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

[MrsJAlfredPrufrock]

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

Why do you care when OTHER people get their kids to school, is my feeling on this

It is very disruptive to the rest of the class for children to be late. My dd has been late once, when I locked us out the house. I quietly sent her into the classroom with a note of apology & left.

I have been working the classroom when others come in late, they loudly send the child in, they bound in, interrupting the teacher, not having gone to the office to get a late pass as per requirements. The whole class then starts talking again, because the teacher in distracted & they take a while to settle down.

So yes, I do care. Because that is my child's education!!

I walk to school with my two littlies. After I've dropped them off and gassed to a few people for far too long in the playground

One of the reasons I chose to drop ds off ever so slightly late (with his teacher's blessing) was to avoid the chaos caused by crowds of parents clogging up the pdorrways to the classrooms - he found it overwhelming. Quite why they couldn't leave their children and fuck off again I don't know.

I am always ready to leave on time (15 minute drive and 2 school drop offs) but the DCs are not.

You try having DCs who have to be told 10 million times to put their shoes and coats on (DTSs aged almost 10) and who will still be standing dreaming or upstairs reading a book (TV is banned) while you are almost giving yourself a heart attack from the shouting or a DD (aged 15) who will decide that she needs to clean her teeth or do her hair again, or has forgotten something and is then still upstairs while I am waiting in the car almost spontaneously combusting.

They have an hour and a half to get themselves ready in the morning but no matter what I do or say, they don't care if they're late. Their clothes are laid out, their breakfast is made for them. Oh, and I have an 18 month old to get ready too. Mornings are an utter nightmare for me and I have started to come round to the way of thinking that if they don't care, why should I? I only wish the school would read them the riot act but they don't! TBF we are only ever a few minutes late, i.e the playground has just emptied and there are always others coming after us but it makes me want to explode every frigging morning.

Yes, MrsJAP but people who are always late aren't thinking about other people are they? What they are doing is always more important that what other people are doing. It's exactly the same argument about holidays in school time. Of course the teachers can't do it, but that doesn't matter because it's all about me and what I want.

Jenai [waves]

Wow Laura that is a big difference in times, I would mention that I think. 20 minutes hanging around where we are in NE Scotland in January would mean hypothermia but seriously, that must be a pain for loads of parents, workers or for other school runs/nursery etc??

JenaiMarri - It's a huge playground and we're very careful not to block anyone's route into or out of school, we don't block footpaths or anything. So don't be pissy. Could you not take him in through the staff entrance or something.

I have alarms set on my phone in the morning.

6am Wake up
7am Ensure all children are dressed
8am 10 mins until out (the children are told it's ten minutes, I know it's 20)
This means book bags and lunch boxes plus any swimming kits etc are at

the front door.
8.20 leave house

When I was a little girl, I arrived at school late -most days. :(

I hated it, I remember watching the clock get closer and closer to 9 and we hadn't even left the house.

My Mum did have her reasons I suppose, but I hated it.

At home time, I was also the last to be picked up, that really scared me...I was always worried something had happened to my Mum.

Now, I am paranoid about time keeping. My children have never been late for school.

Perpetually late parents need to get their act together.

DD sits next to a girl who is late every single day. Usually DD is the one who has to stop her work to explain what's being done. It so happens I know exactly why this girl is late every day and there is a good reason but I still don't think its fair on DD. but equally she'll only be sitting next to her for half a term as the tables are moved round after every half term

However if I thought it was because of someone like Forceslover not really caring about being late and I found out about it I would be absolutely furious at her disrespect for MY DD's education, the teacher and the rest of the class who are all affected by lateness of others. Being late for no good reason does matter and it does teach your children bad attitudes.

"Imagine if the teacher arrived late for school every day? Teachers have to get there, on time, no matter how many children, dodgy bus routes, horrendous traffic etc."

Yes, imagine. Though often teachers do not have to drop off their own infant children first, but there you go.

Conversely, imagine if I only turned up to my job 38 weeks a year? Imagine if the school gave me a parking space so I didn't have to drive round the block for ten minutes looking for one? Imagine if I was in a position to cycle? Imagine if I didn't have kids - I could turn up at a random primary school at 8.30 every day then?

We all have different responsibilities with different penalties for failing to meet them. This comparison is pointless and irritating.

soandsosmummy I would be fuming if my child had to take time out of their lesson each day to tell a late child what the work was. Is this not the teacher's job? I would complain about it.

Ds is usually late. We need a cab to get to the train station, then a train, then a tram. If the cab turns up late we miss the train and it's 20 minutes until the next one. I've tried different taxi companies, this one's the best one I can find. Getting up 15 minutes isn't going to make any difference, it just means we're outside in the rain waiting for the taxi for longer.

Being consistently late is rude and selfish and shows a lack of respect

Agree!

The Head is well aware of the problem toomuch as she is the one who holds the staff meeting every morning, which ends whenever she wants it to finish.

It's a small village school, most of the children come from families where no one works and so actually most of the parents seem quite happy to have a chat with their friends. There are only a tiny handful of parents (like me) who are clawing their hair out with frustration

[waves] at Posie :)

"Being consistently late is rude and selfish and shows a lack of respect"

"Agree!"

So do I.

I am having a harder time convincing my three year old and one year old, though - any tips?

When we lived directly acrosos the road from our old school, dd was frequently a few minutes late as I would try to fit more stuff in before going to school - put on a washing, empty dishwasher, do her reading etc.
Nowe we have moved and are over 2 miles away from the primary and about 4 miles from secondary. WE now leave at 8.35 every morning so both dc can be droppe doff in time.
Hoewever - it is amazing when I drive home how many people are still dropping off at primary after 9 o'clock - including the mother who stopped on the (main) road outside the school, took her small child out of the driver's side so she was standing in teh middle of the road and proceeded to put her coat on..
Incidentally - even though it is after 9.05 the children are still lined up in the palyground waiting to be let in (which gets me too..)

MIFLAW - "Though often teachers do not have to drop off their own infant children first, but there you go."

Eh? If teachers have infant children, then they have to drop them off. Not all teachers work in the same schools their children attend. And not all school teachers get parking spaces, it depends where the school is. But they still manage to be on time.

LadySybil - Has it never occured to you to book the taxi to come 15 mins earlier?

Getting things done the night before is clearly the way to go, and I try to do at least some of them. Trouble is I seem so busy all the time that having an hour or so to myself in the evening seems very important to me. It is tempting to be optimistic and believe I will be able to squeeze in the remaining tasks in the morning, which is a busy time when I am focussed on the day ahead and would not be contemplating the opportunity to read, watch TV or go online.

I do alright most of the time, but do sometimes regret not getting more done the night before.

My three yr old & 8yr old are pains in the morning & everything is run tightly. I have been known to dress my 8yr (fully capable of doing it herself) for school & have taken her out the house with no shoes & socks on before. Everything is ready the night before, clothes, shoes, lunches bags etc.

Sorry...no tips really. Just that they dress as soon as they get up & the rest goes from there. They can watch TV for few minutes if they dress, eat breakfast, do teeth with time to spare. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't!

Come July I will be dropping off at 2 different schools, and by hook or by crock, neither will be late.

Pigletmania - we're another fashionably late family for the same reason. DS1 does not cope at all with any dead time when he first gets to school and cannot wait on the yard with the other kids without panicking (DS2 can't do waiting either). We time it so that they're getting in just as the other kids are sitting down and we go in by the main entrance rather than the long way around that all the other kids have to do. They're met by their 1:1s as they arrive.

Sometimes, we are a little later than we want. Sometimes, DS2 presents us with the Stinky 8:35 Nappy. The other day, DS1 flipped out big time because the lights in one of his shoes had stopped flashing. One day last week, DS2 who we have only just got walking for the journey rather than in his buggy was on a real go slow. It turned out that he'd outgrown his piedro boots and they had left a nasty bruise on one of his toes - poor boy was really limping by the end of the day.

I will say though - we are never, ever last in. I had to strip DS2 off and give him a shower, once, after a major smearing incident, and we still weren't last in!

Sheesh, hot bed Party of intolerance many of you lot. I wouldn't advertise that so loudly. :(

What puzzles me are folk who are reliable in just how late, always 3 (or 5 or 10, etc.) minutes late. Always. I can almost set my watch by them. It makes me laugh... I can understand wide variety of disasters (kids trying to kill each other, Forgot someone's lunch, DS2 goes for a 12 minute poo, alarm failed, etc.)... but if you can very consistently be 5 minutes late, why not manage to be consistently 5 minutes early?

My how-to-be-on time tip is to not just scheduling, but allow 20 minutes for putting on coats & shoes. It's amazing how much else you'll suddenly need to do in that 20 minutes,too. And worse case scenario is you turn up at school 15 minutes early.

Lol @ Frog early in the thread, living across the road but still late every day. It's always like that, no? Even for family gatherings, the ones who live hours away get there first & the ones who live a 5 minute walk away turn up hours late.

Last message to MIFLAW, btw!