To ask what time your secondary school age DCs leave the house when worry about DD getting up

[itsabongthing]

She’s going to our nearest secondary school. It’s about a 15min drive.
There’s a free bus provided but just had the timetable and it’s 7.40, she will need to allow 20mins to walk to the bus stop will need to leave by 7.20.

Last term I was struggling to wake her up at 7.20 - she’s just not a morning person! I just can’t see how it’s going to happen and she’s going to be so grumpy and tired.

What time do your dcs leave the house and any tips?

I might be able to drive her on Fridays. She has to be there by 8.45 I think so the bus is going to get her there really early (it’s fairly direct).

DD is the least morningest person who ever existed and has always needed a very strict morning routine. We live in the middle of nowhere. School is 8 miles away but the bus is quite direct and goes cross-country, takes about half an hour but leaves from a village 3 miles away.
7.00 First alarm
7.10 Get up alarm and breakfast
7.20 You need to move into the bathroom, do not fall asleep on the loo.
7.30 Back into bedroom - don't sit down on bed, therein lies disaster. Dress, hair, makeup.
7.50 Stumble to car for 3 mile drive to bus stop.
8.00 Exit car with copious moans and groans. Stand at bus stop with cats bum face.

One more year....

DS is up at 6.30am and leaves at 7.15am to catch the bus at 7.35.
Hes not allowed on the internet after 10pm and its off in the mornings so he doesn't get distracted.

We aim to leave at 7:50 (I drop on the way to work). In real terms we normally leave between 7:55 and 8:00.
Ds is up at 7am whatever.
Dd2 the routine goes like this:
7:30 I bang on door and tell to get up.
7:35 I put a head in, tell her to get up and go downstairs.
7:40 I shout upstairs that she better move.
7:44 I hear a thump which means she's got out of bed.
7:45 I run upstairs to fetch my keys and tell her she needs to get dressed.
7:48 she appears downstairs to say she can't find trousers/t-shirt/something else I pick it up within 2 seconds of being in her room-it's exactly where she said it wasn't.
7:50 she eats breakfast complaining that she's being hassled.
7:52 we play the daily game of try to find dd2's shoes. Or shoe. Sometimes they have apparently walked by themselves to opposite ends of the house.
7:55 All in car.
7:55 Dd2 remembers she hasn't got her pack lunch/locker key/pe bag and leaps out of car.
7:56 dd2 appears back in the car having remembered she left it at school. Ds wails "We're going to be late"
We drive to school in almost silence with occasional grunts in answer to questions.
We arrive at school with 5 minutes to spare and then dd2 and ds both decide that now is the time for an intimate discussion and I have to chivvy them out to get into school on time.

7:50

We all leave at 7am. Not back til 7pm. Been doing it since primary though.

Mine walk..They.both get up about 7.30. Then one leaves the house at 8.10 and the other at 8.30 to get to the same school for 8.45.
This summer they are sleeping in like they've never slept before. We are not seeing them before 9. I don't know how they will.manage in September.

We're rural too. Our bus also goes at 7.40, also goes direct, and gets him thwre pretty early. My advice is not to rescue DC. If my ds misses his bus, he has to wait until the public bus at 9.30 and explain why he was late (I.e. That he didnt get up in time). I rescued him the first term (he has finishes yr 7 now going into yr 8), because transitioning to a new school etc, but term 2 and 3 he was on his own. It only happened once, and from then on he has been excellent at getting up in time.

Thanks everyone.

Yes I’m not sure on my work days what the ‘rescue’ option would be anyway as there are no public buses! Hopefully this will help her not to be late!

Just checked on google and it says 10 minutes drive from our house but 1hr 52minutes to walk! Must be because it’s such a fast, clear road.

Okay so I think we will practice once, not early in the morning.
Then I will get her a new alarm (she just sleeps through the one she has... any recommendations?!)
And then the week before term starts we will try to get up earlier and to bed earlier.

It’s going to be a massive shock after lovely summer holiday lie ins!

Oh, and I’m determined that we are all going to religiously get stuff ready the night before. And I might also look into whether she can have breakfast at school or if there’s something nutritious she can take from home.

OP when I was at secondary it was very similar 15 minute bus ride at 7:40, school didn't start until 8:45. No public busses just the school one, it was a combination of lanes and a very fast notoriously accident prone dual carriageway, so not walkable. I used to get up at 7, leave for the bustop at 7:35, it was visible from my parents' house. I could shower and get dressed in that time, I'd always wash my hair the night before and get everything ready and leave it by the front door (drove my DF mad). My school and a lot of others locally used to open the canteen for breakfast so I'd have breakfast and either do a bit of homework or chat with my friends until registration. It's worth checking if she can have breakfast at school as it'll shorten her at home morning routine.

Put her alarm clock somewhere where she has to get out of bed to turn it off, and you will probably have to chivvy her a bit for the first few weeks. She'll get used to it.

They leave by 7.30, up by 6.45 the latest. Of course they don’t like it, but that’s when they need to catch the bus.