Thursday, September 27, 2012

A "What would you do?" parenting moment

He set a fresh, hot cup of coffee on the nightstand next to my head and said, "It's 7:06, sleepyhead."

Dammit.  Why didn't my alarm go off?  

And then I remembered; the day before, I woke up early.  I was up at 5:35 am.  In a burst of pride for being up so early, I turned off my alarms (yes, alarms, plural, because I generally need more than one to wake up).  I'm an early riser, I don't need these alarms!

Then, apparently, I forgot to turn the back on.  

School bus #1 comes at 7:11.  Okay, so that wasn't going to happen.  Making my peace with that, I got up and began my morning routine of ironing clothes, making lunches, and harassing children to get ready.  Thankfully, the Hubs had been busy that morning while I "slept in," so breakfast was a done deal.  

When it was time to drive the Girl to school, it was also time for the Boy to catch his bus.  

Cole, come on!  I'll drive you to the bus stop! 

...

Cole, are you coming? 

...

Hello?!  Are you ready for school? 

...

Giving up on yelling, I went to his room, where I found him...  In his underwear.  In bed.  Asleep.  

Are you seriously going to miss the bus?!?!

He jumped up, frantic but half asleep.  

I can't believe you!  Why would you get up, eat breakfast, and then go BACK to sleep?  What's wrong with you?? 

I told him I wasn't taking him to school unless he was ready in 2 minutes and in the car.  The clock was ticking.  The Girl was becoming frantic that she was going to be tardy.  

The Boy made it into the car (admittedly, with some browbeating by his mother).  As we rounded the corner, we saw his bus about to pull away from the bus stop.  She saw us coming and sat there, waiting. 


Suddenly, I had a split-second parenting decision to make:  Did I put him on the bus, despite the fact that he did not have his shit together, nor did he even have shoes on yet?  Or did I drive him to school after I (attempted to) get his sister to school on time? 

What would you do?? 

Story to be continued...

5 comments:

  1. Meh, I'd have probably let him have the extra few minutes to get his shit together and taken him to school after. But it's funny you should bring this up today....go read about my morning!! HAHAHA!!!
    http://graceful-disaster.blogspot.com/2012/09/wanna-bet.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sucker that I am I would have given him the extra few minutes and driven him to school. But when I got back home, I'd contemplate adding a shot of whiskey to my morning coffee after a morning like that.......new to your site--nice to meet you. Now following you via GFC. Hop over some time and say hello if you'd like a dose of morning humor! http://Menopausalmother.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shit together or not... He would have been on the bus.

    -Stacy (who is way too lazy to log in)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Climbing the bus stairs shoe-less.
    and yes, have done it. Would again.
    Mostly because it takes almost 40 min to get him to school and back because of the traffic.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm also a 'shit together or not' mom!! I've sent my poor toddler to school in pajamas simply because I allowed him to sleep in! I figure heck it isn't real school yet so they can get him dressed after breakfast and wake up! hehe ;-) I have a strict tendancy to do my makeup while in the car pool for work too (no I don't drive the car pool!!) Don't judge! I try for organization...I figure if we show up, dressed, and clothes clean and ironed that is better than most!
    Check me out @http://shanascott.blogspot.com/ cuz I'm following you!!

    ReplyDelete