By the Time They Get on the Bus . . . .

[On_Call]

I'm just north of crazy myself - and wish I could go straight back to bed and start over. :hammer:

difficult child and easy child are horrible to each other. They constantly critique and correct each other - both thinking they are the smartest kid in the universe - then feel the need to tattle when they feel they have been unjustly treated by the other.

Even when husband and I intervene - usually asking them to "just stop" and let it go, it continues!!

difficult child has decided that he is God's gift of knowledge to the world and feels it completely and justifiably necessary to correct EVERYONE - and easy child is overwhelmingly sure that she was royalty somehow born into the wrong family.

Definitely a no-win combination.

Sorry for the vent. I've got to go work to rest up now. :crazy:

 

[smallworld]

Jamie, I so know how you feel.

We had one of those mornings ourselves, although because my younger two are girls, it involved clothes!

The story actually began a few weeks ago when easy child/difficult child 2 bought a tank top at her favorite store (Abercrombie, the bane of my existence). easy child/difficult child 3 thought she would "help" take the price tag off and ended up tearing two holes in the back of the shirt. easy child/difficult child 2 was understandably upset, and we told her we would buy her a new shirt. easy child/difficult child 3 got the ripped shirt. This morning easy child/difficult child 2 wanted to wear her new shirt, and easy child/difficult child 3 wanted to wear the same shirt. easy child/difficult child 2, as a 6th grader, is "too cool" to have her baby sister wearing the same shirt to school. You would have thought WWIII had erupted. Yelling, slapping, pulling hair -- a real cat fight. Fortunately, husband was still home, and we managed to separate the girls. And then in another fortunate turn of events, easy child/difficult child 3 couldn't find her shirt so she ended up (unhappily) having to wear something else.

I was never so happy to see them climb onto the bus this morning.

Jamie, hope the rest of your day goes more smoothly.

 

[On_Call]

Sorry you had the same sort of morning, but glad to know it's not just me! Eek!!

Here's hoping we both get some peace on the homefront.

Although, soon it will be summer - and more free time!!

 

[jenbug]

Are you me? Did I write that? Wow! Exact same situation here!

 

[Sunlight]

jamie, getting ant on the bus was what prompted my first post here about 8 yrs ago.

it may help you to get up earlier than them, have coffee and quiet time first, lay our their clothes night before and breakfast stuff. tell them it is silent time and they cannot speak other than goodmorning and goodbye..lol

 

[slsh]

I'm just giggling here!!! I think this probably falls into the realm of normal sibling garbage. I thought Weeburt and Diva (same age spread as your kiddos) were going to be the *death* of me last year. I was ready to change our name to the Bickersons. Diva is the queen of the world, enforcer of all rules, but also soooooo sensitive and dramatic about the most imagined slight. Weeburt is pretty stoic, quiet, but with a dry wit that has become borderline deadly (LOL) this past year. Honestly, their daily fights became almost comical - he's looking at me, she's breathing on me, he won't help me find a sock, she walks too slow, he walks too fast, she sings too loud, he blah blah blah and on and on and on.

I tried to be peacekeeper, mediator, and comforter. Far past my usual patience level. Finally this spring I had a minor meltdown and told them it just stops, here and now. It didn't so I gave them a firsthand glimpse of how if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. No more walking to school with- friends. No more junk food after school snacks (fruit and veggies only - equivalent to life in prison around here). Even got to the point where video games (Weeburt's passion) and stereos (Diva's passion) were turned off for a week.

Also gave them several stern talking to's about the importance of family, how at the end of the day family is who is there for you, and while it's perfectly normal for them to despise each other right now, they also need to remember that they need to have care and concern for each other because (hopefully) they won't hate each other forever.

Also reminded them that *I* am the absolute authority around here and only *I* am right all of the time. :rofl:

It worked. Actually I think it was the combination of having one very unhappy momma and blissful maturity as both kids have really changed this school year. Now they can walk to school without me having to worry that one of them is going to be torturing the other. I don't hear the rumblings anymore - I'm sure they still bicker but they do it quietly.

Hang in there - it *will* pass. :smile:

 

[Crazy-Steph]

I, too, think this is normal sibling behavior. We are constantly breaking ours up. They will get along great for about 30 minutes, but then all heck breaks loose!

It's really tough on easy child daughter though. She is old enough to want to follow the rules but poor difficult child brother just can't. So, they are both constantly in trouble. We (well, I should say I) try to let them work it out, but we can only take so much yelling!

 

[dreamer]

I do not miss the mornings getting ready to go to school. YUK. Our elem school began at 7 am...and my oldest difficult child used to have to be at a group in the evenings a town away that did not let out until 9 PM......and our WRAP/SASS required her attendance at that group. Bummmer is due to her medications, she was difficult to get up and we had to begin waking her at 5 am to get her to school on time..........and her lil bro went to morning kgarten....so it felt like all morning I was waking kids, arguing with them getting them out the door to school. I worked 2nd shift at the nurseing home. LOL- to my dismay, when I arrived at work, most everyone was in bed for naps and I had to get them all up and re-dressed for dinner, LOL. BUT that was still easier than getting a difficult child up.
Later my oldest started school at 10 am (in her ED BD class) and my easy child started at 8 am and my lil dude started at 7 am. SO from 530 am till 10 am Mon - Fri I was waking kids and argueing with them, trying to move them along to get them to school. I definetely needed a nap before heading off to work at 11 am.......and another nap when I got home from work at 3 am before starting all over again trying to get them all up. YUK. I do NOT miss that at all. You have my sympathies.

 

[DammitJanet]

I am quietly laughing to myself at all this.

You guys are still in the trenches and I know it seems like it will never end but it will in such a few short years. There is a song about it.

Enjoy:

Artist/Band: Adkins Trace
Lyrics for Song: Then They Do
Lyrics for Album: Greatest Hits Collection 1
(Jim Collins/Sunny Russ)

In the early rush of morning,
Trying to get the kids to school:
One's hanging on my shirt-tail,
Another's locked up in her room.
And I'm yelling up the stairs:
"Stop worrying 'bout your hair, you look fine."

Then they're fightin' in the backseat,
And I'm playing referee.
Now someone's gotta go,
The moment that we leave.
And everybody's late,
I swear that I can't wait till they grow up.

Then they do, and that's how it is.
It's just quiet in the mornin',
Can't believe how much you miss,
All they do and all they did.
You want all the dreams they dreamed of to come true:
Then they do.

Now the youngest is starting college,
She'll be leavin' in the Fall.
And Brianna's latest boyfriend,
Called to ask if we could talk.
And I got the impression,
That he's about to pop the question any day.

I look over at their pictures,
Sittin' in their frames.
I see them as babies:
I guess that'll never change.
You pray all their lives,
That someday they will find happiness.

Then they do, and that's how it is.
It's just quiet in the mornin',
Can't believe how much you miss,
All they do and all they did.
You want all the dreams they dreamed of to come true:
Then they do.

No more Monday PTA's,
No carpools, or soccer games.
Your work is done.
Now you've got time that's all your own.
You've been waitin' for so long,
For those days to come.

Then they do, and that's how it is.
It's just quiet in the mornin',
Can't believe how much you miss,
All they do and all they did.
You want all the dreams they dreamed of to come true:
Then they do.

Ah, then they do.

 

[Ally]

Oh do I understand this one. When difficult child lived at home and was going to school, by the time that she actually went out the door I was pretty much certifiable, every morning. They were a nightmare!!!

 

[On_Call]

Janet, love the song lyrics - don't think I've ever heard it, but don't get much time with the radio these days.

I do know that someday I will *probably* look back on all of this and chuckle, but some days . . . . . :hammer:

We are about as organized as I think we could possibly be for the mornings. Showers are taken at night - clothes are laid out at night - backpacks are ready at night - munchkins are up at 6:00 and buses come at 7:10 & 7:15. You would think we have thought of everything.

My sister and I at least had the common sense and courtesy to stay away from each other in the morning - although I was always (and still am) a functioning morning person and my sis is not, so that was probably a challenge for my Mom.

Thank God tomorrow is Saturday!! Although, they've been known to argue over Saturday Morning cartoons, too . . . :crazy:

 

[Wiped Out]

Like others, I can totally relate to this. And some day I may look back on these days and laugh but right now that is hard to imagine. Like Crazy Steph's difficult child, my difficult child doesn't play by the rules when bickering so things tend to get over the top really fast some mornings. I try to get easy child and myself out of the house as early as possible to avoid as much of the drama as possible!

Nice song lyrics Janet!