I'm enduring Keziah and the heat right now. All the rest of the family left for the pool. Oh the misery!
This morning Keziah decided to dawdle more than her usual. She CAN get totally ready in about an hour. I help her pick out her clothes, encourage her to get dressed, and fix her hair before leaving to get Her Majesty's breakfast prepared. She is left with three things to do each day before coming down for breakfast - shoes and socks, make her bed, and bring down her dirty clothes. For a seven-year-old, I don't think that is asking for too much. I'd like to get that much out of all the kids!
Forty-five minutes later, after many reminders that her breakfast was waiting, Keziah managed to wander into the kitchen for her cold hot chocolate with melted whipped cream and cereal (I've learned not to add milk UNTIL she appears). She had only 15 minutes left to eat, brush her teeth, and find something for show-and-tell if we were going to make it on time.
Ah...breakfast was consumed slowly...with much chatter...in spite of many reminders counting down the time...10 minutes til school starts...five minutes till school starts...school is starting and you are not there! Nothing motivated this child today!
By the time she returned from brushing her teeth, we loaded up in the SUV, and I zipped off to school (madder than an old wet hen), she was almost twenty-five minutes late. That means that I had to park the car, walk her into the office, look like the "bad, tardy mom", and sign her in for class. She skipped along without a care in the world.
But I knew that the plan for the afternoon was to go swimming as a family. I planted the seed before she went into school. A fun priviledge might end up a consequence for being late. She didn't really care.
Oh, but after school, in the heat of the day, she cares now. Everyone else was ready to go when we strolled through the door. They are swimming. She is hot. She is miserable. She doesn't quite understand why...but she's beginning to understand. If you are late and miss out on school time, then you will be late and miss out on fun time too.
Maybe next week, come Monday morning, a little mourning dove will be in a hurry to get ready for summer school. Maybe?
8 years ago
Lara, dear Keziah is learning her actions come with consequences, and you are right in letting her take her knocks. Her three responsiblities in the morning are age appropriate. My seven-year old wakes up and reads her Devotional Bible (her choice), gets dressed and dresses her three-year old sister, makes her bed, and takes care of her own hair except for putting in the rubber bands. We have those days, too, where she can't (or chooses not to) get it all done before we have to leave the house. I, on the other hand, am not the nice mom who holds out on the milk. I soak everyone's cereal and then go get in the shower. If they don't come down to eat when I call them, it's soggy mush for breakfast! Give yourself a pat on the back for mercy!
ReplyDeleteAh ha! Now I know the secret to getting a shower squeezed in! Thanks, Petrie
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