5 Honest Reasons for Being Late I Write on the School Sign-In Form
No matter how hard I try or how early I get up, we struggle to be on time. Instead of feeling like a failure for not being on time for anything ever, I try to laugh it off by recording the real reasons we are late on the school sign-in form.
Reason for late: her body was too tired to get up
My oldest wakes up full-force ready to take on the world 99% of the time. That other 1% of the time usually requires anything and everything short of a marching band in her bedroom. One of those 1% days, I woke her up and she responded with, “My body is too tired to wake up. You can come back in 5 mins.” I’m 39- my body is always too tired to wake up but no one lets me have 5 more minutes. She has no actual concept of time, so “5 more minutes” was actually 13, and clearly carpool wasn’t happening. Instead, I was writing “Her body was too tired” on the sign-in form while the assistant principal laughed over my shoulder.
Reason for late: She is very two today
Honestly, this is every age, but most recently it was my 2 year old who made us late just by being two. She wanted to tell the dog goodbye but then wouldn’t leave when he wouldn’t tell her goodbye back. Then, she wanted her yogurt but didn’t want her yogurt. Then she wanted to be in the car before her sister but wanted her sister’s help getting in the car but also didn’t want her sister anywhere near her. On this particular day, I wrote “she is very two” on the sign-in form, and next to the her sister’s name on the form, I wrote, “Her sister is two.”
Reason for late: Philosophical contemplations on life
One particularly smooth morning (should have known it was too good to be true), I thought we’d leave at the time we’re supposed to. As we were packing her pancakes into a cup to go in the car, my then four-year-old looked at me with a serious face and asked, “Mom, why was I a baby?” When a four-year-old is contemplating the meaning of life, all bets of making carpool are off. “Because we all start out as babies,” I replied. “But why?”- the words all toddler parents know and dread too well. Four “but why?”s later, “deep thoughts about life” was written on the sign-in paper.
Reason for late: cheerios
No explanation needed. Anyone with small children has experienced the cheerios meltdown at some point. If you haven’t, brace yourself. It’s coming. There’s nothing you can do. No way to rationalize with the child. Even giving them another cup of cheerios won’t be good enough because the first cup of cheerios was probably “the most special cup of cheerios I’ve ever had.” It will be the end of the world and you will be late. So I wrote “Cheerios” on the sign-in form, and every parent after me probably understood exactly what kind of morning it was. I get it though… I feel that way about my coffee.
Reason for late: missing left shoe
At least once a week, we’re running late because we can’t find a shoe. Am I the only one who feels like school shoes go missing overnight while everyone is sleeping? We can find every single other shoe in existence in our house, but when we’re running really late, why is one school shoe missing? And why is it always the left shoe? The last time this happened, I’m pretty sure my child went to school in two different shoes. I just wrote “missing shoe” on the sign-in form and hoped for the best.
When I tell people what I write on the school sign-in form, they think I’m joking. If my honesty when signing my kids in late can help one more parent feel understood and not alone in their chaos of raising tiny humans, then it’s worth it. If nothing else, the office staff gets a good laugh – though most of them know my kids and usually look at the sign-in sheet and offer the most empathetic and knowing nod I’ve ever received in my life.
