One Minute!

Lucy is a girl who likes to play hard and doesn't like to give up a good time easily so in turn I have adopted the practice over the past few years of always giving her a warning before we are to pack up and leave from a playdate so that our departure does not elicit a kicking and screaming, tantrum response. The problem is that my warnings are not exactly exact. For instance, I will tell Lucy "We are leaving in 5 minutes" and then 20 minutes later give her another 2 minute warning and then 10 minutes later a 1 minute warning. I know this is why she has no concept of how long 5 minutes actually is. My mistake.
The other person affected by this is Harper who has recently taken notice of the warnings and decided that she would start giving her own. Now whenever I give Lucy a minute warning I get a short little task master pointing her finger at me and saying over and over again, "Momma, one minute. One minute!" Then she will begin walking away only to turn back to me about a million times to tell me, "One minute!" each and every time holding her little finger at me and giving me a look that means all business. Perhaps she is tired of hearing me give my false warnings. Perhaps she just thinks that it is something we do prior to leaving, same as gathering our things or saying good-bye. Perhaps I should heed her warnings and mean what I say when I give my own.