I hate that nowadays the hot phrase in our house is “You’re wasting time baby girl.” For one reason or another it’s always, “Eat faster,” or “Don’t take too long,” or “You have 5 minutes.” We’re often talking about time somehow or another.
But, it’s necessary. Life dictates it to be so.
I HAVE to be at work at a certain time. Which means she HAS to be to preschool at a certain time. And that means we have to leave the house at a certain time in order to avoid the bulk of traffic.
One must follow the other. And if one part falls behind by even one minute, the entire schedule is thrown off.
Now, I realize that teaching her a sense of time and that she can’t take forever to do something is a good thing. It’s not like she won’t have to follow a schedule when she starts school. So in a sense, I know that providing some very basic time management skills early on will do her good later.
But, it still sucks to hear yourself say “hurry” in a variety of ways so often. Especially when I just want to allow her to run and play freely without such a heavy sense of responsibility at the age of three.
So, I turn to you. My very own parenting experts.
What eases your morning and evening routines so that everything flows smoothly and right on schedule?
Nothing at all! Everyday is different and if anyone says that they’re on time every single day.. well I wouldn’t call them a liar (because that’s just rude) but I’d really, really like to know how the heck they manage to pull that off. I get up earlier, thinking I’m giving myself a head start and one of them forgets thier lunch. I go straight home ofter work only to find that we’re out of milk and I have to run to the grocery before I get home, or I get there and one of them has a fever! I could go on and on… I say, do what you’re doing.. teach them to manage their time, and most importantly make sure they know that some things (or should I say most things) don’t go as planned at at times!
@shameka, I know what you mean about things not going as planned. Something always seems to interrupt your flow, huh?
This post made me laugh bc I recently wrote one about trying not to say “hurry.” It seems to be my favorite word these days. In fact, I just said it while Max was eating. They have no sense of urgency. And I have double what I should!
How ya feeling?
@Susan Payton, No sense of urgency. I suppose that’s because they can’t tell time. Feeling better…sort of. Thanks. 🙂
We are reviewing this “On Time On Task For Kids” thing right now, and part of what we had to do was sit down and figure out everything that goes into a morning/bedtime routine and how long each thing should take. I found that allowing enough time for each thing gave us a more realistic idea of when we needed to start.
We start the bedtime routine an hour before bed now – and give ourselves 40 minutes in the morning to get ready.
Maybe you guys aren’t giving yourselves enough time to get going in the mornings and need to start (aka wake up) earlier?
@Miss Britt, Good God I hope not! We already wake up at 5:30 am and she wakes up at 6. Thing is it takes her like 30 minutes just to eat. The girl does everything slow. I might check that on time thing out.
only thing I can tell you is … it doesn’t get any better as they get older … school days is almost impossible to wake him up to go to school … but let it be the weekend, he gets up before 6:30am! LOL good luck!!!!
@Elsa, So true. She’s got more energy on the weekends too! LOL
We have to be out of the house by 6:45 every morning or like you we will hit traffic and be late. Here’s my morning routine:
I get up around 6am to get ready. After I come out of the bathroom it’s hubby’s turn. I get dressed and when hubby comes out of the bathroom I wake my son up to get ready. It’s actually a pretty smooth process. I don’t make breakfast for him because they feed him in daycare. If he does want something I will put cereal or goldfish in a ziploc and he can eat it on the way to daycare. I do find myself telling him once or twice to hurry up or “daddy will leave us”. Especially when he doesn’t want to get up in the morning. I hope that helps!
@Jai, You do all that in just 45 minutes??!! I MUST be doing something wrong. LOL
Usually what works for us, is to introduce time limitations with fun additions, such as, “By the time the big hand is at the 6, we NEED to be out.” LOL, I’m not saying it always works, but it’s worth a try. It did work a couple of times with us.
@Catherine, That’s a good idea. I wonder if it works with a 3 year old? Might try that.
Hi Melanie! I’ve had the same thoughts myself… “What am i doing wrong”! [Everyday actually] But as of right now since my son is not really doing too much by himself, I drive his schedule. My morning routine is to get up out of the bed (running) around 6:00, get myself partially dressed, get my son up and dressed, then give him a ziploc of some cereal and juice or milk, then I let him eat and drink while I put finishing touches on myself (normally do hair and put shoes and accesories on). Then I rush out the door (typically cereal, juice/milk, and bear in tow)! This generally takes an hour! It’s pretty crazy around here and my son does not respond to hurry at all. I’ve tried several different ways to condense this process but its hard. So, good luck to you! Let me know the results of your trials 😉
@Maya, I think I must be slow. Because an hour is great! It sounds like you’ve got your system down.