Adventures in the school drop-off line

Let me start by saying, I truly dislike the school drop-off and pick-up lines. In fact, dare I admit that in my daughter's six month career in elementary school, I have yet to brave the pick-up line. I've been around the school grounds close to an hour prior to dismissal and there are folks already parked and waiting. Seriously? What do you do in your car for an hour to just wait? There's a small part of me that longs for an hour of silence to read a good book. But every day? Besides, my hour would consist of a cranky 4 year old, who is normally sleeping at that time, buckled into car seat, whining about being too hot/cold/tired/thirsty/BORED! Since my daughter spends a grand total of 7 minutes on the school bus, that's our chosen method of transportation home. For getting her there, I'm stuck. The bus would pick her up an hour before school starts and there's just no point in that. So I'm forced to either walk or drop her off. When temps are in the 30's, there's no way I'm walking. In fact, we have a 55 degree rule.

So today at drop-off, I *thought* we were going to have the coveted first spot. How it works is that there are roughly 7 positions in which you can pull up into to drop your child off. The first one is closest to the door my sweet, cherubic daughter likes to go in. When we're in the 7th spot, it's a haul for her. Nothing cheers her up more about her day is getting that first spot. Today, I thought it was ours. Wrong...

Cars 1-5 and 7 all deployed their children as usual. As we waited, I smiled and joined in the giddy chatter about being "#1" and how cool it was to start off our week this way.

The cars ahead of us started to move around the circle. My daughter grabbed her backpack. I proceeded forward and very unexpectedly had to stop. Car #6 first failed to pull up all the way to the front then let her child out, thereby holding up the whole line. My little sweetness was forced to get out in the #5 spot.

For future reference Car #6, you pull all the way up to the crosswalk/sign if you're in the first spot. Also, regardless of where you are in the 1-7 line, you must let your child out even if he has to walk a distant to his preferred door. Everyone has a different spot they love. You can not just stop at like #3 because that suits you because then you mess up minimally two cycles of cars.

Perhaps it was your first drop off. Perhaps you've only done it a few times. Perhaps you had a hard morning. Perhaps perhaps perhaps... I will choose to believe you were not under the impression you are above the rules. So given this courtesy benefit of the doubt, please get it right next time. It's February. We all should know better by now. I thank you for your understanding and cooperation in the future. And should you mess it up again I will punch you in the junk. Have a wonderful day. ;-)

[photo courtesy of www.parenttalktoday.com. It's adorable, isn't it? I just recently found this blog recently and it seems to be filled with some great topics. Check it out!]