You're so lucky...

Meet "Johnny". He is a 6th grader and is late for school most days. In fact, today he was written up for his 8th tardy to 1st period in 4 weeks of school. Johnny has some serious ADD (not hyper, just can't focus), and when Johnny IS ready for school on time, his sister isn't. Add to that the fact that they get a ride from Mom daily, and I'm thinking the apple probably doesn't fall very far from the tree here.

So Johnny got assigned an after-school detention for the tardies (you get one of those after 3 tardies). As I was working with him the other day (he also happens to be one of my students, but he's usually on time for my class), our conversation went like this:

J: Mrs. L, you're lucky.
Me: Why?
J: Because you get to sleep in.
Me: You mean on the weekends?
J: No, on school days.
Me: I don't get to sleep in on school days. I'm up at 5:00 or 5:30 on school days.
J: Why so early?
Me: (Seeing where this is all going now and knowing it relates to his tardies) So I can get to school on time! I give myself enough time to wake up, get ready, make sure my kids are ready, and drive to work. There's no sleeping in, but I am always on time.
J: Okay, never mind.

Poor Johnny. I feel for him. I really do. But his mom has got to help that kid get his act together. We can help him once he gets to school, but we can't get him to school!