The morning is a struggle for the children of this house. Some more than others.
Despite being up (of their own accord) before 6am they face a series of challenges, some nearly insurmountable, many of which their inconsiderate parents just don’t seem to appreciate or give sufficient weight to. The children of this house have finely tuned communications skills and can get their points across very clearly, yet the parents appear to not fully comprehend the severe difficulties involved in mornings. Particularly weekday mornings.
In an attempt to address this problem I recently recorded a list of morning struggles that I witnessed first hand on a recent Wednesday (this is relevant as it is the only day that I do the morning routine and bring the kids to school).
*The list is incomplete, due to time constraints and whine volume, but it gives you an idea about our Wednesdays.*
Morning Struggles
- It’s too early to get up
- You should be up already Mam
- Too cosy to get out of bed
- Parents won’t let me jump on bed while they’re in it
- Need a hug
- Too much toothpaste
- Too little toothpaste
- The wrong toothpaste
- Someone touched my toothbrush
- Someone didn’t wash all the germs off their hands
- The wrong cereal bowl
- Someone sitting in my chair (is this sounding like Goldilocks was here?)
- The wrong cereal
- Too much cereal in the bowl
- Too little cereal in the bowl
- The wrong spoon
- Being asked not to practice tinwhistle at the breakfast table
- Uncomfortable socks
- The wrong clothes (“I only like stripy ones today not flowers”)
- Even more uncomfortable socks (Pair 2 rejected)
- Forgotten toys (for the school run)
- Missing blankie
- Even more uncomfortable socks (Pair 3 rejected, seriously)
- Why do we even have to wear uniforms anyway? (I suggested referring this one to the principal and it seemed to have died a death)
- Needing some TV
- Needing a bit more playtime
- Not being allowed to play hurling up the stairs. (Why did you even get me a hurl if I’m not allowed to play it)
- Not really wanting to wear clothes. (Any clothes)
- The wrong shoes
- Mammy not agreeing that they are in fact the right shoes
- Daddy just not understanding
- Being asked to hurry (FATAL error)
- Need a wee
- The fear of the wrong sandwich in the lunchbox (And stopping the sock selection to check the already in the schoolbags lunchboxes)
- Being given an apple in your lunchbox when you wanted grapes.
- Being given grapes in your lunchbox when you wanted an apple
- Having to get into the car and climb over a brother
- Forgetting to bring schoolbag
- My brother making me late (we are NOT late, yet)
- The wrong hairband
- No sunglasses (But it’s raining)
- Not remembering what day is today (Mammy only brings you on Wednesdays, how hard can it be to tell?)
- Forgetting very important snugglies (for the drive)
- There being school again tomorrow
- The wrong song on the radio
- There being traffic
- Being made bring a raincoat
- A sibling touching my carseat
- Why couldn’t we just have walked to school?
*Mother stops recording and starts mediating FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE- FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE*
Sound familiar?
It’s not all bad if you’d like to read about the nice part of our Wednesdays you can here.