Playlistening to Get Through the Morning Rush

(C) Chris Gilbert 2010

It was one of those mornings that are really hard to start. My youngest (6 at the time), was sleeping in more than usual, and I was also dragging myself around the morning routine. By the time she got up and I was ready, it was pretty tight time-wise. I knew if I rushed her to get ready, she would only get mad and we would probably be late for her school.

So, I decided to connect with her more playfully and hopefully get us all out of the door on time.

Instead of looking at the clock and saying: “It’s awfully late. Let’s get ready”, which would be my non-playful version, I pretended to be afraid of looking at the watch and asked her to stay with me and not leave the room.

We were both standing in the bathroom. I ‘fearfully' tiptoed into the bedroom to get a glance at the watch. That got a lot of  laughter going for my daughter. Then we had a quick session of ‘catch and kiss’ because she did not stay in the bed room. All this time she asked me to ‘cry’ some more about the time and about her leaving me.

We did this once more. It lasted about 12 minutes in all. Only fifteen minutes were left to get her ready for school. Surprisingly enough, she got dressed in a swift, and even had enough time to sit and have breakfast. She was cheerful and calm.

Had I not chosen the playful path I believe we would have had a quarrel, with both of us getting frustrated about our needs not being met. We would have  hardly made it out of the house in 20 minutes, and there would be breakfast in the car. I think I’ll stick with the playful path!

– You can join Certified Instructor Ravid Aisenman Abrahmsohn in one of her classes or teleseminars. Ravid lives in Israel with her family.

 

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