* Lay out your clothes the night before.
* Set the table and have all breakfast ingredients gathered and prepped before you go to bed.
* Restock your bag (diapers, wipes, snacks, band-aids, whatever) and set the bag, with your books and keys, by the front door.
* Get to bed early.
We've tried these things, but they haven't ever quite taken in our household. I don't know if it's a lack of concerted effort, or if we subconsciously miss the thrill of experiencing the Home Version of The Amazing Race every Sunday morning.
From a note taped to the mirror in the bathroom: "Old Mother Hubbard went here." Um, kitchen! Kitchen! Everyone to the cupboard in the kitchen! Maybe there's food in there!
*we all scramble like mad to the kitchen cupboard, where we ingest food and look for the next clue*
Instead of being eliminated for coming in dead last, you just get to be the one to carry all the miscellany everyone else has forgotten in their haste. (Ask me how I know.)
So we've modified some of the tried-and-true guidelines, in order to breathe peace and tranquility into our Sunday mornings.
* If it's missing a button, either tuck it in to hide it, or find something that doesn't require buttons. You'll be fine, let's go.
* Yes, we're going to be late if you take the time to chew the toast, that's okay. Either chew now and stop talking, or get in the car and you can chew on the way.
* They have diapers in the nursery, don't they? (Similar to the coffee donation at work, we've stocked the church nursery with diapers and wipes, just to be sure.)
* Define "early"...
We'll never be the ones waiting on the landing for someone with the keys to come let us in. We know this, and we're okay with it. The boys have learned that if it's their turn to carry something, say something, or have any kind of role in the opening portion of Sunday School, they need to let me know so that I know just how fast I'll need to drive. Coffee is always a must have for the Bigs, and Protein is always a must have for the Littles. If any portion of that requirement is missed, it will get ugly. As long as the small ones have had some good fats in their diet, and you've had your coffee, there will be no meltdowns.
We do still arrive late more often than not, but we get there without hurt feelings, yelling, or ugliness in our hearts now. And that frees us up to focus on learning, sharing, growing, and striving. We get better as we go, and the goal is to get there a little less late each week. Someday, we'll get there in time for the kids to go to their rooms with their classes. But in the meantime, while we work on improving our timing, our hearts are in the place that counts, and we're good with that.
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
5 comments:
I so wish I could be like you. I am one of those people that has a complete meltdown if we are 1 minute late to anything and I am married to someone who can't stand to be early for anything. so when we leave the house together I am usually yelling and my stomach hurts. How do you do it?
Bridget
I hate to tell you this, but when they're teenagers and vying for the shower, it's pretty much the same situation.
We have two vehicles now, and sometimes, one of us leaves ahead of the others just to keep the peace.
My problem with the recommendations for making Sunday morning easier is that by Saturday night, I'm tired and would rather sit and take my chances at chaos the next day than prepare. It's a bad attitude, I know.
Right now in our church, there are a lot of babies. We usually have a lot of company when walking in late!
Melkhi, I think that's our stopping point, too. Isn't it wonderful to have a church full of babies?
Nancy, thank you for the encouragement! Keep it coming (we need it!)
Bridget, {{hugs}} It helps that both Zorak and I are natural procrastinators. Well, maybe "helps" isn't the right word? :-) I guess, if I wanted to be inspirational and encouraging, I could say that for me the thing is that if Zorak will come with us, then I have to focus on how glad I am to have him with me, and that helps a lot. Even if we're late, we're together.
Other than that, though, and on a more literal plane, it's mostly a coping mechanism: surrender. We'll never be early, we might be on time, and no amount of wishful thinking will change that. So, I gave up. I guess it's better to be there and be happy about it than to be there and be sour about it.
However, you both have giant hugs from me. It's bad enough with Zorak and I both perpetually behind the clock. I can't imagine how frustrating it's got to be to have one on time and one with our deadline limp. :-) Hang in there! (And maybe just load the car Saturday afternoon - snacks, Bibles, shoes for the kids, you know, all the things that trip us up on the way out the door!)
Dy
Just wanted to add that you are in good company--we definitely fall in the "usually late but trying to be less late" category as well. Before I was married and had kids, I was NEVER late to anything, so this used to really bother me. But now, frankly, I just have too much other stuff to worry about, and it rarely crosses my mind (I'm jsut so relieved to BE there!). I wish I had some great magic advice, but if I did, I surely would have taken it by now! : ) The mornings we are most organized are the mornings that we have some great catastrophe, like someone leaving an interior light on so the van battery is dead. Ah well!
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