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Home › Diaries › June's › October 28, 1999

June's Diary Entries

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October 28, 1999


Yes...yet another morning story. This morning I woke my daughter at 7:30 a.m. I said, "I love you sweetie, and today we will do better." I told her what the weather was going to be in great detail. I told her all her clean clothes were in her room. I informed her that on the days she takes the bus to school, she knows the bus will not wait if she is late ... she never is. "Let's look at daddy as the bus. You have made him late for two weeks, not to mention your brother. Today, Dad is leaving at 8:40. With or without you. No yelling or arguing ... he will just leave. You will then have to wait for me to take you if you miss the ride. Any questions?" "None," she says.

At 8:00 a.m., I call up to tell her she has about a half an hour left and not to come down till she is dressed. She comes down to ask if the purple sweater goes with her "overalls." "Yes, and go back upstairs," I reply. By 8:15 a.m. she has been down twice more to tell me I must have hidden all her good clothes and demands to know where I hid them. She is whimpering about the underwear. Ten minutes later, she says none of her socks are any good. I begin giving her clock updates every five minutes. Golden Boy is dressed and ready. Devin is happy and Chanel is fuming wildly as Dad is getting on his shoes. She now has on the original clothes from an hour earlier ... but no socks.

Dad leaves happily. Chanel screams at how awful we are for making her late for school. I tell her I will be ready in ten minutes or more. She will be late, but I will take her. (She has never been allowed to walk to school on her own.) She grabs her coat and says, "I'm leaving to find my way to school, and I'm not coming back." I warn her sternly not to leave as I'm quickly trying to dress the baby. Once out, she's nowhere to be seen. I race to the school in the car and arrive during opening announcements. I see outside her class that her backpack is there. She made it safely...but I'm frazzled once again. Now what? Discipline her? Ground her or maybe explain what was wrong with what she did and warn her of the consequences on a repeat performance?

We explained to her this evening why it was wrong (she knew already). I trust her to understand and to have learned from her two lessons. Dad is leaving with or without her and if she leaves like that again, she will be severely punished. Dad also warns that this is Mom's idea, and she's lucky he did not punish her.... Next time he will.

Today I bought a complete weather kit to inform my daughter each day exactly what the weather is and how it compares to the day before. I also bought a large teaching wall clock with 10 small clocks that indicate at which time particular events happen during the day. The large clock by her room tells her how much time she has left, graphically and pictorially. Just a few inexpensive tools that I hope help take the two major issues out of the morning away from me. I hope the following week is better then this! My 30-week OB/GYN appt. went well. :)

June



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