I hate being late. I always have, still do. I would rather be three hours early to an event than three minutes late. If I arrive the moment the event is supposed to start, that means I’m late. As a child, I was taught that “when I am late, I am mentally unprepared to begin, so I should begin prepared!” To be fair, sometimes there are unforeseeable situations – flat tires, traffic tie-ups, getting lost (that’s me), last minute urgent phone calls. But what really burns me up, or used to, is when I’m late because someone else just couldn’t get moving…again. I would be livid when someone who was habitually late would greet me with a sheepish grin and an off-handed “So sorry, you know me! I’m always late!”
I’m really not livid about that anymore. Well, most of the time I’m not livid. Time-management is actually an Executive Functioning skill that is lagging in many people. It is not because they think their schedule is more important than anyone else’s. The ability to think ahead with a realistic idea of the concept of time and how much of it is needed to complete a task, or get out the door with everything you need, or even to drive to a familiar destination and know how long it will take is not on the radar for those who struggle with time-management. It’s certainly not a question of how much they care for or respect anyone else. It is a constant source of stress and anxiety because they know it causes friction between them and the people who are kept waiting. It is not deliberate rudeness, nor selfishness, and it is very common among those with ADHD. However, it is an Executive Functioning skill that can be improved with the right approach. It has to be acknowledged and then can be mitigated with different strategies.
Obviously, always being late and simply chalking it up to an amusing and perhaps a not-so-endearing trait is something that can cause a lot of problems personally, in school, and later on in a professional life. There are various tools that someone with time-management issues can learn with the help of a good life coach. Chronically being late can cause a child to miss out on wonderful opportunities as well as contribute to low self-esteem. Take that a few steps further, and an adult who is chronically late and unprepared can lose a job. However, stocking up on the right tools will help relieve a child of the anxiety of always having to catch up or feeling a step behind. Instead, they will feel encouraged, motivated, and catapulted forward!Learn from the Kids
Grace Notes 