Sleep/wake/get ready question

So, my husband generally gets the kids up in the morning, gets them ready for school and drops them off. Is it typical for 5 year olds to lollygag? I mean, distractions as simple as making faces in the mirror for five minutes instead of brushing teeth? How can I encourage my husband to not yell at them when they are supposed to be getting ready?

 

Making faces sounds totally normal. Add in trying to shoot your sister with a nerf gun, stopping to tackle the cats, or hiding from mom so maybe you don't have to go to school and your kids can come visit my house.

Seriously, kids will lolly-gag a bit at most things. I have everything done as much as possible the night before. Backpacks, lunches, clothes set out. I want the next morning to have as few things to get done as possible. Then I wake them up a bit earlier than they absolutely have to be up. And I try and keep a sense of humor about it. I might ask them to make their scariest face and then brush their teeth. Or suggest the face might be sillier if there was toothpaste in his mouth. Once and a while, I do yell when they just can't stop the sillies.

Marissa

 

It is so hard to keep them on task sometimes. I agree that it's best to have everything ready and very few choices for them to make in the morning. The only choice mine get is what is for breakfast and then that's only like 2 options

 

Totally normal. I have been know to dress one of my girls while she is still asleep just to make the morning faster.

 

I have a 10 yr old and a 5 yr old and they both get sooo distracted! It's, unfortunately, normal!

 

VERY normal. On days we do not have anything going, to get out the door (with a 7:30 wake time) by 11:00 is early! Ha!

 

Very normal. It's also normal for 6 year olds and 7 year olds. I make them do things separately... like one brushes their teeth while the other gets dressed in the bedroom, then they switch. It helps a little.

 

It's normal, but it's so hard not to yell. We try to leave LOTS of time for every step. We also motivate them with TV. I know this wouldn't work for everyone, but for the past several years we've been allowing them ~20-30 minutes of TV in the morning as soon as they're all ready for school/camp. It makes a pretty good carrot.

Mine are nearly 7 and it's still bad, so (IMO) it's better to just accept it and figure out how to deal with it rather than letting it make you crazy! Definitely easier said than done, I know.

Some families also use the clock to mark the start of different phases. Like, "Oh, it's 7:30, breakfast is over now!" and then just clear their places. If they're not done eating, they will eat faster next time. So far, I"m neither organized nor brave enough to do it that way.

 

I think I'll try the getting the clothes out the night before as part of going to bed. They're going to have to get up at 6 to make it to school on time, so bedtime will have to be moved back too, might as well start a whole new routine!

 

Yes, we leave plenty of time in the morning for moseying along the AM routine!

We also have a visual chart at 5 that helped. They could see it taped on the bathroom door what to do in what order.

Lay out clothes the night before and pack lunch/backpack (mine lay it out and put homework in night as it is done)

Set a timer for eating----one of my DDs will take F.o.r.e.v.e.r. to eat due to talking. She has 10 minutes. What ever she does not eat is done. Yes, at first it was screaming fits and I'm hungry whines, but I will say after a few days she was eating better and faster and stopped complaining.

As PP said, we switch who does what first (dress, teeth) . That way fewer social distractions and no one to talk to. We do eat breakfast together very first thing.

Mine are morning people so they fly out of bed talking....UGH! I need coffee first, but it does mean they are more social/talking than sleepy when they take too long!

We offer 1 hour to get ready in the am (wake at 6:45 and bus at 7:45). That is dressing, eating, hair/teeth, and a bit to play.

 

We make them pick out their clothes before bed too -- we've done it since they were 3 and started insisting on picking our their own clothes!

FWIW, our whole routine takes about an hour and a half. Amy is usually up by 6:30 and is often dressed and has had a yogurt by the time DH and I come upstairs (our bedroom's currently in the basement) around 6:45. Then we have to drag Sarah out of bed at 7:00. We're out the door around 8.

That includes TV time, but I use that time to brush their hair and then finish getting all their/my stuff together, so even if we said no TV, it wouldn't save us that much time. It would just mean they'd find more ways to get distracted / make a mess / fight with each other before we leave the house.

 

I read an article on this yesterday and basically you have to remember that for kids, being a kid and doing kids things is their prime directive. So yes, while they may be told to brush their teeth, the urge to make mirror faces will override all self control and take precedence. With Aaron, we wrote out the schedule of when he has to be to the bus stop and when he has to get up. We told him if he doesn't make it to breakfast, he won't eat until snack and if he misses the bus, he loses tv. I've been very surprised by how responsible he became over the last year. I suggest having helping them plan their routine, making sure you tell them the times they need to be where and give them some incentives (aaron is allowed to watch tv from 7-725 if he is down and eating breakfast). I think if you give them some of the responsibility and only have your DH be the time keeper, it might take some of the stress off him.

 

YESSSSSSSS!! It happens here too. :crazy: It makes me batty at time but I usually make way with "this is the last time I tell you, next time I'll yell" and that usually gets it done. :lol:

 

It is STILL happening at almost 12. I have to say that Morgan & Peyton are the worst. We always have clothes out the night before and snacks/lunches made and packed. Even said, just peeing, dressing themselves, brushing teeth and hair takes forever. Sometimes close to an hour for Morgan. I have zero idea why. It's beyond frustrating, especially when she leaves 1 minute to eat her breakfast.

 

I'm fortunate in that picking out clothes leaves little to the imagination as mine have dress code (khaki's/navy bottoms and white or navy shirts) - the hard part is Ian, he will get up (maybe), take off his PJ's and fart around in his room nude for 15 minutes, by that time his sister is dressed and yelling at him. He throws her out of his room, and continues to play, nude. By then I'm ripping because she's dressed, and he's well, NUDE! I've threatened more than once to send him to school that way and allow him to freeze his wiener off!!!!

at any rate, they don't even have to eat breakfast, they do it in school (maybe not so much this year since I only have school 2 days a week) just the act of rising from a supine position, peeling off ones PJ's and pull up and actually putting on underwear, socks, pants, shirt and sneakers STILL takes up to 40 minutes!

 

The girls frustrate me so much in the morning because they mess around. This AM I turned around and Zoe is just hanging out playing with the hamster instead of brushing her teeth. We now sit clothing out the night before so we do not have the stress out of what they are going to wear. I really try not to yell at them but they take over 45 minutes to throw on some clothes and brush their hair and teeth.

 

Maybe we are just lucky but it takes my kids literally 10 minutes to get ready. I wake them up 10 minutes before we leave. Maybe they don't fiddle around because they don't have any wiggle room at all? They are still half asleep as we are getting in the car lol.

 

It takes my girls 30 minutes to wake up & walk out the door. I lay their clothes out the night before. Backpacks & lunches are packed & ready. I wake them up, they have 15 minutes to eat breakfast, then 10 minutes to brush their teeth & get dressed. I come in the last 5 minutes & fix their hair. They've been doing this on their own since about 6.

I have no idea how we got such great system going in the morning, and I'm so grateful. They do everything themselves, without drama. If one wakes up a little early, they can watch TV until its time to start getting ready, but they know when to turn the TV off. If I tried to leave it on, that would be a disaster.