A hard thing I try to get my kids to understand. The bus time is at [what:ever]. That’s when the bus leaves. Not when you roll up to the stop. Not when you step out the door. That’s butt-in-seat-leaving-time. If you’re walking up to the stop and the bus is pulling away at bus:time - too bad, so sad. That applies to many things that require you to be on time for. 5 minutes early is on time. On time is too late. Astonishing what a difficult concept that is to get across.
As a parent with a toddler who seems to be light-years away from understanding this concept, when do you think that understanding starts to kick in? Like, what can I expect at age 5 or 7?
26 here. When it does finally happen I’ll let you know. I just hated seeing all the time wasted by my parents as they arrived early so I vowed to never be like them.
You gotta start doing it with a bunch of smaller less important things. We started with things like bed time 7pm was lights out not the start or getting ready. We started around age 3 or 4 and after probably 6 months it really sunk in. When planning to leave the house we would give a 45m warning and since day 1 we never had issues. With that said though kids grasp things differently. Some kids thrive on schedules and routines…
A hard thing I try to get my kids to understand. The bus time is at [what:ever]. That’s when the bus leaves. Not when you roll up to the stop. Not when you step out the door. That’s butt-in-seat-leaving-time. If you’re walking up to the stop and the bus is pulling away at bus:time - too bad, so sad. That applies to many things that require you to be on time for. 5 minutes early is on time. On time is too late. Astonishing what a difficult concept that is to get across.
As a parent with a toddler who seems to be light-years away from understanding this concept, when do you think that understanding starts to kick in? Like, what can I expect at age 5 or 7?
26 here. When it does finally happen I’ll let you know. I just hated seeing all the time wasted by my parents as they arrived early so I vowed to never be like them.
I think for some it never takes hold. Ours are in the early teens and it’s barely starting to register.
You gotta start doing it with a bunch of smaller less important things. We started with things like bed time 7pm was lights out not the start or getting ready. We started around age 3 or 4 and after probably 6 months it really sunk in. When planning to leave the house we would give a 45m warning and since day 1 we never had issues. With that said though kids grasp things differently. Some kids thrive on schedules and routines…