With the half-term holidays over and most children going back to school this week, it's time to get back into the routine of the dreaded school run. You might think that the trick of getting your child out the door and into school should be relatively easy right?
Image courtesy Pixaby.com
On the good days it can seem effortless to get my two daughters fed and dressed without too much whinging, out the door on time and deposited into the relevant school and pre-school without much fuss or bother.
Then there are the more hellish weeks where everything goes wrong. Here's just a few of the recent issues that have meant trauma on the school run.
1. The Alarm Did Not Go Off. I don't usually set an alarm as I have a three year old who wakes me up anywhere between 5.30 and 6.30am. But there was the one day, mid-week when she didn't wake up until 7.20am - cue a big panic and mad rush to get ready.
2. Eldest Refused To Get Out Of Bed. Recently I was disturbed to find that overnight the five year old had transformed into a teenager. Despite begging and pleading, shouting and cajoling, she refused to get up and in the end I had to half drag her out of her bed where she then refused to get dressed. The problem other than tiredness was that school was "boring".
3. Forgot To Make Packed Lunch For Youngest. The three year old must have a packed lunch every day that she goes to pre-school. I should know this by now, especially as she's at pre-school four days a week. An efficient and well organised mummy would have had this made the night before. My defence lies only on the fact that it was the end of the week, I was tired and I'd become too engrossed with House of Cards to bother making it and so had to run around like a loony the next morning finding something suitable for the lunchbox.
4. The Kids Do Not Listen. This is quite normal at the best of times, but for some reason recently it's like I don't exist. I have to ask at least 10 times for them to get dressed and then end up yelling my head off or "helping" them to get into their uniform.
5. Tantrums About Clothes. In the midst of trying to get the pair of them dressed, the youngest will inevitably have a tantrum about what to wear or refuses to get dressed at all. The week before the half-term break, exasperated after fighting to get some clothes on her, I sent her into pre-school in odd shoes. This morning she nearly went in her pyjamas.
6. Forgot The Book Bag. Just as I've congratulated myself on getting everyone's shoes on and out the door into the car, I will remember half-way down the road that I forgot to pick up the blasted book bag.
7. Kids Are Fighting Or "Too Busy" To Get Ready. There's been a lot of fighting between my two lately and they seem to choose their moment to carry out a lot of their scrapping in the morning. If they're not tearing each other apart, then they suddenly find a lot to do. They choose 8am to go through their jewelry box or want to start colouring or empty their sock drawer or re-arrange their collection of hair clips.
8. They Don't Want To Leave You. Bizarrely, even though I berate myself about the fact that I've been shouting at them to get ready for school or we end up in a horrible showdown, they can still have moments of being a bit clingy about leaving me. I have no idea why this is. I often feel like leaving myself after listening to my morning rants.
9. Drank Too Much Wine On Sunday Night. OK this is self-induced if you're going to have an extra glass of wine on a Sunday night, then it's bound to all go wrong the following week.
Any other ways the school run can go wrong? Let me know in the comments below!
This post was first written and published on Cheryl's lifestyle and parenting blog called Tea or Wine. She also works as a freelance marketing copywriter. You can follow Cheryl on Twitter.