Invariably, it happens as you’re walking out the door
without a minute to spare. You reach down to zip up your toddler’s jacket and
are immediately overcome by the unmistakable aroma of a fresh, full, poopy
diaper, that has, of course, exploded out the back of the diaper and up the
clean shirt you just put on him. No problem. You get the diaper changed, zip up
the jacket, and finally head out the door, a little late. But wait; it’s time
to feed the baby. No, the baby will not wait. She needs to be fed RIGHT NOW!!
Resigned to the fact that you will be very late, you unzip the toddler’s jacket
and sit down to pacify the baby with a quick snack.
Yes, this happens. Especially when you have an infant on
hand. You never know what the next crisis will be, but you can bet that the
minute you need to get out the door, a crisis will hit. And soon enough, you
resign yourself to being chronically late.
New moms are given a lot of leeway in the timeliness
department because veteran moms know that while you may have been able to get
yourself out of bed and out the door in under forty-five minutes before you had
children, there is no way you can do it with children. And it takes a long time
for parents to realize that they need to add time to their routine for the
mishaps that are guaranteed to happen.
I learned this lesson the hard way – as the victim of a
chronically late friend. We would schedule a time to meet. I would scurry
around, getting the diapers changed, feeding the baby, combing my hair, tossing
on a hip (yet casual) outfit while throwing together a diaper bag, all in a mad
dash to get out the door so I could be at the designated place at the
designated time. Inevitably, I would show up on time and my friend would show
up anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour later, always lamenting about how hard
it is to get two kids out the door. I really like my friend, but being a hip
mom with a busy schedule, I don’t have time to always wait and wait (and worry
that something bad has happened), so eventually I stopped making plans
to get together with her.
It is easy to blame our children for our inability to be on
time, but truthfully, being on time is a matter of planning and foresight. And
it’s important. If it takes you half an hour to get yourself ready to get out
the door, plan on starting an hour early, because now you have more than just
yourself to worry about. If a true disaster occurs, deal with it and call your
friend to let them know you’ll be late. It isn’t easy, and you won’t always be
on time, but a hip mom will make the effort.
