<p>in the main hallway of my house. “Why?” you may ask. Today was the first day of school for my twin seniors, and by school rule they are now permitted to drive to school. They have a 20-40 minute drive to school, depending on traffic. If they have been given the responsibility of driving to school, I told them that I would no longer be going through the agonizing routine of waking and pleading with them (repeatedly) to catch the school bus. It was up to them to get themselves up and out. </p>
<p>So, I set up my lawn chair in the hall, took the morning paper, and waited. I’ll cut to the chase. They got up on their own, laughed when they saw me, took breakfast and were out the door 5 minutes earlier than they had planned. As they walked out the door, one of them said to me, “Show’s over. You can put your chair away.” I should have done this 3 years ago. <smacks forehead=“”></smacks></p>
<p>Hats off to you for the Creative Parenting Moment of the Month. Love that story. I see myself telling that story some day in a parenting workshop if that’s okay with you.</p>
<p>bulletandpima,
That was the best part of the story to me, too! I got two 17 year olds to laugh at something I was doing. Simply shocking.
And edad, I thoroughly agree with your assessment of the situation.</p>
<p>Mom, at least your story is funny, here was my day. Wake up at 5:50 a.m blurry eyed walk down stairs grabbed the throw blanket, turned on morning joe and laid down with one eye open. 10 minutes later I did not hear movement so I screamed DS2 are you up? Yep! DD are you up? Yep! Closed eyes again until DD comes down and makes me do a french braid. Do the braid…she looks in the mirror and pulls it out saying I think it looks better with low pig tail braids !</p>
<p>Of course this was after her trying on 15 outfits the night before, asking for my opinion, and chooses a totally different outfit.</p>
<p>Boys are so much easier! :D</p>
<p>The sad thing is I did not cry this yr like I did when DS1 started his sr yr. I guess, that could also be seen as I have also come to realize that although it is sad that this phase is ending, I am thrilled for her because she is so excited for her future. Not that DS wasn’t excited, but it was more about me losing a child, and now it is about being excited to see her soar, because I have watched that with DS1, and realized that the is the greatest accomplishment Bullet and I ever did. We raised them to want to soar!</p>
<p>Not my boy. Day 2 of middle school. He came home crying yesterday and got on the bus today with his hood over his face and wouldn’t even say goodbye to me.</p>
<p>D2, on the other hand, had her outfit all picked out. Oh right, that was easy, because she spent days shopping for her back to school outfit!!!</p>
<p>Tomorrow will be all about her tearing through outfits. Unless I spring for a day-two outfit, and so on.</p>
<p>Boys are not easier, most of them just do not care and eventually they still learn one way or another. People just say that girls are more mature, I say they care about staff that boys will never start noticing.</p>
<p>Great story! Starting in 10th grade, S (now college freshman) attended a school 30 minutes from home. I drove him until he had his license and we let him drive himself. Invariably, as the school year progressed, he would be later & later leaving. I ended up charging him $1.00 for each minute he was late to leave the house. I got several manicures & pedicures out of it.</p>
<p>My boys come kiss me in bed before they leave. They’ve always been on their own in the morning.</p>
<p>CBB, I also charge $1 for various infractions, but I’ll never get a pedicure or manicure out of it. They are so cheap that they reform themselves quickly. Which is as good as a pedicure, I guess.</p>
<p>When our son got his license, we had him sign a contract that had specific requirements and various consequences for breaking the “contract.” One of the requirements is that he be out the door at a certain time for school. While the school is less than 2 miles away, the roads are almost entirely through neighborhoods. He cannot speed on those streets. If he doesn’t leave on time, mom or dad will take him, something he finds very humiliating. He hasn’t left the house late yet.</p>
<p>When my son was fourteen, he complained one day about how I did his laundry. I told him that I could solve this problem very easily and that from this moment on I would not do his laundry ever again. </p>
<p>I showed him how to use the machines and he has been doing it ever since. He has just gotten his driving permit and I plan to get lots of motivating mileage out of it:)</p>
