Advent calendar - genius plan or not?

[BastardTart]

Saw some advent calendars today, just basic chocolate ones for £1. Decided to buy 2, one for November and one for December.

Dd hates mornings and spends it taking her time with everything (i nag her to get dressed, I nag her to come downstairs, I nag her to eat breakfast, then nag her to brush teeth, then nag her to put shoes on, then nag her to get out, etc)

However in December she jumps out of bed, and does everything perfectly nicely as she knows once she's up and ready for school she can open a door on her calender...

so this year I'm seeing if I can have that same level of cooperation and enthusiasm in November too. Dh thinks aibu as advent calendars belong firmly in December in his world, whereas I think my plan is pure genius

It may work in November, but is then unlikely to work in December

YABU: advent calendar's should have Christmassy pictures behind each window, NOT cheap chocolate, and should, of course, ony be used during Advent (hence the name).

How old is she? I started giving my 7yo son pocket money every saturday but he has to get ready without any fuss, lay and clear dinner table every day and pair the socks.

he is a different child!

I use my sons iPad, if your up, dressed, washed, and feed (on mornings were not going to breakfast club) then you can have 10 minutes on your iPad. Works wonders.

This is madness. Madness, I tell thee.

Advent calendars are exciting and worth getting up for because they're only there for a month.

Yeah it won't work long term. You need a long-term fix, as tempting as it may be!

It seems a million years ago now, but we had success back in the day by using an egg timer (the sand type) and setting the challenge to complete a task before it ran out. Beating the timer was its own reward, and by the time the novelty wore off, the dithering never really started up again because he liked having more time once he was 'completely ready'.

Take her to school in her pyjamas instead.

Well, how about DH gets her ready for school then if your idea is unreasonable?

It's a carrot. It matters not what the carrot is if it works.

I'll do 'reasonable requesting', a tiny bit of cajoling/carrot offering then I'm all 'stick'.

I only once had to put her in the car in her Pj's. Once. It worked as a brilliant threat after that and it wasn't an empty threat as I would have taken her to school in her PJ's.

People saying 'discipline' etc - yeah, I'm all for that. I grew up in the '70's/80's & very much follow that line of thinking. But for a child that is just moving like a glacier it's very difficult because they're not really being 'naughty' as such. I got fed up of nagging every bloody morning. 500 'hurry ups' before 7:45 was driving me insane. I tried ignoring, cajoling, shouting, timers, you name it. She got rewards/privileges or toys removed/charts you name. Nothing made a bloody bit of difference. The ONLY thing that worked was taking her to(wards) school in her PJ's. We stopped when we were nearly there and I gave her the chance to change into her uniform, but I warned her that next time I had to put her in the car in her pj's she would go to school like that.

Genius! My dd hates mornings - In fact I reckon if you can get into a virtuous circle and talk up how great it is not to be late, in a bad mood etc it may stick. I once gave my dd a French fancy on the way to school though to get her out the door on an important morning!

I love the book idea! Am stealing it!

I can't criticize... my baby was due just before Christmas, and I was having a tough 3rd trimester and am not the greatest fan of November, so I bought myself an advent calendar for November starting now so it ran up to December's. Admittedly I did end up making Santa look slim, but there was a substantial baby and lots of fluid involved

Getting ready becomes a slog at this time of the year with extra layers. It might help break habits. If it was one sweet from a jar each day I doubt most people would protest strongly.