Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Waging War #SOL17 Day 14

I am participating in the Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC; #SOL17) 
hosted by Two Writing Teachers
Each day for the month of March I will be posting a "Slice of Life". 
Please feel free to stop back and check out my other posts here.



War has been waged against us this entire school year. 
The enemy we are facing is "being late to school".
We are fighting on three separate battlefields.


The first battlefield is, of course, HOME. 

We are a family of night owls. No one wants to go to bed at night. No one wants to get up in the morning. This has been made even worse this week by the deadly combination of week before spring break anticipation and losing an hour for Daylight Savings Time.

So, mornings are a scramble. I have not even mastered the fine art of getting myself up, ready, and out in a calm, timely manner. But trying to do that while adding 3 kids ready for school in the mix is a challenge to say the least.

We hurried and rushed this morning. 
We were late out the door, but not crazy late. 
Earlier than we were yesterday...
so we can count ourselves victorious on this front today!


Our next battlefield is TRAFFIC.

My gps tells me that school #1 is 7 miles from our house. Without traffic, trains, or hitting every red light in creation it takes at least 15 minutes to get there. But, reality reminds us on a daily basis that there are several stoplights between here and there. And a railroad crossing. And an onramp to the freeway. And several other schools with kids walking and biking.

And that's just to school #1- we also need to get to either daycare or 2 other schools!

Traffic was a draw today. 
We made almost every light, 
but stopped in stand still traffic on the parkway.


The final (and potentially most dangerous) battlefield is SCHOOL DROP OFF.

Busses, cars, walkers. Parents and kids who think it's a great idea to run across the middle of the street instead of going to the crosswalk. Families who choose to have kids jump out of cars in the middle of the street (despite the repeated notices home not to do this) - and  inevitably at least one of these kids forgets something & runs back out to their car. Cars that pull halfway to the curb and back into traffic whether there is space for them or not. Cars that stop right inside the parking lot rather than pulling all the way in & parents who choose to get out of their cars in the drop off lane to open a door or touch their kids.

ALL of these happened today. 
We were trapped in the driveway 
waiting to pull in to the parking lot 
so my son could safely get out 
and through the gate to school. 

They were getting ready to lock the gate. 
"Get out and RUN!" we told my son. 
But he readjusted to grab his stuff.
He got out of the car, 
and shut the door... 
as the gate closed.
And my son stood, 
paralyzed...
crying.
We lost this battle.
We were defeated!
This time...

We are still at war.
We will not surrender.
We will keep fighting.
We will regroup.
We will prepare our battle strategies.
We will go back out there tomorrow.
We will not give up
Until we are victorious
And we conquer the tardy slip!

4 comments:

  1. Oh, how could they close the door in your son's face?!
    Now that you have made this detailed analysis of the problem, does a solution suggest itself?

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  2. I have a student who is late every morning, and his mom walks him in and apologizes every time, and I just smile at her and comfort her- it's OKAY. you are HUMAN and LIFE happens. I hope your sons teacher makes you and him feel the same way. I know we are supposed to stress the importance of being on time..but how can we do that when we know the circumstances life can bring?

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  3. I love the blend of writing you have here. Love how with the movement of my eye on the page, we see what you're going back and forth with in this struggle. Great piece!

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  4. Oh my, this sounds very stressful, and I guess what my daughter or son-in-law go through each day, two schools only, thank goodness. When I taught, I was rarely at the drop-off in the am, but was there after school and saw the nightmare for parents. I wish there was an easy answer, am sorry about your son missing that gate. Poor kid!

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