If you have several children (like 8 or more), do you arrive at places on time?

[Nestof3]

Like church, appointments, functions you're invited to?

 

Honestly, this is not a snarky question -- I'm really trying to see if it's families with lots of children or it's just the families we know.

 

Thanks!

[Murphy101]

I'm either 15 minutes early or I'm late.

95% of the time, I'm early.

After 8 kids, I've learned to presume the worst and plan for it.;)

[Remudamom]

I don't have that many, but you get up early and you have the older ones help with the younger ones.

[Murphy101]

oh never mind...

[JudoMom]

I've (only) got 5 and I'm rarely late.

 

The family I know will 11 is never late to co-op.

[bkpan]

I'm either 15 minutes early or I'm late.

95% of the time, I'm early.

After 8 kids, I've learned to presume the worst and plan for it.;)

 

Yep, this describes us as well (although we only have 6dc).

 

Kim

[Murphy101]

I don't see a correlation between the number of kids and lateness. Some people are just chronically late. Ever notice it is almost always the same people time after time? I understand occasional lateness. One cannot always predict everything that can get thrown in their way, but there are some people who apparently can't ever get it together to be somewhere on time.

 

It is one of my pet peeves. Can you tell? ;)

 

 

:iagree: you are not alone in that sentiment either.

Although I have to say what really irks me is their attitude that I should wait for them, call to remind them, or give whatever when they don't come prepared (forgot entry fee, supplies, babysitter, ect...). Nope. I give about 5 minutes and then I move on without them and I rarely carry enough money or supplies around to float more than my own crew.

[Quiver0f10]

Yes, but it takes work to do it. Ocassionally I am late if something last minute comes up.

[FlockOfSillies]

I can't seem to get it together. I was like this as a kid; my dad says I'll be late to my own funeral. He's Mr. Hurry Up and Wait. His punctuality skills never rubbed off on me.

 

Sorry to annoy all of you on-time types. I admire your ability to make it to things on time. Somehow if I'm running early, I allow it to slip away. Or maybe I'm not actually running early; I'm just barely on time. I don't expect special treatment, or reminders, or whatever. It's something I've always struggled with. I wish I had some other flaw instead.

[Osmosis Mom]

I hate being late and always plan on being there 10 minutes early.

 

Learned, however, that with Arabs (Muslims?) you can't arrive right on time for a dinner invite since this subgroup is perpetually late, LOL. So likewise I don't plan on my Arab guests arriving on time for dinner and always add an extra hour so I won't get frustrated that the food is getting cold or that I'm starved!!!!

 

With teens, then it easy, though, to start off late, what with them changing their outfits and what not. I am a mean mommy, though, and had dd run back to the house yesterday to change her pants which she zipped up while running through the neighbourhood with me "driving off"(not really, though). We got to weekend-school on time. Hate being late!!!! LOL.

[Jane Elliot]

We are nearly always among the first to church. When we're late, it has nothing at all to do with the size of our family. If we're late, it's usually because of dh's job. For example, he gets paged on our way out the door and has to answer it because we don't have cell reception between here and town. We have been late occasionally due to farm stuff--i.e. the cows were out and we realized it on the way down the driveway. More often these things don't make us technically late, just later than we wanted to be.

 

I always announce a departure time that's a good 15-30 minutes earlier than when we actually need to leave. I assume the cows *will* be out or that dh *will* get pages. That's the only thing that works around here.

[HRAAB]

I only have 5, but I've always tried my best to not be late. I'm more apt to be early which can have it's own problems. My dear m-i-l was/is always late. She barely made it to our wedding on time. When my sister-in-law got married, the Justice of the Peace was ready to leave if they continued to wait on mom. That's why I made up my mind I'd rather be early than late. If I am late, it because my dh; he is his mother's son. I think it's more the person involved, than family size.

 

Janet

[Kelli in TN]

When all six were at home I was always late. Someone always had a diaper explosion as we were walking out the door. Or someone just had to nurse right then as we were preparing to go. Or someone could only find one shoe.

 

Now my youngest is 8 and we are rarely late.

[swellmomma]

I only have 4 children and we are perpetually late I can't imagine how bad it would be with 8 or more. With 2 kids with adhd et al which invovles dawdling, stalling and attitude plus a baby and a Ker in the mix we are always late even to fun things the kids WANT to do, such as the boys birthday party. Yes we were late to their own party.

[Kanga]

Like church, appointments, functions you're invited to?

 

Honestly, this is not a snarky question -- I'm really trying to see if it's families with lots of children or it's just the families we know.

 

Thanks!

 

My dc complain regularly about the tardiness and flakiness of hsers in general. Most of our friends have less than 5 children and they are never on time...to anything...ever! And sometimes forget to call and tell us they have decided not to go. So we are left waiting outside the waterpark or opera house and after waiting the alloted 30 min. (which we give all our hs friends) we call only to hear, "oh, was that today?" I tell my kids, "Mrs. G has said she is coming, but you are not allowed to get excited until you see the whites of their eyes".

[klmama]

I think time awareness is genetic, not learned. My dh is always early. He is like his mom in many ways, and she is always early. His dad is not. His siblings that are more like his dad are always late. Both of my parents were always late. I am always late. I have no sense of time passing when I'm doing something. One of mine (the one that is more like my dh) is always the first one ready for everything. That one has a great sense of time. The other two are more like me, and they are always late getting ready. No sense of time passing. We have to use timers and alarms to keep us on schedule, but even that doesn't always help.

 

ETA: Okay, I guess I'm not always late. I realized that I do manage to get the dc to their activities on time, and we do get to church on time. So, I should say, if left entirely to my own devices I'd always be late. Thankfully, I have dh, alarms, and timers to help get me out the door when I should leave!

[Sparkle]

Yep, I don't think it's the number of kids. People generally either seem to be organized or not. Now I do understand being late when you have a baby - I know it was always inevitable that they would have a poopy diaper or spit up all over themselves just as we were heading out the door.

 

I think of some of the families I know that are chronic latecomers, and usually they are not the ones with a lot of children. My MIL is the absolute worst when it comes to things like this - and her sister is just as bad. And neither has any littles to worry about.

[sweetbasil]

Well, the more children you have, the more unknown variables you have to affect your timing.

 

You just have to start much earlier with more children.

[milovany]

It's because of my dh! I can get me and the seven kids (ages 14 down to 5 mos) places on time, but add my dh to the mix? At least five minutes late! (at *least*). Argh!

 

But I love the man ...

 

:001_smile:

[Cindy in C-ville]

Honestly, we're usually late. :( And I don't like being late, but we usually are. We have six kiddoes, but it's not their fault. Usually it's me or dh trying to get one more thing done. We tend to underestimate how long it will take to get someplace, how long a project will take, etc. We're working on and people are patient with us, but it is a chronic problem. One of my dds is our self-appointed timekeeper. While none of us like to be late, she HATES being late. She gets pushy when the time to leave draws near and drives everybody crazy.

 

For me, it's not that I'm that disorganized. I have my chore charts, meal plans, lesson plans, etc. But, I"m not a natural at this. I've worked hard to get the organizational systems in place so that our family can function. I just stil haven't figured out how to consistently get places on time.

[phathui5]

We only have four, but we tend to be on time.