When did they start...

Just wondering how hold your kids were when they started doing things by themselves without any adult help.

When did they start...

1. taking a bath by themselves
2. brushing their teeth by themselves
3. cleaning up their rooms by themselves (without any nagging from you!)
4. doing homework by themselves (without any nagging from you!)

I'm really looking forward to the day when I don't have to help with any of those!

 

Isabel just turned 7 last month. She does shower/bathe by herself, but really just started doing her own hair in the last 6-9 months. She's got long hair and it was hard for her to shampoo/condition it well. She does brush her teeth well by herself and we've stopped following up on the brushing just in the last 3 or 4 months. Cleaning up her room...nope, she doesn't do that so well. Homework...she doesn't get too much of it, but she just needs to be reminded to do it and she does it. She'll ask for clarification or help as needed, but she's pretty independent with it.

I do have to say that she has always been a kid that does things without needed to be told too many times or nagged and is quite independent. If you were asking about my twins, then I'd probably answer "never", but they aren't 5 yet (just 4.5), so I'll give them some time. I hope the nagging will decrease soon for them, but they are much different in personality than Isabel.

 

I don't think the nagging from me will ever end. I still have to nag Andrea to get stuff done, and she's 21! LOL

Bathing/showering alone they started around 7 or 8, but still needed help with hair, unless they showered together, then they were okay. I still have to nag about length of time in shower, or to get them to do it in the first place.

Teeth-I think mine have done it since 5 or so. Sure at first I supervised, just to make sure it was actually being done. Now I just have to nag them...ehem remind them to actually do the teeth brushing.

Cleaning their rooms-I try to let them do it alone, but once a month I have to go in and re do it. No matter how much I nag...encourage...yell...nag.

Homework is easier now. I just have to daily remind them to do it, but for the most part they do it on their own. I'm trying to remember, but I think with reminding to do it, they did their own homework last year (2nd grade).

Probably because of the newness of the job, but they don't seem to need reminding to do their laundry anymore. Last week I had enough of picking up clean laundry off the floor and I flat out refused to to their laundry anymore. So now they do their own, and are pretty darn good at it. Of course I still have to nag...remind....them to take the dirty stuff downstairs, but one step at a time.

 

Brushing Teeth: Age 4 with supervison, age 5 alone. I
Bath: Age 5 1/2
Showers: Age 7. I do nag about the length of showers.
Homework: Age 5, with reminders and help as needed
Cleaning Room: Age 5, with reminders and help with top/bottom cleaning (dusting, sweeping, etc.)
Laundry: Age 6 -- I or DH helps them getting the washing machine started, but that's it.

 

1. I had them start at 6 when they were in K. They are both boys and still wanted to bath together because it's what they had always done but I felt that they needed to start having some privacy and developing a sense of modesty (they still thought nothing of streaking through the house after a bath in front of the open windows) so I explained to them that being naked as a personal thing & they needed to bath alone without me or each other. I also at that age put them in the shower (they had never showered before) and taught them how to work the water, then stood outside of the curtain and reached in to show them how to move in and out of the water and tilt their heads to wash their hair & bodies. I did this the 1st couple times then had them take over alone. I have recently started getting in the shower with my 18 month old and he loves it and does much better about hair washing there than in a tub so I am hoping that he will be showering much younger than the twins did.

2. My husband is a dentist so we follow the ADAs recs, which are that a child should have their teeth brushed for them until 6, and then should be supervised doing it themselves until age 10. Last night I made one of my boys brush his teeth again because he only brushed for a couple seconds then rinsed his toothbrush and said he was done. If I hadn't been supervising him I wouldn't have known he hadn't brushed properly. We also have them use a 2 minute sand timer that my husband gives out to patients.

3. & 4. At 8 1/2 they still aren't doing these things. I have to stay on them to make sure their room gets cleaned properly and I also supervise homework because if I don't then either they will end up staring into space or will rush through it skipping things and writing illegibly. Also, one of my boys has ADHD and dyslexia and needs quite a bit of help with his homework so he needs me to sit with him and likely always will.

*Those of you having to nag about the length of showers- are you having to nag to get them to shower long enough to get clean or because they won't get out? I have one that is reasonable in the time he spends in the showers but my other one won't get out! He could live in there if I would let him!