How do you handle school mornings???

[floggadog]

My DD has been getting up & off to Kindy/pre-school/year 1 for the last 2 & a bit years and still we have tantrums (from me) and constant pushing to get her ready for school.
I've tried a reward chart which worked with small sucess & I will be going back to that. But a combination of small brother distracting her and a mild touch of her daddys' passive ADD plus bl**dy daylight savings (which I hate with a vengance :mad: - sorry) which means she never gets to sleeps early enough means we have an awful time on school mornings.
HOW DO YOU DO IT??? I need a little picture emoticon thing for pulling out my hair!!

[FourAngelKisses]

With DS, I have no problems now, he is dressed and ready to go by 7:30.

DD on the other hand...........we end up in screaming matches because she wont do as she's told, she would rather play cars instead.

Last year I made a get up and go chart and it worked REALLY well (until I got slack and stopped enforcing it).

Across the top, I have pictures of things that need doing, and in order, such as a breakfast plate, uniform, bed, toothbrush and hairbrush.
They each have a marker thing that gets moved across to each picture.........that way they know what needs doing and what to do next.

When I was using it, I had both of them ready to go by 8am, so they had about 30-40mins playtime each day.



I'll have to start using it though when I give birth, I will go insane trying to get 4 kids plus myself ready to go in the morning if I'm having to tell Brooke 500 times to put her shoes on.

[floggadog]

Sounds like that's what it takes. Did you offer a reward for good behavior or was the visual thing enough? I remember using stickers tilthey found them & stickered the wall!!

[FourAngelKisses]

I found the visual thing to be enough, but she had just turned 7 so was too old for stickers really.

You could always use a sticker chart with it though, if he does them all without being reminded so many times, he gets a sticker.

[sugar n spice]

I lay my sons clothes out on the end of the bed each night ( as being a boy nothing will match if he dresses himself so school days i have started to pick) as soon as he gets up in the morning before he even comes out of his room he knows he needs to get dressed. Then its breakfast, teeth and hair, shoes and toilet. While ds is getting ready i get my ds 2 ready to leave the house. Inbetween that settling a crying baby. I get myself dressed before i even start on them. Usually a few tantrums between me and ds to get his shoes on but thats about it.

[FourAngelKisses]

Just remembered that I had a pic of the get up and go chart. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/angel_kisses9798/GUAGC.jpg)

[kiah]

My son has a few probs with auditory processing at the moment as he is not well.

I used a visual reward chart and it helped so much. We've just stopped using them. As Jayce has finally got the routine. He now has a chore chart and when his chores are done he can have free time in the morning. Differnt days have different chores.

This is his routine.

1. Brekkie: Soon as his out of bed i have his brekkie on the table. His only task is to eat it. No distractions, no tv, no nothing. We have had to use an egg timer at times do help give him warning of time. Three warnings and back in his room.

2. Brush teeth.

3. His clothes are laid out on the lounge so i can talk to him while i am cooking. Only task is to put them on and shoes.

4. Chores (make bed, tidy room if needed, collect chicken eggs)

5. Free time.

I get up a few hours before him so i can have time to myself and get the other things done that i need to.

Since starting prep I put him to bed no later than 7. We have to eat earlier.

We have a routine for the arvo with baths, stories etc.

It still is a challenge most days but we just keep trying.

[~Candy~]

We have a good routine here that works well.

When they get up they have brekky, brush their teeth, get dressed, do hair, put their lunch in their bags and put them at the back door. No tv in the mornings and no pulling out any toys...they can play with Katelin (2) and her toys. When it's nearly time to go..they get their shoes on...and off we go :)

[floggadog]

Thanks ladies, The reward chart theme seems to recurring & clearly I'm going to have to bring it back into vogue!
I do get up b4 the hubby & kids for my 'me time', to get dressed , have breaky & find the school clothes & there are systems of order in place with no TV or playing or books, but it's still amazing how easily DD becomes distracted. :banghead: DSS was just the same and @ 13 is much better now, but they are definently one task at a time kids. So off to the craft shop for me for a big bit of paper and all other reward chart nessesaries.:rolleyes:

[motherhoodlmb]

As the others have said, having a routine and sticking to it will help. Visual prompts are a great idea too. My son (who is 5) also goes to bed at 7pm.

If that doesn't work then if you lay her clothes out ready to put on and give her a couple of prompts to get changed (and you know she's heard you) and she doesn't get changed, then simply walk out the door ready to go and tell her she has to wear her pyjamas to school. Take her clothes into the car and she'll discover how uncomfortable it is to get changed in the car or how embarrassing it'd be to wear her pj's to school. I pretty much guarantee she'll get changed in the future. But you have to stick to your guns.

I'm a pretty firm believer in kids being able to take responsibility for themselves. I reckon they should be able to get changed and brush teeth because it's part of an everyday routine. Praise her big time if she does it off her own bat - or even reward her.

I reckon reward systems are good but I use them with caution. For things like getting changed, which are a normal part of a daily routine and not something out of the ordinary, I'd probably try my method above - I've done it and it works. I rarely have a problem with my son getting changed, brushing teeth, etc (other things are a different story :eek: ) But I'm a strict mum!! Just ask my kids :laughing:

[MummyCharmzy]

this morning was my first morning with ANY dramas and that was because I hadn't laid out all the kids clothes and shoes the night before .. usually I have it all ready to go for them but this morning no... and ARGH I wanted to pull my hair out.

Anyway our routine here which only failed this morning due to mummy being unorganised.... is:

Get up
mummy has breakfast ready kids eat... QUICKLY or get reminded to hurry up..
as soon as breakfast is finished have a drink then brush teeth
then we get dressed
make sure bag is packed and put it at the front door
and if mummy says theres enough time... play for a few minutes...


Alex is in prep and Zach in kinder and it works great for them both and Isobella (19 months) just loves copying and following them so even she gets into it.. leaving me to tend to Savannah (7 months) and get her organised for the day!

[gremily]

I think it starts the night before. Dd1 is 8 and her bedtime is 7:30pm, that's in bed so she needs to be ready before that. We allow her to read or colour for 1/2 hr at most (although sometimes we actually forget and it's 830 - 9pm til we suddenly realise she's still reading!).
She gets up at about 7:30am. Some mornings we have showers/baths otherwise we do that at night. She gets dressed, breakfast, does her hair (she won't let me do anything to it, but likes to brush it and put a clip in or something). Then she plays with dd2 while I get her recess/lunch ready. Pack bag and then play if there's time. It takes us about 15 mins to walk to school so we leave by about 8:30am as all the kids like to play together before school.

She's usually really good at getting ready, sometimes I have to remind her about what she's meant to be doing. We actually do have the TV on (news), but it gets turned off if things aren't going along smoothly.

There have been a few times when we've all slept in (dd2 is our alarm clock and mostly wakes by 6am at the latest) and haven't woken til 8am. Surprisingly we are still able to get everything done!

[EskimoMumma]

Anyway our routine here which only failed this morning due to mummy being unorganised.... is:

Get up
mummy has breakfast ready kids eat... QUICKLY or get reminded to hurry up..
as soon as breakfast is finished have a drink then brush teeth
then we get dressed
make sure bag is packed and put it at the front door
and if mummy says theres enough time... play for a few minutes...


Alex is in prep and Zach in kinder and it works great for them both and Isobella (19 months) just loves copying and following them so even she gets into it.. leaving me to tend to Savannah (7 months) and get her organised for the day!

correction, stepmumm to alex :laughing: Sheesh woman get it right, we all know by now you have residency but that never means you can mention mummy and them in the same sentence :rolleyes:

[MummyCharmzy]

it does when im including my three children

[NZMama]

I dealt with it much the same way I dealt with all taught behaviour with my eldest. Routine!
I get out her uniform the night before and its on the end of her bed for the morning, she dresses herself before coming out of the room and even makes her bed 4 out of 5 times (I didnt tell her to she just chooses to) I then ask her what she wants for brekky and as Im doing this she puts on sunscreen takes her premade lunch out of the fridge and places it in her bag. I then tie her hair up before she sits down for brekky. Once done she clears her plate brushes her teeth comes into the kitchen takes her vitamen and inhaler (which again was placed on the counter the night before) before asking if she can watch TV before we leave. The TV stays off until she has done everything and is ready to leave, then if there is time she can watch it till we leave.
Such a good girl! She gets satisfaction out of the fact that she does it all independantly and loves the praise.:thumbsup:

[floggadog]

You gals are all so organised. I have a basic routine to which has to be done in a specific order to encourage the next step.
Getting to sleep early is a huge hurdle for various reasons. And the routine is generally followed but the main problem is the 'getting side tracked'.
Sending DD to brush her teeth , I can go to the bathroom 1 minute later to find she has walked straight past and found something else to do. When I say 'Hey , what about your teeth' She answers ' Oh yeah I forgot'. Or she'll go to the bathroom & stare off into space or look at her toothpaste til I come & jolly her along.
Like I said before I'm dealing with possible mild ADD and now I've read all of your comments & routines I'm thinking this is more of an issue than our routine.
Still I will be bringing back in the reward chart & will continue to follow her every move!