Just got a letter from Squeak's school. She's been tardy FORTY-FOUR times this year, "which is an excessive amount" (says the letter). I love that girl to pieces, but her spectacular ability to dilly-dally drives me up the wall! We all know that punctuality is not my forte, and Squeak is her mother's child, of course, but her ability to dawdle far exceeds my past or present ability. I spent over an hour venting about this to D the other night. I am definitely out of ideas. I've tried:
--rewarding punctuality with treats
--profuse praise for punctuality
--waking her up earlier
--setting a timer
--having her talk to the principal when she's late
--having her pay me for tardiness with both money and jobs
--keeping her home from school when she's late
--taking away things/privileges for tardiness
--letting her miss breakfast when she's late
--letting her go to school in her pajamas
--letting her go to school with messy hair/ugly clothes
--putting her in the car whether or not she's ready
--and of course the usual scolding and lectures, which don't work for anyone
What's next? Nothing works, and the only way I've ever gotten her to be on time is by hounding her from the moment she wakes up until we walk out the door. AND I DO NOT ENJOY MICRO-MANAGING!!! That's my hang-up. Those forty-four tardies only make me look bad, but I can only take credit for two or three of them (and that's because I have to get me, Pip, and Chiquitita ready and loaded in the car)--the rest of the credit goes to our fun girl.
Squeak's ability to dilly-dally is so much a part of her being, I don't know if it can ever be suppressed. I mean, people, she came this way! I was in labor with her for triple or quadruple the "typical" labor for first-time moms. She just likes to go at her own pace. Not that she can't do things quickly--she definitely has the ability if she's motivated. I'm just out of ideas to help her be on time for school, because she really doesn't care.
Any ideas, my peeps?
And since I'm soliciting advice, I might as well confess that we're in the market for a minivan (ugh!). It is, sadly, the only thing that will really work with all our kids in car seats and a brand new baby. I just can't see myself hopping up on the runner board of the Suburban two days postpartum with an infant car seat, or climbing over the second row to buckle kids into the back seat. I love having a Suburban and think it's a delightful family vehicle for families with older kids (i.e. at least two or three aren't in car seats anymore).
So we are looking to buy a minivan that is 10-12 years old with 100K miles or less. If you have experience with this age/mileage of vehicle, what would you recommend or not recommend?
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6 comments:
I have no good advice on the tardiness issue. I TOTALLY micro-manage my slow-poke daughter. I can't stand to have her in trouble. Maybe it would be better if mine had to do the walk of shame into school! As far as van's go- I have a Chrysler Town and Country. DO NOT get one of these or a Dodge Caravan. I know they are cheaper than buying a Toyota or Honda but they fall apart a lot faster and are on Consumer Reports "worst bets" list. So if you can, spring for a Honda or Toyota. They are the "best bets"!
How old is she? I don't think it's realistic to expect her to get ready for school without your fairly constant attention. Some mornings it takes both me and Steve staying right on our girls (9 and 7 years old) to get them ready and out the door to school on time. Younger children usually don't have much motivation or incentive to be on time. . . but you should :)
Is she part of your "lets get ready for tomorrow" routine? I found with my kiddos it was easier for them to be ready on time if their clothes, shoes, hair accessories, back packs, lunches, etc. were all prepped the night before.
Make her go to bed an hour earlier on the nights that she's late. Basically tell her she must need to be getting up earlier. (I must admit that my first question, my night-owl friend, is what time she's getting in bed now?)
Evan is good about getting ready fast when he knows he can do something he likes once he's ready. Some days he's ready with like 45 min to go!
And good luck on the minivan. I think that finding something that old with that few miles is pretty unlikely, but you are pretty good at finding things, so surprise me!
Welcome to the mini- club. You'll love it;) I just take Steve's car when I wanna be cool but who am I kidding when I tool around with 5 kids? Minivan mom and proud is my mantra! Previous commenter's idea on moving bedtime up for lateness has worked at our house. I move it forward in 15 minute increments each time my one dawdler (the other 3 in school aren't) isn't on task. Had to put her to bed when it was light outside a few times for her to realize I meant it. Also, in my experience it takes some micromanaging until they get the hang of the on-time routine. Then you can let them try to make it more on their own.
Oh and we have every sock, backpack, cereal bowl laid out night before. Part of the bedtime routine every night. Cuts down on morning crazy mom coming out ;) She appears at our house when we haven't planned ahead.
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