There's no such thing as a good morning

By Staff
Michelle Blaylock, Mom's Corner
"Good morning sweethearts! Time to get up."
Yawn. "OK, Momma."
I smile as I trot down the stairs.
"Good morning, son. Time to rise and shine."
Stretch. "Good morning, Mom."
Knock, knock!
"Good morning, angel. Time to hit that floor."
"Good morning, Momma."
I have visions of them each coming out of their rooms and peacefully take their turns in one of the bathrooms in our home. I have visions of them quietly and happily asking for their favorite cereal, eggs, toast, or whatever to be passed down the island to them. I also have dreams of when asking what they want in their lunchboxes being told something (actually anything) realistic.
Here's where you need to notice the words I'm using–visions and dreams–because this is not the picture of the Blaylock house in the mornings. For one thing, we do not put the words "good" and "morning" together in one sentence. Granted that is mostly due to our 17-year-old who firmly believes that there is no such thing as a good morning. I have to admit it's nothing new. As an infant she hated to go to bed, as she does now, and as an infant she hated to wake up, as she does now. Well, at least she's consistent.
Oh, well, back to our mornings. With school just around the corner, I told the kids last week that had to get back in the habit of laying their things out the night before. My three school-aged kids looked at me and gave me that all in one collective eye roll and groan. Unfortunately, at that point my 12-year-old pipes up with, "I don't have to do that because I'm going to be home schooled." Of course, using that little "na-na-boo-boo" voice. Yes, she did have the common sense to run and hide at the point. Her little bubble was burst, however, when she found out that, um, (for the most part) to make my life easy, I was going to keep her on the same basic schedule as the school kids. (The school kids were doing the happy dance at this point.)
Anyway, let me give you a more realistic view of a Blaylock school morning. John and I are usually up showered and dressed by 5:30 a.m. (Yes, that is in the blessed a.m.). We begin waking up our gifts from God by 6 a.m. It usually goes something like this: "Morning, girls. Time to get up."
"Urphgph" as they pull the covers over their heads
"Girls, come on. It's a beautiful day. Let's go."
"Just five more minutes, pleeeasse."
"OK, I'll be back."
Next child.
"Morning, angel fluff. Time to greet the day."
"No, I don't want get up, just five more minutes."
Knock, knock!
"Son, time to get up."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Does that mean you're actually getting up?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
I head back to my five minute sleepers. "Girls," I call, "your five minutes are up, climb out of bed. (Pause.) Now!
I head back to the kitchen to begin fixing breakfast and lunches. A few minutes pass and I realize that I'm going to have to get down-right, flat-out mean. So I pull out all the stops with the one thing I know with out a shadow of a doubt will get them out of their beds.
"Girls, if you don't get out of those beds right this instant I'm going to let all four dogs in the house and open your bedroom doors!"
Now I hear some scurrying.
Mornings in the Blaylock house can be so much fun.
Truthfully, I've found sticking to a schedule helps more than anything else. Children do better when they know what to expect and when to expect it. Also, to go along with a schedule is a plan. We plan what they want to take for lunch the night before. Usually I give them a list of what I have available for example: veggies might include carrots, celery, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and veggie dip. They might have a choice of a "homemade lunchable" or a sandwich with whatever lunchmeat I bought that week, and of course the favorite standby of a PBJ. They have the choice of whatever kind of fresh fruit I bought that week and I usually try to keep a batch of treats available. Treats are normally something I've baked myself, but occasionally I do splurge for something at the store.
John is usually in charge of getting the orders for the lunches, getting as much of it ready as possible the night before and beginning to pack the lunch boxes the next morning. The kids are responsible for unpacking their lunch boxes and putting their coolie packs in the freezer after school that afternoon.
Overall, most mornings run fairly smooth everything considered. Of course, there is a certain amount of drama involved. How can there not be? We have six kids, two adults, four dogs and two parakeets in this house. Of course, we have a bit of drama in our house!
If you have question, or comment for Mom's Corner, please send it to: Mom's Corner; P.O. Box 1496; Hartselle, AL 35640; or e-mail: moms-corner@juno.com.