DAD: “I suppose they might. That would be sad for you.”Chances are, Zach will be up and waiting for the school bus when it
rolls around the next morning. Kids with parents who are less concerned
about their flunking and more concerned about giving their kids an
opportunity to think about flunking develop kids who think and rarely
flunk. Their parents aren’t going to worry about it, so they’d better.
When Their Tardiness Affects Others
Sometimes our children’s morning tardiness affects others too, such as
when we must drop them off at school or day care on our way to work.
Handling this dilemma takes a little inventiveness.
Five-year-old Jack made his mother late for work regularly. She tried
all the standard tactics to get him to be ready: spanking, taking things
away, denying television privileges. Nothing worked. Then she decided to
give Jack some control. She said, “Jack, I’m so excited. Starting
tomorrow, I’m never going to be late for work again because my car will
leave every morning at 7:30, and there are two ways for you to go with
me. Would you like to hear what they are?”
Jack said, “I guess so.”
“Well,” Mom said, “dressed is one way and not dressed is the other.”
Come morning, Jack (who was not ready to change his behavior that
easily) continued his go-slow routine. He wasn’t ready at 7:30. Mom
came into his room and said, “You’re not dressed, but that’s no problem.
You probably didn’t feel like dressing. That’s why I have this nice little
bag. We’ll just put your clothes in here. You can dress whenever you feel
like it.”
She took Jack by one hand and the bag by another, and out to the car
they went. As she backed out of the driveway, she said, “I’m glad I’m
going to be to work on time today.”
Now, the Jacks of this world are not going to take this lying down.
They’ve got spunk. Jack took his best shot — right at Mom’s jugular.
“You don’t love me,” he wailed. “You put me in the backseat of the car