What to do when giving advance notice stops working ??

[NervousNutty]

Ds (6) needs to be told in advance of things happening, as he doesn't seem to like having things sprung on him like bedtime, bathtime, time to switch tv off, put toys away etc.

It normally works but just lately especially when it comes to bedtime, he is having non of it.

He had a tantrum about bedtime last night and so today I told him that I didn't want the same problems and at 7 I told him that it would soon be bedtime.

At 7:30 I called him for bed and he has just had a HUGE tantrum over it.

He thinks I am being unfair because he was playing a nice game .

I am at a loss, as up until now advance notice of things has always worked with him.

I would say stick to your guns and ignore the tantrum for a week or two, he's probably trying it on to see what he can get away with.

Good Luck

Can he tell the time? Can you show him on the clock where the time is now and then where the big hand will be when it is bedtime?

I do that with mine sometimes because I think even with advance notice once they get in to their game they have no concept of how long half an hour is.

Maybe you should avoid any 'screen time' for the hour leading up to bed. Try a relaxing bath, then a board game, books, puzzles, or just talking about the day. It will seem much longer to him as time spent in front of a computer, TV, or video game can be gone in a flash.

He is just learning to tell the time, so I will try actually showing him how long he has on the clock.

He doesn't play his ds or anything like that before bed anyway, but does occasionaly watch tv and infact that normally helps him realise the time because he knows it is bed after such and such has finnished on tv.

Yesterday he was playing outside so had lost all track of time i think.

Pull rank

My 6 yr old easily loses track of time when he is engrossed in something. I usually give tell him half an hour and then give him a five minute warning too so that he has time to tie up his game.
It usually works but of course even if he has been warned that it is nearly time to stop playing, he is still entitled to feel cross about it.

advance warnings have never worked with ds, even when I've shown him the time on a clock. He's nearly six, and still makes a big fuss about having to stop whatever he's doing in order to leave the house/ get in the bath/have tea/whatever.

No idea what to do about it but am tempted to give up warning him and just spring things on him, see if that works any better.

Just lately I've been having success with 'We need to do this now, but could you do me a favour and whinge about it for 5 minutes first please?' Any use?

I show ds1 the clock, tell him where the hands will be at the given time. I also give 10, 5, 3 minutes warnings. Usually it works, but if he's too tired, nothing is going to work anyway, and I just ignore the strop as best as possible!