This morning felt like it came directly from a typical family sitcom. It was a school morning, which meant I needed to have both my sons, ages 5 1/2 years and 14 months, up, fed, dressed, and out the door in time for the 40 minute drive to my older son’s preschool. (We recently moved, but are letting him finish out the school year).
We were in good shape. Come 1 hour before departure time, both boys (as well as myself) were fed. My husband was helping to get my toddler dressed.
My 5 year old called me to help him clean up after his morning constitutional, and I left him standing at the bathroom sink ready to complete his morning chores, which include brushing his teeth, getting dressed, making his bed, and shutting off his bedroom lights.
He is perfectly capable of independently completing these tasks and has done so many mornings. Some mornings, however, require much prompting.
Let’s back up to where I left him: standing at the sink ready to brush his teeth.
I verbally walked him through his chores and let him know I already laid out clothes for the day in his room (as I had washed the laundry, but hadn’t actually folded any of it for the past week. It was in one giant, wrinkled, but clean, pile on my bedroom floor). I then left to quickly get changed and brush my own teeth. A shower would have been nice, but I do not have time for such luxuries on school mornings.
About 10 minutes later, I heard a toy jigsaw. With my toddler at my feet, I knew who must be working on an impromptu building project. I found my older son still in his pajamas, sitting in the playroom at the opposite end of the hallway from his bedroom.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Did you finish your chores?”
He smiled at me and feigned surprise. “Oh..no I didn’t.”
“Well please go do that.” I said.
“Ok, Mom.” And he headed down the hallway.
After I finished getting dressed, I went to check on him. Upon opening his room door, I saw his clothes still laid out, untouched. He was lying on his stomach, still in his pj’s, stroking the bindings of a stack of books on the floor.
“What are you DOING?” I asked with a bit more emotion.
“I don’t know.” He smiled.
“PLEASE finish your chores. We need to go shortly,” I pleaded.
“Ok…MOM.” I shut his door.
I got my toddler downstairs. Our bags were all packed. Road snacks and drinks were at the ready. The toddler had his shoes and coat on and was hitting the door to leave. I called up to my older son, “I need you to come down now!”
I heard my son’s muffled voice through the closed door saying, “I forgot to get dressed! I still need to get dressed!”
As I sat there on the floor by the front door, trying to find humor in the situation, I had a thought wash over me:
I am the youngest of five children. My parents had to get five children fed, dressed and out the door every day. Five kids through their morning chores…in 2 bathrooms…dressed in perfect Catholic school uniforms…and out the door with backpacks and sack lunches in hand…while my parents also got ready for work.
How the hell did they DO that?!
I thought ….How many times must they have sat on the floor with half the kids ready, while the other half had forgotten to go the bathroom until that very second…or had a toddler who finally pooped right as they were putting him/her into the car…..or couldn’t find a matching pair of shoes for a child….or couldn’t find that cherished snuggly item that a little one can’t leave the house without?
How many times had they gotten dressed only to be barfed on while opening the front door? And, did they also wipe it off with their hand, assess the damage, and decide to carry on with a pukey wet spot for the world to see because there was no way to get the brood out the door otherwise?
Did they also refuse to look back at the house that appeared ransacked but wouldn’t be cleaned until later that night because there wasn’t time between now and then? And, did they accidentally swear in front of the children when they realized the car was low on gas because they were too tired the night before to stop and fill it on the way home and thought they would just leave 10 minutes early the next morning on the way to school drop off?
I tell you what…I have new respect for my parents. I guess that is the story for most who become parents. You live in the trenches of parent-life and imagine what it must have been like for your own mom and dad (and then you say “ooohhh. I get it.”).
I share this story of my household’s morning shenanigans in good spirits. Raising children is a labor of love, and I do love the labor so very much. I was just telling a friend that while my family’s schedule right now is one huge hustle, I want to be the one driving my kids all over God’s creation, packing their pb&j’s, finding that cherished snuggly for the car, and wiping up their spit with my bare hands. It may not always be glamorous, but it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done….supporting my two sons in their life journeys.
And, I am just so thankful that my mom and dad also felt enough of that same sentiment to keep going, have five children and do all of these things for me.
How long does it take your family to get out the door in the morning? Have you had a similar experience of remembering your parents during your own family sitcom moments?
This has been an original post to World Moms Blog by Tara B. of Washington (State) USA.
Photo credit to the author.
I was smiling all the way through your article! And I must say I am very impressed that you manage to keep your cool during all this – I have a feeling that if it was me I would be very stressed, and not have time to think about having my picture taken 🙂 I think I may need to learn something from you, as I get very stressed (my husband can vouch for that) if we are not all ready to go at least ten minutes before we need to be! I too have some new found respect for my parents, and all parents in general actually!
Thanks for your comments, Asta. I get stressed too, but I am now outnumbered, so I am learning to let go a bit 😉
oh – and as always I seem to just ignore the questions at the bottom of the article – and I just to my usual “ramblings”… At the moment it is my husband who sorts out the wee lad in the morning by getting him ready – I go to work before the two of them wake up, so that I can leave early in the afternoon 🙂
Wow! Sounds like an early start for you…but I imagine it helps to have that time to get out the door. What great teamwork from you and your husband!
Awesome post! You have a great sense of cool to be writing this in such cool spirits 🙂
Our family sitcom is pretty much similar too…
Thanks! It’s easier to write about this in retrospect and come across as calm and cool. I don’t know that I felt that way at the time. I do try to remember that as nutty as the mornings can be…this time of ours lives together will not last forever. Even this fall, my son will start taking the school bus, which will pick him up right in front of our house. While it will make my mornings so much easier, I have to admit I will miss our daily car treks together….hearing him sing along to the same cd we have listened to every single day on the commute….asking about the street signs….telling me what he has planned for the school day. I appeciate your comments and wish you well with your family sitcom 😉
I too smiled as I read this because it seems like only yesterday that I was doing this (mind you I never had enough good humour to sit on the floor and take a photo either)
My boys are now teenagers and while I don’t have to get them ready any more and they are perfectly capable of getting themselves out the door (especially because I leave before they do now) it still amazes me that 5 minutes before I walk out the door they suddenly need a specific school shirt, pants etc – despite numerous other choices that look exactly the same – and you can guarantee the wanted one is always in the wash basket.
I’m laughing because it doesn’t change even when they’re older, no matter how many times I tell them to get their things ready the night before, (when they have plenty of time to wash a specific item of clothing), they don’t and it’s a battle to get them out the door on time.
I now bounce stress free out the door on time, with a smile on my face and in the clothes I laid out from the night before. I don’t think you actually ‘get it’ until you’re a parent yourself
Hi Fiona – I am glad to hear that teenage boys can be self sufficient to some degree! My husband recalls how his mom had to rip the covers off his bed growing up to get him moving for high school. I guess they always need some sort of help from dear old mom.
The other funny part is that the tables were turned on this post yesterday. It was our July 4th holiday, and my little guy was soooo excited, he was up, dressed, and ready by 7:30 AM. He kept running into my bathroom, where I was showering and dressing, to ask if it was time to go….why wasn’t I ready? when was I coming down? Why was I taking so long? Because it’s not even 8AM yet, buddy!
Thanks for reading and your comments.
This had me nodding and smiling throughout! I can relate! Me and my husband currently split morning child duty, because the two boys have to go to different places at different times. I take my five-year-old to daycare on my way to work (and they take him to school). And my husband takes George to the therapy centre. So although I only have one kid to worry about in the mornings, the kid in question is a very independent-thinking five-year-old. It can be a challenge. To be fair, he is actually pretty good most mornings. But there are some mornings when he just won’t cooperate. And it’s always the mornings when I’m running late. It’s like he has a Mommy lateness detector or something!
Kirsten
I very much believe in the mommy lateness detector….or just the big day ahead detector that is built into my toddler. It seems that anytime we have a big day…holiday…hosting a party….travel…my toddler has a fitfull night sleep and wakes up for the day at 5AM. While it gives more time in the morning to get things done, I am a zombie. Thanks for your comments!
Loved this piece! It reminded me of my childhood when I was handed the responsibility frequently to wake my 2nd (older) brother up on weekends so that we could go out as a family for breakfast.
He would be burrowed deep under his covers and I would have to ‘dig’ him out and literally drag him to the bathroom to brush his teeth. One time, I thought he was taking a particularly long time and everyone was getting impatient to leave. I went to look for him to find him passed out on the bathroom floor – yes, he went back to sleep, in the bathroom!
These days, we don’t take long to get ourselves out the door. I always prepack everything we need for the toddler, and we just have to hustle some shoes on him and out we go. I imagine things will change when he has to do all the getting ready on his own!
That’s such a great story from your childhood. Does your older brother still burrow in his sheets as an adult? I know that I’d love to some days 😉
Way to prepack everything! I always mean to do prep work (particularly with food) the night before, but I just can never get myself to do it once I finish cleaning up the mess of the current day. I’ll have to try it once the school year starts up again.
I was envisioning my family’s future sitcom mornings reading this and was amused and reassured that I will not be alone when our time comes. Come September, our almost 2yo twins, my husband and myself will have to be ready and out the door by 7.15am at the latest and I have no idea how we are going to do it. We may not be the most awake, wrinkle-free, nor well-fortified w/ a proper breakfast but your post reassures me that we will do it, no matter what. Thanks!
You can do it, Dee! And you automatically get super extra awesome mommy bonus points because you are dealing with twins! No matter what they or you look like, getting out the door is a win. Thanks for your comments.
My family and I are up hours before school starts. Yet, every morning we run more than 3 minutes behind schedule. If you’re any later than 3 minutes you can miss the drop off at my daughter’s preschool! (Dropoff is when you pull your car up into a line of cars and wait your turn until the teachers take your child out of their car seat and into the school. Then, you drive on without ever having to get out of the car.)
Why 3 minutes??? In the grand scheme of things 3 minutes is not a big deal, but in this case, it is. But, why can’t I just get our act together that little bit sooner??
I can completely relate to your morning rush! Well written, and I love it when you put photos like this together to go with your post! 🙂
Jen
So much turns on a dime with littles ones, that 3 minutes can be like an eternity! I appreciate your feedback and how you relate to this scenario.
We also are up hours before school. My sons rise very early (like 5-6AM), yet I still experience days like this post. What I didn’t mention in the article is that by the time we take this drive, my toddler is needing his 1st nap of the day, so I usually have a kid on the verge of meltdown to get in the car to boot. But I get better at it all the time and learn from my mistakes. I also learned that we just might be late somedays, and it always feel better to laugh at a situation than rant about it…so I try to laugh when my son is still naked playing with Legos in his room after that 10th request to get dressed.
Thanks for your comment on the photo. It’s the real deal…my dirty entryway…me sitting without makeup…hair in a knot….ready to pass out 😉
Oh dear. Some mornings are just tough, aren’t they? 🙂
Yes…but thank goodness for coffee! Thanks for reading.
Coffee…chocolate…wine…;)
Now repeat!
Sounds like my morning every day, but in my case if we are late by only a couple of minutes we miss the express bus (we live in the city, so we take public transportation to school), and have to take the local (or a taxi when I am really desperately late) which will take twice as long to get to school… and, oh yeah, my extremely stubborn 4 year old refuses to dress himself, and usually vetos the first set of clothes that I had laid out. It’s amazing once they get their own opinions and ideas! 🙂
Thanks for your comments, Isabelle. Kudos for keeping on schedule and making public transportation work. That’s great! And yes, they do develop such strong opinions so early. I had to work with my son to convince him he couldn’t wear is “favorite ripped pants” to school every day. I struck a deal where he could where them anytime he wasn’t in school. And then as a treat on his last day, I let him wear whatever he liked. “Even my old sweats, Mom?!” Yep!
Love this post! I have one son, who is 3 and not in school until the fall, and I’ve had the same thought about my mom. I’m the oldest of four and I have no idea how she did it. My husband is a stay-at-home dad and he handles this chaos with much more calm than I do. After all this time, I still underestimate how much time it takes to get out the door to a playdate or wherever it is we have to go. Who knew that it was so hard to get shoes on a kid’s feet?!
Thanks for your comments! I’d love to hear more about your experiences as a working wife with a stay at home husband. So cool! And yes, getting shoes on can be monumental. I was 1 hour late for a park meet up I organized yesterday because we just couldn’t get out the door.
Well that gives me an idea for my next post on here. Thanks! 😉