I’ve never been an incredibly punctual person. You can ask almost anyone who knows me that my perspective on time has always been a bit… skewed.
But let me tell you, once I became a mom my tardiness went from tolerable to girl….Get. Your. Life. The more kids I had, the later I am. Seriously, I think each child has set my timeliness back ten minutes. And I have four children so yeah, I stay being late. It doesn’t matter what time I get up or how early I start to prepare, I’m habitually late for my life. Especially considering that I work the best under pressure. But getting out of the door often goes from being a high pressure situation to a “man-down-code-ten” situation in a matter of minutes.
The reasons for my lateness varies depending on the day and what I have going on. You would think that I would be a pro at this since I have a good number of children. But, no. And you know what? I know I could wake up even earlier and get it moving but with four children, something always comes up. And I always seem to suffer from a case of the “just one more thing” syndrome.
What kind of things come up? Glad you asked. Let me give you some of the reasons why I’m late. *ahem*
1. My 6 year old can’t figure out how to untie his shoes that he double tied the day before
2. I’m waiting on my Keurig to finish brewing
3. I can’t find my glasses
4. Nobody has seen the baby bag
5. My toddler says he’s hungry right when we’re walking out of the door
6. Somebody can’t find their jacket
7. My toddler hid my shoes in his toy box (He was using them as homes for his toy cars)
8. My 11 year old is watching the other ones do something crazy and isn’t stopping them. So then I have to stop them and that takes time.
9. I spend ten minutes fussing about not being able to find my cell phone when it’s been in my back pocket the whole time
10. My gas light comes on as I’m backing out of the driveway
Chile, I could go on with this list forever and ever amen! Anybody with children knows that they couldn’t care less about the concept of time and how to do their part to make sure everyone is on time. But you know what, I’ve realized that this is an area that I struggle in and I’ve begun to take active steps to improve it. I’m tired, hungry and am likely shoving the kids in the car while they’re still chewing but we’re slowly getting places on time. Or close to it anyway. Besides, recognizing you have an issue is the first step, right?
There are a lot of ways and studies investigating how late people can stop being late—by understanding why they are late, understanding the consequences and considering other people’s feelings. Yes, these all sound like good ways to do it. I’m just saying, can the people who authored these studies come to my house and help me get myself and my kids out of the door? Do they make coffee, change diapers and make last minute sandwiches? No? Oh, okay. Well in the meantime, I’ll be here making small steps to get it together and get where we need to be on time.
Are you always late or do you loathe tardiness? What do you do to make sure you and your family get where you need to go on time?
I loathe being late. I’ve always been a time concious person and that didnt change when I became a mom. I make sure to give myself ample time for any meltdowns or kid related mishaps whenever I have to be somewhere with my daughter. Being on time is not just for me but I’m trying to show my daughter that punctuality is important.
I only have one child – but getting anywhere on time is a STRUGGLE! I really should prep more things in advance, but I feel my life is already so planned so sometimes at home I don’t plan so much….which means World War III when we’re trying to get out the house!
I just had this conversation with the lady that does my nails because I was late of course. She proceeded to chastise me by saying “you should always be at least 5 minutes early to all of my appointments “. Like I told her I struggle with it and I always have. Knowing that I’m not the only one and reading about your small steps encourages me to do the same. Thank you for sharing! Great article.
Unfortunately, I’m always late and have always been late even before I became a mother. I remember always being late to class in high school. It got so bad I didn’t even get pumished (detentions) for it anymore. I would sit in the. Vice principles office for a few minutes then go to class. My husband is a very punctual person so he can’t stand that I’m always late but he doesn’t like to help much either lol. I’m working on it. I’m a night owl and far from a morning person. I love the idea of being an early riser, getting in some prayer and a workout before I wake my kids, buuuut… It hasn’t happened yet. It’s still a goal