Child Raring and Stitches

The school year has officially started, which means - children walking around like zombies every morning and me trying to get them into semi-conscious state by various means, so they can make it to school on time. Yesterday, feeling somewhat panicked and insecure about my kids running late, I posted a line on Facebook, asking parents for advice, " What do you do to get your kids up for school on time?" By that evening, I had a few very useful tips. Many of them - like setting bedtimes, getting everything ready for the morning the night before, etc., I was already using. Then came an interesting comment, "You've got to give something to get something", followed by a very detailed plan of rewards for my children, based on how often they get up on time, complete with the star chart suggestions...
Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the tips. I just don't know if rewarding children with treats for something they should be doing anyway is a good plan of action, - it seems to me a bit misleading. It is as if I need them to get up on time, where in reality they have to do it so they don't get in trouble at school; you know? Well, maybe it is a good plan for a kindergarten or a first grade student. Not for a teen. So.... that afternoon I sat everybody down and had a family announcement. I expressed to my older daughter that, as of next morning, she has to be dressed and ready to leave for school by 7:55 am (actually it's 8 am, but I thought I would cut the deadline a bit shorter just in case). If she is not ready, then her dad and her sister are going without her, and it is up to her to find a ride to school.
She listened, then we talked. She has been having trouble with her math class, and every night she has to stay up later and later to finish her homework. She has been tired more than usual. She wanted me to make sure that I see her wake up, because often, she said, she did not even hear me waking them up in the morning.
Today I woke both my daughters up at regular time; they got ready, got dressed, got breakfast and were ready for school - believe it or not - 30 minutes before the deadline! Both of them made it to school on time. No stars, no charts. Just letting them face their responsibilities.
Again, I want to stress this point - even it is no more than a personal belief: rewarding children for something that should be their responsibility is not a good practice, because it turns their duty into a game. In real life nobody is going to reward them for washing their ears, doing chores or getting up to the alarm clock. They will be - in fact, they already are - expected to do that anyway.
And that is my rambling and raving on the child raring question. Thank you for your patience. :)

Now on a more exciting subject, - stitching. I have stitched a bit more on Hogwarts Crest.

Hogwarts Crest progress - 09/17/2013

As you can see, the armor leaves on the right side are completely formed and just need to be filled in. I had to frog some stitching out in the process because of the miscount and redo a large portion of it; in fact, I still suspect that there may be a mistake or two in my stitchery. But - I am doing it for myself, so I resolved to leaving it as is. Can you see anything wrong with it? :) So far, I can't. And if it is not broken... it will be later, just give it time. :)
I also went to Jo-Ann's for some Christmas fabric - to finally finish up the Christmas ornaments I stitched in the beginning of summer. Here is what I picked up.

Christmas Fabric for the Ornaments

For  the most part, I think they will match well.. There is only one ornament that did not get the backing fabric. Remember my snowman with the snowflake?

Snowman

I will need to find something different for him - something white or silvery or light green and blue with snowflakes for the pattern. None of the patterns I picked up matched him. He is a very particular character.

Thank you for reading my ramblings. Now I am off to stitch... And happy stitching to you!