Here's the Etiquette Lesson for the week: Tardiness is Never Polite. As most of us moms know, this is very hard. It's not that we mean to be late constantly, but if you've ever had to pack up a baseball team just to run buy milk, you'd understand. Getting to church on time, come on. Are they serious!!! Having to make sure Joey isn't wearing his lawn mowing tennis shoes, Rachel is wearing underwear and I've put on deodorant takes time. And usually, by the time we make sure everyone is "just so," someone has taken something off, spilled something on someone or even become lost themselves. It is difficult. However, with all that said, we must be aware of how our tardiness is perceived by others. When we are late, it sends a message to the ones who have planned the activity that we simply don't care about their time, their schedule or the distraction that our tardiness causes to others. It says loud and clear, "Your time, effort and schedule are simply not of importance to me." It's important that we do our best to be on time. Sure, things are going to happen. But, it doesn't need to become a habit. Proper etiquette means we are always sensitive to others' time and effort, and we try to be respectful of both by showing up "on time." This lesson is definitely for me, too.
