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How hard is it to prep the night before? Have the homework done, in backpacks and sitting by the door. Have their shoes there too and untied ready to put on (for the young ones). Lay out their clothes. Set out the breakfast dishes and cereal on the table. Have them shower the night before.
Or if you can put them on the bus do that. Then if they miss the bus, you gruond them for not getting ready on time.
The 5 minute thing is good. Five minutes to finish your food. If it's not done, you lost the opportunity to finish it. I have my youngest and oldest stretching out mealtime for some reason lately. I have finally got sick of them not listening and started setting the kitchen timer. If they do not finish their meal, it goes in the fridge and that is what they get for the next meal. Sheesh, DS had his supper for breakfast, lunch and finally finished for supper the next night cause he was going to miss out on whatever we were having and he didn't like that idea. It wasn't anything unusual...a hamburger and something else I don't remember but it was typical food. He hasn't done it since.
Our oldest child is a hard hard hard sleeper. You could walk into her room with a bullhorn yelling "GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!" and she would not move. Alarms are pointless and have no affect on her. It's like her body is in a state of hibernation. Getting her out of bed takes an unnatural effort and is a lengthy process. And when she does get up she's slow moving....to the point that you have to drive a stake in the ground next to her to observe whether or not she's actually moving. If we let her just sleep in till she woke up she wouldn't wake up until NOON every day. And it's not like she's staying up all hours of the night...she's in bed by 9p every night.
With that said we have to get her up earlier so we can be sure she makes it on time. She's seldom ever late to school. But that's not the problem....the problem is me getting to work on time. I'd like to get her to school at a time that will still allow me to get to work by 8:00. Thankfully my schedule is flexible and nobody really cares if I show up at 8:00 or 8:15 or 8:30....so long as I put in my 40 every week.
Her siblings are polar opposites. I can go wake the 5 yr old up and all I have to do is rub her shoulder a little....she'll stretch....say "Good morning Daddy" in the cutest little princess voice and then spout off what she wants for breakfast. It couldn't be any easier.
alarm clock for the deaf/hard of hearing - it's called Sonic Boom - it comes with a bed shaker. I guarantee she will not stay in the bed with that in there.
In Germany, if you throw a party starting at 6, you could look out your window at 5:59 and see every single one of your guests standing there, just waiting to ring the doorbell at the appointed hour. I really enjoyed that aspect of Deutschland.
I know the OP was looking for some sympathy, but I agree with many of the previous posters. Folks who show up late are subconciously telling you, "Your time is less valuable than mine. I'm more important than you." It's alpha dog behavior.
At my son's elementary school, there was one student who would show up late at least once or twice a week, anywhere from a minute or two up to 30 or 45 minutes. This kid would then disrupt the class as he got his stuff put away, settled into his seat, and started asking, "What's going on? What's the assignment now?"
The parents (from a foreign country) never really "got it" that this was a problem. Well, until they got the court notice for a truancy hearing. Then, the school was suddenly being "racist" and "insensitive to cultural differences". Hey, here's a cultural difference. In the USA, you're expected to be on time. Deal with it.
I drive my son. I get up 5:30 am to make sure I am awake and he is up by 6:15 am. We leave in plenty of time (they are doing a lot of road work here).
The thing is, if the OP has more than one kid, I can see it being a pain. You just have to plan as much as you can at night. Make lunches, have them assembled in the fridge, have all homework DONE (I never allow homework to be done in a scramble in the a.m.), and have backpacks ready by the door.
In Germany, if you throw a party starting at 6, you could look out your window at 5:59 and see every single one of your guests standing there, just waiting to ring the doorbell at the appointed hour. I really enjoyed that aspect of Deutschland.
When I married my husband (Air Force) and we moved overseas, we would occasionally have the "team" over for dinner, early evening party, whatever. It was exactly as you described. On The Dot. 6pm, they would all come separately but somehow arrive within about 2-3 min of each other. And precisely at 8pm, or 830pm or whatever time felt like the appropriate time for the shindig to finish, they all put on their coats, said thank you, and were out the door within 2-3 min of each other.
We have to get out the door by 728 to get to the bus stop on time. My dawdler makes me nuts, but he knows if I have to drive him to school he has to give me gas money and pay me for my time.
One time he missed the bus (but his younger siblings did not) and since the bus loops back around the neighborhood, he sprinted to a stop that is about 3-4 minutes past our stop. He made it. I talked to the bus driver about it later that day and apologized for him getting on at the wrong stop, and she told me she has kids that do that almost every day - they miss the bus at their stop and the parent loops around and puts them at a later bus stop. She also has cars that follow her down the street and the kids get out and run to the bus at our stop because they missed it at their stop. She has a lot of patience (I am sure that is a requirement for a school bus driver).
With 2nd graders I always try to make sure there is no tension in the a.m. which might cause us to be late. So we get as much done the night before and I'm up 15 to 20 minutes before they have to get up. This gives me time to get my thoughts together and not project my own hurried state on them. I always point out to them how much easier the mornings are if we don't have any fusses about hair, clothes, shoes, etc. We aren't ever late. Also they go to bed no later than 7:45. That helps.
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