The School Run

I'm pretty sure that I could count the number of times that I have got the girls to school on time on one hand. We are forever late and it doesn't seem to matter if I make their lunches the night before or if I get everyone dressed at 7:30am. We are just forever late.  Even when I think I'm on time, someone will need to go to the toilet (even though they just went) or they will lose their homework (which I personally placed inside their backpack, so it is beyond me how it possibly became lost all of a sudden).

We need to leave the house at 8:20am.  Piper's class opens at 8:30am (with role call at 9am), so we drop her backpack off, do her sight words with her teacher and then walk over to drop Ava off.  Piper was being bullied earlier in the year and didn't want to stay in her classroom without me, so she started walking Ava to her class with us.  Piper is no longer being bullied, but still likes to walk Ava to class.  Ava's first bell is at 8:40am (with roll call at 8:50am).  If you miss roll call, you are marked as "away" and you need to go up to the Office and get a late slip.  Once Ava is settled, Felix and I then walk Piper back to her class.  Easy peasy, right?

No!!!  Firstly, Felix is with us!!!  Piper has fish in her classroom and he is fascinated by them.  He tries to clean their tank and on Friday he knocked their plastic lid into the tank and made two little ones cry because they thought he had killed them.  The fish were fine, but while that was happening, Ava tipped a milk crate sized container of small plastic farm animals out onto the carpet.  This resulted in other children being upset because "you're not allowed to play with toys before class."  Meanwhile, I hear Ava's first bell go, so we're already late and it's a 10 minute walk to Ava's class.  It shouldn't really take ten minutes to walk there, but Ava has low muscle tone and walks super slowly.  This walk also isn't helped by Felix lagging behind and making everyone stop so he can shoot them with his "laser gun" while he secures the area as he thinks he's Buzz Lightyear.  

Now, although I did eventually get everyone to where they need to be, without a trip to the office for a late slip, I still find the school run to be quite stressful and always filled with drama.  I do my best to remain calm and I strongly believe that children should feel free.  I love their imaginations and I don't want to be a helicopter parent.  I just wish I was a more relaxed, carefree type of Mum who didn't find the school run so stressful and wrought with drama.