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

[MrsJAlfredPrufrock]

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

Me too! I always wanted to get a black cat so I could name it Sootica

I still want to get a black cat and call it Sootica

but Sootica was a bit of a meanie, IIRC? (no offence, Sootica, I mean the original character, not you..!) - as a child I wanted DB to call his kitten Gobbolino because she had the right markings, but he wouldn't cos she was a girl. Pedant.

Parent of child in ds's class has had four children go through the school. She lives 4 minutes walk away. She is late 3 days out of 5, and has been for as long as I've known her - 7 years.

I'd love to know why this is. None of her kids has special needs, and she's a SAHM. She also has a really big age gap between her oldest two (who are teenagers) and her youngest (in year 2), so they help her at home.

For her sake and for the children's sake she needs to sort it out - she always looks DESPERATE in the mornings.

Yes, Sootica was a bit horrid actually.

It's just I can say, hand on heart, I have never, ever noticed who is late and if see someone dashing up the road I have never thought anything of it.

It's between the school and the parent, surely.

Oh dear. I'm late for everything. Nearly everything. Getting up time is irrelevant. We often get up at 6am and 5am in the summer. I have been trying since I was about 9 years old to be on time. I have written literally hundreds of lists of routines over the years to try to get myself organised. I forget to read the lists. I pack everything ready, I forget where I put it. I put my keys down then forget where. I forget to look at my watch. I have no concept of time passing, if you ask me the time now I have no idea. I guess, I came back from work at 1145, so it must be umm about 1300? No only 1220. Okay.

But I'm horrified at the thought of passing this on to my daughter. Her first term at school we were in at 0830 for the 0845 deadline every single day. This last week I am insisting she dresses herself, and we have been late 0915, 0900, 0859, 0858, and today hooray 0946 so tomorrow we may be on time.

Thanks OP, I honestly think this thread may help me motivate myself to sort out my lateness once and forever. It must be possible.

'I wonder how many of those who are routinely late are late for a plane, probably either not at all or once as the plane will not wait.'
Er, actually my brother has missed a couple of planes and countless trains...he is highly intelligent, holds down a good job, but is absolutely terrible at timekeeping. He makes it to work on time by going to the (onsite) gym first most days, but if he has to get somewhere else there is a good chance something will go wrong!
There are just different types of people in this world, and perhaps some have more empathy than others

Oh I would so enrol DD for LeQ's bootcamp.

Not that she doesn't get places on time - she does. I would just love her to see that I am not, in fact, the meanest Mummy in the whole wide world (as she frequently tells me I am).

how much do you charge, LeQ?

My DB1 is definitely a chronically late person. It drives me demented on the rare occasions when we are going somewhere together, as he is, absolutely, implying that his time is more valuable than anyone else's (and he genuinely believes that to be true).

SIL seems to deal with it superbly (although I don't know how they deal with school runs as I have never witnessed it) - if they are going somewhere together, and he is not ready, she simply goes without him. If he is due to be somewhere and has not got up in time, she shrugs and says "it's his problem - he can deal with it" - he has missed 'planes, and been late for meetings, but she simply refuses to be involved or stressed.

'I wonder how many of those who are routinely late are late for a plane, probably either not at all or once as the plane will not wait.'

I have sat on a station platform waiting 30 minutes for a train, then watched my train pull in and pull out again.

My db is just a daydreaming boffin whose mind is on a higher plane...he is not arrogant about his lateness in any way.

A lady in our village was always late for school, she had 4 children at primary, including twins with SN. The school were always going on at her. One day, i very tenativly asked if I could help in anyway. It turned out that one of her SN DS was a real problem to get to attend mainstream school, he would hide, refuse to come out, and literally fight her tooth and nail until she would forcefully drag him the first 1/4mile towards the school, at which point he would give in and just dawdle. On other days he went to a SN school, but then the problem was that his taxi always turned up 5 minutes after she should have left to walk the others down, so this made her always late on those days too! Me offering to collect and walk down the other 3 made her life easier, it was on my route anyway, and actually made my 2 boys more eager to get out of the door on time too. The outcome was good all round, her kids got to school in time, she was less stressed, and I gained a very good friend for life.
Make a general offer of help to the mum(s) that are late, and see what reaction you get. You may get blown outof the water, or you may be welcomed with open arms too!

If you think latecomers to school are bad, you should try living in the same village as people who are late for the school bus! It arrives at the same time every day and yet there's one family who are regularly 5 minutes late, and the bus just sits there waiting for them. This makes every single child on the bus (40-50?) late for school I KNOW there are no issues with special needs because when the children's father or grandmother bring them they are always there on time: it's ONLY when the mum is bringing them that they are late. She always has an excuse like 'oh, the tumble dryer was late finishing' (WTF?!)

What really, really grates is the way they saunter up as though they had all the time in the world, no embarrassment, no apology, when we've all been hanging around waiting for them, some of us being made late for work. I've asked the bus driver to just go without them but apparently they're 'not allowed'.

It REALLY pisses me off!

The bus driver isnt allowed because hes made responsible for all the kids on that bus and the kids he's picking up. If he leaves because one of you said to go without them, their mum is well within her rights to ring the school and complain saying that the bus waited then just left & how will the kids get to school?

There are multiple reasons why parents bring their children to school late. Most schools can differentiate between the parents who have a lot on their plate and who are doing their best and the ones who don't give a shit. And there are plenty of those. They're generally the same ones who can't be arsed to collect on time either.

saggarmarkerbottomknocker - thats very true. teachers are experienced enough to know the lazy ones from the ones who genuinely try to be there on time. even if it means they have to ask them why they're continually late.

How will the kids get school? In the car that's sitting on their drive...

so if their mum can drive too then i can see your point with asking the bus driver to just go but its still the bus drivers duty to pick up every child unless hes told otherwise.

Yes, I know it's not the bus driver's fault, I don't blame him at all. I just wish this family would get their arses into gear and stopping making my kids late for school! It's actually disruptive for every single child in the school, because every class is disrupted by bus children arriving after the bell has gone.

I do think, using myself as an example, that some of us who are chronically late do so because we genuinely don't realise how much trouble it's causing. For instance, if you are late to school every day, you don't know what it's like to be in and settled and have someone else walk in late so the teacher has to repeat what they just said. I only realised when I was 9 because we got a bus to school and if you weren't there, it didn't wait.