Friday morning and the usual morning battle begins.
“It’s time to get up, 30 minutes until breakfast.”
The countdown starts at 7am as it does any other weekday morning when school is looming.
“15 minutes, you really need to get up now.”
“10 minutes, come on we are going to be late.”
At this point, if I am really, really lucky, there will be a grunt and a movement but the eyes are still closed.
My daughter will normally be down at this point but sits on the sofa wrapped in a duvet and not looking particularly enthusiastic about the day ahead. L will come down and immerse himself in YouTube ignoring my pleading to get dressed. But the nearly teenager is still ‘asleep.’
Eventually, he will drag himself out of bed and every single movement seems to take minutes. Most days, he gets dressed under the duvet.
I sometimes wonder how I get out on time every day. Well, we seem to be getting later but so far, we are still just about on time.
Mornings are a military operation. They have to be. The boys’ school starts at 8:17 (don’t ask) and in order for me to get to work without hitting awful traffic, I drop A off at breakfast club just after 8am, the boys at 8:05 and wend my merry way to work.
This time of year, in particular, is more of a struggle, but I get it, when it is warm and bright, you feel more inclined to jump out of bed in the morning. Cold, dark mornings don’t really cut it.
Then we have a non-uniform day and something magical happens. They are all up, dressed and ready by 7:30. No nagging, no arguing, no stress. They literally jump into their chosen clothes, which I might add they get out the night before (this never happens when it is school uniform). They are chatty and chirpy and happy to go to school.
Maybe we should have non-uniform every day? The reality of that is that ,of course, if every day was a non-uniform day the novelty would soon wear off, it is like any special occasion, you can have too much of a good thing. Plus, without non-uniform, I would spend endless amounts of money on clothes for the kids and hours every morning waiting for them to work out what they are going to wear.
Now I come to think about it, maybe occasional non-uniform days are a better idea.
Hooray! At least they get out on time once in a blue moon. Sadly, with three kids at three different schools, we’re never going to have non-uniform days on the same day and they just don’t hold the same excitement for my big boys any more.
8.17?! 8.17?! OK, I won’t ask!
Sarah MumofThree World recently posted…The panto – first week of rehearsals
I dressed up as a teddy bear too and I was actually on time for once !
it certainly is a motivator 😀
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Ha ha, it’s magic! My kids aren’t too bad at getting up and ready, to be fair, but it’s definitely harder to do on dark cold mornings x
I feel your pain, we seem to get up later and later each passing winter day. My daughter is amazing, son struggles – was the same with me and my brother!
It’s exactly the same at our house. Non uniform day is such a pleasure, they are so eager to put on their normal clothes ;D
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We find non uniform days more of a challenge. Maxi is great at getting up, he is always ready for his bus at 7.40. Mini on the otherhand is a real challenge!