9 Tips For Kids Who Are Always Late For School

Almost everybody dreads mornings. You're nice and comfy in your warm, cozy bed and then the alarm abruptly rings. It's never a soothing alarm because you'd keep right on dreaming. It has to be an annoying alarm - either a loud BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ or BEEP BEEP BEEP. No wonder so many of us wake up in a bad mood.

After a few too many snoozes, you miss the opportunity to wake up on time and rush to get ready only to find yourself late for school. You promise to get up on time - tomorrow.

Being late for anything is never a good thing. But being late for school is the worst. For a lot kids, it's a common reality. Many times they simply don't "want" to go to school in the first place because school is hard or kids aren't always nice to them. But there are some things you can to do help your kids get up on time and get going in the morning.

Once habits are formed, they're hard to break. Getting in the habit of being on time or early, especially for school, will create a good habit that will last a lifetime.

If your kids are regularly late for school, try some of these tips:

1. Go to bed early - try going to bed one hour earlier than usual.

2. Get all the clothes out the night before, put shoes by the door, have backpacks ready, and discuss breakfast before going to bed.

3. Change all the clocks in the house to be ten minutes fast. It may sound radical and after a while everybody will get used to it but it should work in the short term.

4. Set the alarm to go off at different times until you find the sweet spot. Some kids need to hit the snooze button two or three times while others get up right away on the first alarm. Find the time that works best.

5. Turn on a TV or music to something they like.

6. Have breakfast ready when they wake up. 

7. A glass of water first thing in the morning energizes the body and mind and helps get everything going.

8. Make it a game to see who can get up and out the door first.

9. Bribe them. I said it. Give them $1 if they can wake up, get in the car and be on time or early for school. Do it every day for a month if you have to. Maybe offer to do something they love to do if they can be on time for an entire month.

Some of these are no-brainers and others may be a little out there. Find what works best and keep doing it. The goal is to create a habit of being on time or early. Once the habit is formed, keep following it. It's worth it.

And if you don't have a problem being late for school, consider yourself lucky, disregard the previous tips, and keep doing what you're already doing.

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Turn Off the TV and Read a Book

Waiting For Superman 2010

Waiting For Superman is finally out on DVD and I had a chance to watch it again.

There are many times in the film that I felt energized and a renewed hope that we can make our schools great. But I couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness at the end when so many kids and parents had their own sense of hope squashed because they lost in the lottery.

There are many great teachers AND strategies exposed. We're so close to getting it right, yet the bureaucracies step in and squander what could be.

Up until the 1970s, American schools were the best in the world. Now, among 30 other countries, we rank 25th in Math and 21st in Science. How did this happen?

Our kids spend the majority of their day at school. In my opinion, schools should be palaces and teachers should be paid a king's ransom.

If you get a chance to see Waiting For Superman, do so. It will take a lot of effort by a lot of people to fix our schools. It's something we have to do.

Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder APD (sometimes referred to as Central Auditory Processing Disorder, CAPD) is not a hearing problem like some people think. Rather it is a processing problem that provides difficulty in the way the brain processes or perceives auditory information.

Essentially, the brain scrambles information it receives. This can cause difficulties when listening in a loud room or where there are a lot of distractions.

Children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) very often struggle with language, remembering verbal information, reading, math, and following directions.

It's important that kids with APD study in quiet environments, sit near the front of the classroom, and are spoken to in clear, concise language while making good eye contact.

When giving instructions, don't make them complicated with too many things to remember. Have them repeat back the instructions to verify they correctly received and understand what they should be doing.

Popular programs that help with Auditory Processing Disorder include: Fast ForWord, PACE, and AIT (Auditory Integration Training).