Monday 21 November 2011

Bringing up boys: the slow path to greatness


How long did it take?
Twenty FIVE minutes?
What WERE they doing putting on snow gear for a walk to the Arctic?
No, just getting dressed for school on a Monday morning.
I land up chivvying them and barking like some demented Border Collie with recalcitrant sheep and all I can say is sheep dogs the whole world over: R.E.S.P.E.C.T!
By the time I get downstairs to give them breakfast I am exhausted and ready to blow a fuse.
How on earth am I ever going to get these boys to GET A MOVE ON!?
It’s not just me who finds it exasperating Dear Charlie does and actually so does the headmaster at school who takes The Boy for hockey.
“Yes he does need to learn to focus and hurry up a little in the changing rooms,” he says to me smiling that tight little smile which means he’d really like to say a whole load of other things to me about how slow my son is in the changing department but politeness and the fact that I pay school fees means he’ll keep it to himself.
I wonder if there is a slowness to get dressed gene in the family but I can get up get dressed and breakfast in less than quarter of an hour so it can’t be me; and Charlie well he’s a morning bird. Perhaps my boys are throwbacks?
You know to that time when the family was extremely wealthy and you employed people to actually dress you in the morning. I can understand why this is appealing I would like that too but it ain’t going to solve the problem I’ve got now because the family, how shall I say it, is not as blessed as it once was, and anyway, in this day and age it would be a bit creepy.
I have tried bribery, it works but not for long and I’ve tried shouting. Perhaps it is time to say: “If you don’t get downstairs in the required amount of time there’s no breakfast!” or else I just get them up half an hour earlier….

8 comments:

Jude said...

I know EXACTLY how you feel. Somehow getting up earlier doesn't seem to do the trick, they just mess about for longer instead, and we all get less sleep.

Tattieweasle said...

Jude - NOOOO I was hopig that was the way forward, back to the drawing board....:)

Anonymous said...

I have heard that boys are a lot slower in the getting up and dressed department than girls, so maybe your husband was the same at the boys' age?!

I must say that Amy is pretty slow in the morning and has been told numerous times at school to get a move on!!

CJ xx

Marcheline said...

Whatever you do, don't let them watch the first five minutes of "Dangerous Liaisons". They'll be wrecked for life.

Tattieweasle said...

CJ - I AM going to have to talk with my MIL about this! But if Dera Charlie was slow at least there is hope my boys will get faster!
Marcheline - OK Les Liasons Dangereuse banned until they leave home and I don't have to run about after them!! Great tip thanx!

Expat mum said...

My 8 year old has almost an hour between getting up and walking out the door, and I still have to chivvy him at the very end. (This doesn't even include showering as he usually has a bath the night before.)
The faffing around, almost slow-motion movement is a sight to behold.

Tattieweasle said...

Expat Mum - do you think our boys are related? Faffing is an art form with mine!

Britta said...

Dear Tattie,
I liked that post! Children are like that (and they grow out of it :-)
Now that our Son has grown up I can give those little strange little remarks as: "Children are like that. They are intense - and doing things slowly lets them see everything deeply" - but I know that it doesn't help when oneself is in a hurry and rush every morning. But I believe that your son will be as quick in preparing as everybody when we like the thing that is awaiting us.

Go on you know you want to...

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