You always try to set a good example for your kids when ever you can, right? Well, I would like to believe that's what everyone intends to do.
There is a mom who is constantly late dropping her daughter off at preschool. School starts at 12:30, not any sooner and not any later. They open the doors at 12:25, you take your kids in, sign them in and leave them to do their school stuff. It never fails, when I am leaving the mother pulls up, I look down at my dash clock and it says 12:34, every time. This is not an exaggeration...it is 12:34 every time she pulls into the parking lot. I said pulls in, that means she still has to park, get her child out of the car and walk her inside, so we are looking at a good 5 minutes from when she pulls into the parking lot. Super annoying.
One day, the mother was actually early for school and all the parents were waiting in the waiting room for the doors to open for preschool when the little girl comes running in. She ran in so fast, ran up to the preschool door, opens it and runs inside. The mother (who is constantly late) says, "what are you doing, silly?" As she walked into the room to get her daughter, I said out loud, "She is used to being late and having to run into the classroom every day." The mothers turned around and looked at me. I just shrugged my head and smiled.
She also babysits 2 or 3 extra kids and brings them with her. It doesn't matter how many kids you have...1 or 5, you still need to get your priorities straight and manage your time more wisely. You know what time school starts, you should know how long it takes to get from your house to the school, you should make time for anything that should go wrong....this means leave at least 5 minutes early just in case.
If you are constantly late, what is that saying to your children? That it's okay to always rush. That it's okay to show up late for anything. It is not the child's fault, the child cannot control the time. I just want parents to be more responsible, but that is just too much to ask of parents anymore!
