On not saying, "Hurry Up" all the time.

When I was a little girl my Mum always used to say, "You've got two speeds, slow and stop." But I remember dashing about everywhere, always in a hurry.

Now I find myself chivvying TLB along, "Come on, hurry up, get a move on."

I know children have a tendency to dawdle and daydream, to stare out the window when they should be getting dressed but I don't think they're that different to adults.

I think the difference is that adults monitor children. They're constantly waiting for them, telling them what to do. Nobody monitors adults.

Nobody is waiting for me to hurry up and get in the car, I make the decision about how long it takes me to do a thing. But children don't get to do anything for themselves. "Go and have a bath and hurry up, make it a business bath, not a play bath." "Eat your dinner quickly", "Get dressed, you'll be late for school".

They never get to do anything at their own speed.

I suppose it could just be me, being impatient, but I hear it everyday in the street, in the playground and it can't be that all children are inherently slow.

It must be us with an eye to our watches thinking they're slow when in fact they probably don't take any longer than we do.

Apart, of course, from when they have to get up in the morning. Or clean their teeth. Or finsh their dinner. Etc, etc, ad finitum.