Number 3 is almost never ready on time for anything.
I’d like to blame it all on him.
But when it comes down to it, I’ve allowed him to do this.
I’ve given many threats.
Most of them empty.
And so when it comes down to it, he knows I’m not going to do anything.
So nothing changes.
Today, an hour before it was time to go to swim practice, I asked him to get all of his stuff ready. And I also told him to get his baseball uniform and bag ready to go because he had to go to a game right after practice.
He told me he had it all ready. I believed him.
But I didn’t check.
And he hadn’t been completely honest.
And so when it was time to get in the car and go, Number 3 wasn’t ready.
Again I found myself waiting for him.
Again I was going to be late not only for the practice that he had to go to, but the practice I had to coach.
This has happened over and over and over again.
And it has happened because rather than leave without Number 3, I have waited.
Because I don’t want him to miss his practice.
Because I’m afraid if he does, he won’t swim well in his next meet.
Or he won’t start in his next baseball game.
I don’t want him to miss out, and I have been enabling him.
The truth of the matter is that missing a game would probably ensure that he was never late or unprepared again.
It’s not like missing a practice is going to affect his future baseball or swimming career.
But somehow I’ve convinced myself that it will.
And if a friend of mine had told me that her kid was doing the same thing, repeatedly, I would have told her to leave his ass at home.
And so today, I took my own advice, and that’s exactly what I did.
When everyone else was in the car and ready to go and Number 3 wasn’t even out of the house yet, I put the car in drive, and I pulled out of the driveway.
He missed practice.
Will missing one practice affect his performance in the next meet?
Probably not.
But it might affect his performance in the keeping-his-shit-organized-and-getting-ready-to-go-on-time department.
In a good way.
And that, rather than the time he swims in the 100 breaststroke should really be the priority right now.
Consistently follow your teaching practice with your family and you’ll go far! Amazing how it applies to the family.
Spot on… It totally need to do this. My number 3 often forgets things such as shoes… And I end having to carry my 4o lb child. And my husband looks a me like “why didn’t you check his feet before you left” it’s at that time I wanna kick him square in the nuts;)! Have kids they said… It’ll be fun they said!
wow, thank you for inspiring me. my #2 is always a mess. i am going to do this. thank you for your post! thank you for being honest with yourself and with us!
As soon as my daughter was old enough to leave home alone, I did exactly that. If she hadn’t finished up what she had to do but was taking forever like it usually does….a chore, homework, clean her room….I would just leave without her. At first she was shocked, upset, in tears….but now she just lives with the fact she’ll be left behind. Her behavior didn’t change. She is just resigned to being left because she’s so slow and easily distracted. I failed on that one.