April 5, 2010 - GETTING OUT THE DOOR

Getting out the door on time for school is always hit and miss for us. My daughter is NOT a morning person. She's nocturnal by nature and has trouble with quality sleep. That said, she's also quite the pill if she's rushed in the morning - she has to be eased into the day.

Our routine goes like this - I spend about 15 minutes waking her up. I try, then walk away, come back and try again, walk away - and then usually on the third try she's awake. I make sure that I ask her if she wants breakfast first thing (usually cereal) - and yes, I let her eat in bed during the week. After that she's awake and ready to start the day. Since she could care less about what she wears to school (other than comfort), I'll generally have her pick out what she's going to wear the night before or, I'll admit - I'll pick something out and lay it on the bed. She dresses (usually forgetting shoes), then I remind her of every detail - to brush her teeth, brush her hair, put her socks and shoes on - and all this time she's constantly distracted by something else, usually her animals (three dogs and a cat) and I'm re-directing her attention to the task at hand. After she's fed and dressed, it's on to the backpack - which by the way is ridiculously heavy - to make sure that she has all of her books, assignments and homework. She also has to have the book that she's reading with her at all times - so we have to make sure that it makes it into the backpack. Also, we have to make sure that she has her phone, her inhaler, a pencil and whatever chotsky that she's attached herself to at the time. After all of this we head towards the door, but then the "good-byes" and loves start with each of the animals. She has to pet and kiss each one - and then FINALLY, we're out the door, her backpack has to go in the truck of the car, not the backseat - and then fifty percent of the time something is forgotten and I run in to get whatever it is -and run back to the car - and we're off. Once at school I drop her off in front of the school and have to wait until she's in the school building before I can drive off. If I drive off before she's in the building, she'll call me and ask me why I drove off before I was supposed to. This really upsets her, so I wait the few seconds that it takes.

This probably sounds insane to most people, but it's a routine that works for us - and it certainly beats the morning tantrums that I experienced several times a week when I was working. Each family has to come up with their own routine - but I guarantee that once it's established, it will create a system of control that's manageable vs. the chaos that once ruled. Ultimately, my goal is to make sure that my daughter is a self-sufficient, regulated person on her own, but without the established routine, she seemed to flounder. Next up - letting her get out the door before she realizes that she doesn't have shoes on.

Remember - DIFFERENT IS BEAUTIFUL