Moving Kids

Scheduling Kids Around Appointments

• What: Arranging kids’ schedules around appointments
• When: Summertime and school breaks
• Why: Stuff still has to get done
• Where: My house

My kids haven’t gone back to school yet, which is code for I’m still dropping them off and picking them up at camp, friends’ houses, and various other engagements pretty much willy nilly. And we’ve got a list of household to do stuff about a mile long. Enter the fun phone tag and waiting game.

I scheduled two professionals for my home today. One was set to arrive at 1:30 because I have the other scheduled for a 1:00-3:00 window. I really hate those windows, because it never fails that they will appear at the least convenient time for me. I may need the extra minutes to pick up my kid on time or my child might be in the middle of a massive meltdown, and I can guarantee they will show up at that moment.

Unless, of course, they don’t show up at all. At 12:45, the 1:30 people called to say that they would be running late for our 2:30 appointment. I mentioned we had scheduled for 1:30 and they informed me they wouldn’t be making that time frame either. They would definitely be there by 4:30, and probably 3:30, and maybe 2:30 but not at all by 1:30. Ok. At least they called. I still felt compelled to sit at the house starting at 12:45 or so in case the 1:00-3:00 guy showed up early.

We waited until 2:15, when his office called to inform us he had broken a tooth and gone to the emergency room for treatment. Could we please reschedule? Luckily, we didn’t need this service urgently, so that was no problem for me, other than the hour and a half of only one kid time I just wasted. But details. I left immediately to pick up my other child from his play date, which prompted the second 1:30 guy (keep in mind it’s 2:30 at this point) to call to let me know he’d be there in 20 minutes.

I feel slightly bad about keeping him waiting for the five minutes or so I ran behind picking up my kid then getting back home. When, in actuality, I had him scheduled for one and a half hours earlier and should’ve have felt fine about accommodating a last minute change in schedule. But there you have it. Life with kids and a house to maintain.