which I responded "you can't get up in a somewhat tolerable mood when you go to bed early, how do you think you are going to get up when you stay up later at night???" I finally decided to put the ball in her court. Now our rule is she has to get up the first time she's told to do so and get herself ready without a fight for a week. This will earn her 30 more minutes at night. The next week will earn her another 30 minutes. So far she hasn't made it through her first week so she's still going to bed at her normal time. At least the new rule has helped with the bedtime fight and about half of the morning fights. She knows her morning attitude is the reason she can't stay up later and some of the "you're so mean" and "it's not fair" blame has been taken off of me. We'll see how long it lasts....
Nicole, I really like the idea of putting the ball in their court! I am going to have to figure out how I can do that with my family ... neither of my kids ask to stay up later, but I am sure I can find something to use as leverage :) Great advice!!!
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