<p>13 years of dragging Son out of bed in the morning (sometimes literally.) Getting up on his own was one of my big fears about him going away to college. He’s getting himself up 3 days a week for a 9 am class…it *is *Swimming, so there is very minimal getting ready, but at least he’s getting there.</p>
<p>lastminutemom - good solution to a serious problem. Late is not good, especially when a kid is driving. You don’t want speeding, you don’t want rolling through stop signs. A cutoff time for departure is a good idea.</p>
<p>Driving while late.</p>
<p>My sister was driving her son to school; they were late. She drove fast and perhaps did not pay attention enough. She drove her small car right underneath a truck. She escaped unhurt but her 8 year old spent Christmas in hospital. Since then, he’s suffered from agoraphobia.</p>
<p>The good will lasted one day. :rolleyes:
Marite, I am going to have that talk with them this weekend about not rushing, no matter how late they are. I think it is time to start imposing “a fine” of some sort if it gets to a certain hour and they have not yet departed.</p>
<p>Is the bus an option if they are getting out the door late?</p>
<p>Ds1 only drives to school (20 miles one way) if he has an afterschool activity. But the bus in the morning has been horribly inconsistent, and if it’s not there within 30 minutes of scheduled pickup ds will call and ask me to bring him the car so they can get to school on time. Of course, I hate that for various reasons, including the fact that now he feels under the gun to get to school on time and the fact that he’ll take other kids similarly stranded and so I feel responsible for them, too, and I fear he’s rushing. The only consolation is that I’ve told him he can only take kids whose parents have given prior permission, and the fact that he’s not a risk-taker. He’s a safe driver.</p>
<p>Maybe for each day late no car on the weekend?</p>
<p>momof3sons, when you impose a penalty, make sure it is something the child cares about. For our older son, he had a set time he was supposed to be out of bed and we gave him a 15-minute leeway. If not out of bed and we had to walk up those stairs, he got grounded for that evening. We used the same penalty for missing his curfew at night (one night for every 15 minutes he was late). He liked to go out every single night so this was usually effective. </p>
<p>For the younger son, he liked being martyred, so taking away privileges had a counter-productive effect. For his infractions, we had to make him “do” something like cook a family dinner. </p>
<p>I don’t think fines would have worked well with either.</p>
<p>Well, I have decided that I am going to draw up something in writing to discuss with them this weekend. Things like a set time by which I need to hear them out of bed each morning. Putting lights on upstairs so that I know they are up and moving. I don’t think I have to impose penalties, just set rules. The penalty would be that I would have to drive them, which is really just a penalty for me, believe me.</p>
<p>YDS, the bus is not an option since I canceled the morning pickup for the school year.</p>
<p>Maybe you could couch this as they obviously aren’t getting enough sleep so for every minute late they go to bed that much earlier? My kids HATE going to bed early. And, of course, that would mean no texting, talking, IMing, etc.</p>
<p>Motivation at our house to make the morning bus: if the bus is late to school due to traffic, it’s an excused absence. If I drive S2 to school and am stuck in the same traffic as the bus, it’s an UNexcused absence. Given traffic in this area, if he misses the bus, he <em>will</em> be late.</p>
<p>Said child assumed I was waking him up Tuesday am. He was late. Has set his cell phone alarm every AM since. I LOVE the lawn chair, though – will have to remember that one!!</p>