After my request to the principal about punishing the kids for being habitually late, I sent a follow-up email. Something along the lines of, “Let me know how the tardy talk goes- we’ll see if we can’t teach some personal responsibly!” Her response was not my first choice (see previous blog post envisioning recesses spent on a bench) but it was none the less appreciated.
Her reply:
Quick update: The angels just left my office. Love them…could eat them up! We talked about my least favorite time of day… mornings before school. We talked about what it feels like to be a mom in the AM, trying to get 2 kids out the door. We talked about what it probably feels like to be my daughters when I am impatient and yelling about getting dressed, finishing breakfast and getting in the car.
We had a good talk (they, like you, identified that breakfast had the greatest impact on leaving the house on time) and agreed on a couple of things.
1) I will maintain a stock of small lollipops (we did discuss other possible incentives such as 6 year aged manchego cheese but agreed that cheese presented some unique problems). Every day when they arrive prior to 8:00 they may come into my office and help themselves to a lollipop from the designated jar. If I am in a meeting in the office, they will be in the pocket outside my door.
2) On any day when they arrive at or after 8:00 they know that we will be meeting to discuss WHY they could not get to school on time. (The look on their little faces told me they didn’t like the sound of that very much.) Let’s see how Monday morning goes!
Another day, I’ll tackle the idea with her that kids should just be on time and not rewarded for following the rules. But today, I’m left laughing at my son’s reqest for high end cheese and dying to hear the details of that meeting. Actually, I’d love to have heard the conversation in the teacher’s lounge. “You know that crazy Ash woman? If you think she’s nuts, you should hear this!”
