People who are late for school every day or almost every day.

[MrsJAlfredPrufrock]

Why don't you just get up 15 mins earlier?

I think body clocks are something of a factor. Some people just don't function very well in the morning and are at their peak effectiveness later in the day. For people with this kind of body clock, being expected to get up unnecessarily early every day is torture. And it is unnecessary to get up extra early just in case there is a delay.

Haven't read the entire thread so don't know if already mentioned, but:

If it matters to you that your children's school has a good OFSTED rating, then timekeeping matters very much to them.

If your school has a 'problem' with lates or unauthorised absence, it will be noted ,without a doubt, at inspection and the school will be expected to do something about it.

You may not care less about being late, but plenty of other people do, and manage to get to school on time.

Besides,what message does it send your kids if you are habitually late? That its ok to be late for appointments? Work?

If you are late for a train or bus, it goes ahead without you. Much like school.

Plenty of people are not "morning people" but still manage to get the kids to school in time.

Not a morning person = a bit lazy, imo.

gosh I am not a morning person, me and dd both sit in the car at 6am not talking as we can't manage that amount of movement that early

RHP - I am certainly not lazy - so feck off

Solid I dont think getting up at a time that means you can get everyone ready and to school on time is getting up unnecessarily early. Every morning I have to drag my arse out of bed and could quite easily stay in bed an extra hour at least and I am so not a morning person, but I still get my children to school on time. Delays are fine and well, they do happen, but they are usually one off occurances which is fine. Its when its every day through nothing else but laziness.

Wasn't there an article in the news last year (Guardian and DM, so don't anyone get their knickers in a twist about leftie liberal parenting ) that said that secondary school times were actively harming teenagers' educations? Apparently, during puberty our circadian rhythm is slightly off and teenagers would be much better off starting school about 2 hours later and finishing 2 hours later.

really? how interesting. I know that some schools near to me are starting schools earlier - about 8.30
there was also an article in the guardian that atyourcervix linked about school refusal which was good - I'll try to find it

Judging by lots of the posts above, being early doesn't neccessarily "set a good example" for your children. Late parents seem to regularly create early children in adulthood. My parents were always early and because of that I was always "running late" because I rebelled against that time obsession. I think you need the right balance... being late once in a while is better than a life of watching the clock, because children don't respond well to that either.

corn this isn't the article I was thinking of, but you might find it interesting.

The problem is lots of people that are late would be late no matter what time school started. I find that people are punctual or late - the actual time they are due to arrive is not the issue.

here listen to the sound of the perfect parents spontaneously combusting

My kids are normally bused to school but the bus company are awful and often the bus is late or just doesnt arrive. If my oldest 2 have gone for the bus and it doesnt show i have to drive them. They are often arriving a few minutes (max 5) late because i am in the bath getting ready for the nursery drop off at half 9 when they appear back to the house. I just can't get out quick enough.

ANd maybe i could get out of bed earlier and have my bath before they go but i have horrendous insomnia and sometimes i am tossing and turning well into the small hours. I would really struggle to get up earlier tbh.

thanks for that sunshine and books - very interesting

My parents are like me with their time-keeping skills and trained me in being ready on time. I never rebelled with that by being late my rebellion was smoking

We could get up at 5am and be late some days.
I found the cure though.
Older children.

I'm not a morning person - not lazy - my brain starts working in the afternoon tis all. I feel foggy before then. We're never late but I don't mind if other people are. I see one lady struggling down the road with her dd who doesn't want to go, I see another lady who's little girl is terrified of school as she doesn't speak much English and hasn't made friends, I see the lady in a wheelchair with two children - it matters not one iota to me that they arrive 5 or 10 minutes late now and again. Usually the first thing they do is carpet time, just chatting about news and things so one slipping in a bit later doesn't really cause a problem.

I don't think being late sets a good example for your children. If I was consistently late to work I would be spoken to as it is a disciplinary offence.

Ds is the first pupil at school every day. He has no choice as I have to get to work. When I was home for three months last year I dropped him off nearer school start time. I would then chat to the other mums and drive out of the car park long after the bell had gone. Every single day I would see the same cars driving up the drive as I left (and I knew quite a few of them and knew there was no special reason why they were late other than cba to leave home in time).

Ds's school have two bells. Pupils need to be in their classroom before the second bell. If they aren't then they are marked late/absent. The second bell is 10 minutes after the first (the first is at the start of school). That means every single day these pupils are arriving in their classrooms after lessons have started. That is rude and disruptive.

I wonder how many people on this thread who don't think being late is a problem would turn up to every work meeting 10-20 minutes late?

Yabu. It's none of your business. I am chronically physically ill and struggle greatly to get my DC there .
In fact it upsets me so much I'm speaking to the HV about it tomorrow .
People like me really don't need attitudes like yours .

Amazed at the number of people on here who know exactly what is going on in other peoples lives, or should i say presume to.

Mollieo how exactly do you know these other people just cba to leave home on time? I can't think of any parent i know who would be late just because they cba to leave on time. Maybe got caught up doing something else but not just cba.

MrsJ - that's a bit of an exaggeration. People who are five minutes late don't really have a huge effect on your super-punctual children. You've got to draw a dividing line between stuff that actually genuinely has a noticeable and measurable effect on other people, and stuff that is just 'people who are not me do things differently to me and may do things that I personally find irritating'. I had a ruddy woman sniffing every 30 seconds while stood next to me on the train for 25 minutes today. It was extremely irritating - I was dying to yell 'blow your sodding nose!' But it wasn't actually important. (Unless she gave me her cold... and even then I'd have a hard time proving it was her, not hundreds of other commuters on my train/at the station/on either of the tube lines, including those who had left germs earlier but buggered off.)

Hope the slatterns on this thread have laid out the clothes, packed the lunches and cleaned school shoes, ready to leave 15 mins earlier tomorrow?

I am already in bed and about to go to sleep. Ds2 (16) went an hour ago, and the two littles had tea, bath, reading then a story and were asleep by 7.10pm.

I have not read the whole thread but I reckOn the people who are late all the time will probably live a little longer than me. I swear I will one day blow a blood vessel due to trying to get my kids to school early.

But you dont get "caught up doing something else" every day. If you do you have 3 choices you either do it another time like the night before, you get up earlier or you work out what is always making you late and do something about it like in Nanny's case speaking to a HV about it.