On My Case.

My son is a curious little man.  Ten years old, he is a dude that walks to the beat of his own drum.  This is a very good thing, mind you.  It just sometimes really really challenges me to hold my tongue.  Tries my patience. He is similar to me in the fact he loves to take in all things all around at times, and is distracted.  This makes for a very hard morning routine when you are trying to get your kids out to school.  Mornings seem to start good and end badly when my voice is finally raised up after asking him 5 times to get on the next thing (like brushing the mop-hair)!
Recently, I received some great advice and we have put that new program into action.  The first night my husband and I sat down and explained how school nights would go and how mornings would go.  We explained what would happen.  It goes something like this:  Shower at night, bag ready, homework done, shoes found.  ALL equals to precious TV time before bed.  Mornings:  one wake up and breakfast request.  One warning from kitchen that breakfast is almost ready.  Nothing else.  No nagging.  No yelling.  No reminding.  You must walk out of our house at 8:27 am on dot.  Otherwise, you will miss that bus.  If bus is missed, you will WAIT for Mom to finish getting dressed (no rushing her) and getting herself ready.  Then you will check in to school up to 15 minutes late.  You may miss 15 minutes of recess or have to do some laps at the beginning.
My son absorbs all of this information.  His mouth drops open.  I explain that this will be good because of 'no more yelling' and telling you over and over to get with it!  He actually says he is not sure he can do it.  I blew it all off and said, "Of course you can!!  You are 10 years old!!!".  My son leaves the room.  Clint looks at me and says, "This will never work."  We laughed.
The next morning....actually WENT WELL.  He was good with it.  He made it.  I had no yelling.  I felt that my blood pressure was stable and normal.  I called my friend Amy and was astonished.  Awe.  Now, that being all said, we have had a few mornings of coming close to missing the bus.  One morning the hair did not get brushed.  He looked like the bedhead fairy really did a number on the noggin!
So after a few days, Clint and I asked him how he thought it was going.  Clint said, "How does it feel?  Mom is not on your case that much!"
Walker replied, "I think I want her back on my case."