Time is of the essence

Time.

I have just arrived home from dropping Morgan off at school. My stress levels are peaking at red level as I am breathing deeply and making myself a strong coffee. We were late. Again. I hate being late. For anything. Am I being completely insane and out of control thinking that I can instill timeliness and punctuality into a 5 year old?

We have always made Morgan and Lilly realize that they are responsible for certain things – having rules like being only able to play with one thing at a time and then it needs to be put away before another is taken out to play with or used. Morgan is desperate to have his room transformed into a jungle and was given the challenge of absolute tidiness for a full month before Adrian would discuss it. I thought it a bit much, but Morgan worked really hard in keeping rubbish off the floor and keeping shoes and toys in their right places. He was responsible for putting clothes away and vacuuming his room. All credit to the lad – he has just made his month and he and Age are pouring over paint charts and furniture brochures to choose new items. Of course Lilly wants in on the action – I have already got her paint and ideas on her fairy princess room. Her challenge in order for us to start decorating her room is that she must keep all her toys in place and put away her shoes for a month.

Anyway – back to timeliness. Being late to me shows a lack of discipline. It tells others who are waiting on you or for you - that you don’t regard their time as valuable. It shouts a lack of manners. It screams a deficiency of decency. No wonder I get stressed with 5 mins.

At the start of the year, I used to set a timer with a loud beeper for Morgan to let him know that he needed to do a certain thing by then (i.e finish his breakfast , or get dressed or time to get in the car to go) I felt like some Nazi and kept thinking about Pavlovs dog – so stopped it. I think that’s where we started to get unstuck. I hate to shout or nag, but the last few mornings have really worn thin on me. I tried a new ( unsuccessful) tactic this morning, at 8 am I set out breaky and told Morgan he needed to organize himself to go after finishing. At 8.30 he was still in PJs and chasing Lilly round the table. He had put his lunchbox in his bag I guess. At 8.45 Lilly and I went and sat in the car while Morgan sat in his room – naked – and obsessed with his lego truck. Up till then I had asked nicely, let him know the time and that I was waiting it the car. At 8.53 I told him to get in the car and either go to school with no clothes on or dress in the car. Morgan just looked at me with his big blue eyes and told me to stop shouting at him.

I think I might put some whisky in my coffee….