It’s like a scene out of a movie depicting the perfect morning.
A mother making breakfast, politely waking her kids up with the smell of bacon, pancakes and eggs she’s made them for breakfast, which they will eat with smiles on their faces before school.
That’s how I picture my school mornings going, yet, it never turns out that way at all.
Oh, I have the best intentions of making the house like a Disney movie, but let’s face it, that’s not reality.
I do, however, always try to greet my youngest son John, 7, with a “good morning,” as he comes into the bedroom between 5:30 or 6 a.m. every morning to make sure I’m awake. He does this by standing next to the bed, staring at me. He then pokes me every so lightly and whispers “Mom, it’s time to get up.”
I always ask “Has my alarm gone off yet?” or “What time is it?” He’ll tell me the time and I kind of grunt or moan and say, “good morning.” Sometimes I say “good morning sweetie” or “good morning my precious angel.”
He smiles and either climbs in bed with me for a bit and we chat or he wonders off into the living room looking for the remote.
After I get going, I make sure John’s getting dressed or in the shower if it’s shower day, and then I proceed to get ready.
Around 7 a.m., if my oldest son, Matthew, 9, isn’t up yet I politely wake up him up by opening his door and saying “good morning, It’s time to get up and get ready for school.” He usually responds with a sigh and then ignores me. So 10 minutes later, I complete the same task in between getting ready for work. I usually get the same response. So for a third or fourth time, I try and wake my oldest son. Sometimes he rouses, sometimes he doesn’t.
Either way, we are getting farther behind schedule and my dreams of cooking a nice breakfast and sending them on their way with all smiles starts to fade.
It’s now about 7:30 a.m. and the bus usually arrives around 7:45. I’ve made scrambled eggs and toast for Matthew and oatmeal for John. They never seem to want the same thing. John quickly eats his food, but Matthew picks at it. About 10 minutes later, they are trying to brush their teeth at the same time. This includes them pushing each other off of the stool in the bathroom to reach the sink. Then an argument occurs and I have to come referee.
After teeth are brushed, we have about two minutes before the bus is going to arrive. Even though I’ve asked them numerous times by this point to put their shoes and socks on. They haven’t and not only have they not put any socks on, but they have no idea where their shoes are either. Once again, I go into the lecture of “if you would just put your shoes by the door when you come in and take them off, we would know where they are at.”
After locating one of John’s shoes in the kitchen and the other in the living room, I am at this point raising my voice to Matthew who has still not put on his socks or shoes.
I now, I can literally see the bus coming down the road, so while I’m sprinting to Matthew’s room to grab some socks, I’m yelling “The bus is coming the bus is coming. You’re going to miss the bus.” I get back to Matthew and have him put the socks on while I locate his shoes. I lucked out today and they are together by the front door. Yeah! I’ll take this small victory. I kiss and hug them both quickly and send them out to the bus calling after them “I love you! Have a good day.”
This sort of thing happens a lot at my house; and I’m sure it happens in other homes as well. The variation changes.
Sometimes John is dragging his feet and, I must admit, sometimes I am the one behind. Sometimes everyone’s behind. Regardless, there are no perfect, fairy tale mornings no matter how hard one tries.
However, no matter how frazzled the morning gets, I always hug and kiss my boys and tell them I love them before they leave.
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