School Daze- The Struggle is Real

Being a parent is rewarding.  It is the most amazing and most fulfilling part of my life.

But parenting is also a LOT of work.  It is not always pretty, and I am sure you would agree that school mornings are some of the most stressful moments of the day.  No one wants to be awake that early.  Not you, not the kids, well maybe the cats…

Real Life

About a year ago I was fed up with the screaming, the stress and the rushing out the door late.  I decided to make a schedule for Melia and buy her an egg (kitchen) timer.  Slowly but surely she began to follow the chart and our mornings became less stressful.

6th grade started this year and Melia is in a new school, this time even farther away from home.  Luckily there is a bus that will take her to school, but my schedule does not allow me to pick her up on the afternoon bus. My commute is about 90 minutes each night picking her up from school.  The bus has its downfall.  It has a 7:00am pickup time, which means we are now getting up at 5:30am every day.  We haven’t been using the chart this school year and it has been extra rough.  Sometimes my daughter gets out of bed 15 minutes before we have to leave! There is a lot of yelling.

On her own, Melia asked me to remake the chart.  I am so proud of her. She knows she needs structure, and even when I “failed” as a mom to think about remaking it on my own, she stepped up and asked. She even apologized this morning for running late. I love this girl so much.

The chart!

Below is the chart I made for Melia.  Everyone’s routine differs, but take this chart and tweek it for what works for your family.  I know there are “special days” that won’t work with the chart. Right now Melia has 2 soccer games a week which throws off the schedule, but it is almost comforting to go back to the routine after an “odd” day.  It helps keep me in line too!