The School Bus Dash

Every morning I am amazed that I get our daughter on the bus in time.

It's no small feat.  She has one speed these days, and it's sloooooow.   I've tried getting her up 15 minutes earlier, but she adjusts for that and seems to go into extra pokey those days.  It drives me crazy, yet she is unfazed by it all, even with her mother bellowing at her to hurry up.

Daughter is 6 and in Kindergarten.  She gets up an hour before the bus comes.  Should be plenty of time, right?  I do make her take a shower in the mornings.  We used to do it at night but she has horrible bed head and doesn't like me brushing her hair.  It was a power struggle most mornings (when we don't have time!!!!) and she often ended up going to school looking like a little ragamuffin with her hair.  So, we implemented the morning shower routine.

It theory, it works out lovely.  She hops in the shower, I take the dog out and lay out her breakfast while she's in there and we end up with lots of time.  However, it never works that way.  For starters, she LOVES to take a long shower.  I am constantly in there, "hurry up, the bus is coming" and "2 more minutes".  After the two minutes I've been known to turn off the shower, but the little bugger turns it right back on or has a headful of shampoo.  It doesn't matter how much I prompt, or yell, or harp.....she goes her own speed.

The shower ends up taking the most time, but eating breakfast is another time waster.  She eats her cereal so slowly!  I've tried other foods to hurry her along.  Foods like poptarts, toast; but she eats them all with the same slow pace.

The end result is me usually grabbing her arm and hauling her into the bathroom with 5 minutes to go before the bus is due, to brush her hair while she brushes her teeth.  Then I drag her into the living room and she jams on her shoes and complains about putting on a coat (it's not summer yet, and YES you still need a coat.  I don't care what xxx mother says or what xxx does, you're wearing one!)  Lastly, I kiss her on the head and boot her out the door just as the school bus is pulling up.

It exhausts me every day.  Although we haven't missed the bus yet, I know it's coming.  And I dread it.