How many of you have 7-9 year olds who in the morning u feel like u nag to get them JUST DRESSED or JUST JAMMIES?!?!
Unorthodox but my kids would shower and dress at night and sleep in their clothes to make mornings easier.
When my son was little enough and being uncooperative I’d pick him up and throw him in the car with his clothes and tell him he’d better be dressed before we got to school.
Tell them you have to find a solution and give them a day or two to think about how everyone can get out the door on time. Remind them once (and only once) each night to be thinking about solutions. Everyone needs to come up with at least one idea/solution. Then schedule a quiet time to calmly sit and take turns stating what they came up with.
At the meeting write everything down no matter how ridiculous. Then TOGETHER pick which ones from the list you want to try. Treat the kids with respect and don’t interrupt. Sometimes it takes having an object to hold when speaking so those without the object have to stay quiet until the speaker is finished. Let the youngest one go first. Include dad if he’s in the picture. No interruptions, no insults, no comments, you’re just making a list. State rules beforehand and remind as succinctly as possible when things go off track.
After you have the list ask which solutions everyone (including you) are willing to implement and tweaks are fine: yes we can have chocolate waffles for breakfast but they’ll be frozen and you have to put them in the toaster yourself, for example. Yes lay out clothes at night but they have to be clean.
Get an analog clock and label when things have to be done on it (stick paper with the task on the sides of the clock): out of bed by 6:15 am, dressed by 6:30, breakfast (if they don’t eat at school) by 6:45, teeth brushed, backpacks and coats on by 7 am and out the door. First couple of days give only one reminder per task when halfway there (“three minutes left to be dressed”). Resist the urge to nag. Then after a few days no speaking at all. It’s up to them to figure it out. Or set alarms or a timer for each milestone so it’s an inanimate object and not mom doing the reminding.
Do the same at night for when things need to be done. Don’t get mad when things don’t go as planned. Ask the kids what they’re going to do about it. Teach them to problem solve and take responsibility for themselves.
First off you’re the mom. Second do prep the night before. Clothes out. Breakfast planned. Lunches made.
1 Like
Have them pick out clothes for the week
Put in labeled drawers.
Been there. When my daughter was that age, I basically had to drag her out of bed in the morning for school cus she didn’t wanna get up. I started making her pick out her clothes the night before to save time. That was one less to argue about. It seemed like it didn’t matter how early she went to bed, she still didn’t wanna get up lol. Now she’s 12 and she sets her alarm and gets up before me every morning. She has a whole morning routine and it’s great now.