Am I the only one screaming at the kids to get dressed for school?

[saltire]

It's 8.45 and my youngest is still in his PJ's, he's been upstairs since 8am getting dressed for school. In that time i have been up and removed the PS2, the TV/DVd and the star wars toys. he has been pi**ing around in the bathroom for 15 minutes, and is now sitting on the bed screeching that he doesn't like his socks. I have 3 under five CM kids, all with their coats on, 2 of them in the double buggy, screaming to get out,and the older one unpacking the school bags. DH is away for 4 months and i am sick of these battles about everything. Do i go to school without him, or do i go and get him dressed, which is what he wants or do i send him as he is in his pj's, which will result in a fight, with him hitting and punching me and screaming at me, like he has done for the past 1 weeks while his dad is away>?

and still you post

take a deep breath, put the other kids in front of the telly for 5 mins and go and get him dressed

(thats what Good Enid would do. Bad Enid would lose it, scream at him and set off down the road )

I'm sitting here posting cos i swear i will smack him if i don't keep out his way. We are all ready to go, just waiting on him

go and help him take a massive deep breath

saltire, no, believe me, you're not the only one. Only thing that's helped recently is that the weather's kept up, and as a consequence H has cycled them to school. I say "If you want to cycle to school, you have to get ready now. It's done the trick the last few days, but I don't know how long it will last.

You have my every sympathy.

How old is he? If he's more than, say, 6 or 7, then explain the consequences (and maybe warn his teacher) and take him to school in his pjs. I've not done this myself (my oldest is 5), but one or two friends have done so and told me that it only needs to be done once. OTOH, if he is younger then just grit your teeth and dress him yourself without any fuss or bother. It may take more of your time than letting him dress himself, but unltimately will take less time and less agro than what's happening now. Also, I find iwth my 5yo that, if I just quietly get on with it, then he is less likely to make a fuss and after a few days goes back to dressing himself. He doesn't need to be dressed, but I thinkk likes the occasional reassuring babying. It could well be that your ds is kicking up a fuss preceisly because his dad is away.

PC, why are we dressing our children when they're perfectly capable of doing so themselves? I often wonder ......

I dress my 6.5 year old sometimes

for speed and comfort

my 3.5 year old won't countenance being dressed and does it all herslef (very well too).

They are all different.

Because just because a child can do something themselves, it doesn't mean that they have to do it themselves. I think we sometimes expect too much from our little ones, forgetting that they may not have the emotional maturity to do on their own something that they don't really want to do.

"Anyone not dressed and downstairs by 8:20 doesn't get a mini egg"

Yes, I bribe my children with chocolate in the morning.

what a fabulous idea

grumpy - brilliant! I'll save that one for the next time I get desparate (tomorrow probably)

I find when you have got dressed you can play on the playstation for 5 works well.

Well, i'm back. We ended up being late for school, which caused DS1 to cry all the way cos he was late. I ended up going up to DS2 he's 6 by the way, to help him. He had thrown his uniform all round the room, so had to look for it, couldn't find his school jumper, so took the dirty, paint spattered oone from yesterday out of the laundry basket, and told him it was his own fault he was having to wear it.
When he was at nursery i took him to school in is PJ's once. He hated it, and cried all the way, so i threatened that today, but it didn't work. He is such a little monster just now he would probably hit me if i did.
I like grumpyfrumpy's idea of phoning the school to tell the headteacher why he is going to be late, i shall have to remember that one.
It's not just school mornings though, since DH went away (only 7 weeks to go) he has just played up, everything is a battle - mealtimes, getting dressed, homework ( it took him 1 and 1/2 hours to read a 23 page book for homework last night) and bed time. They go to bed at 7.30 and 8pm and are never sleeping by 10pm. I end up putting one of them in my bed so he will sleep, but then cannot life him back into his own bed.

When they have done as you want them to, reward them. With a sticker a sweet a smile, whatever workd for them. There is no reason to behave if the playstation and the tv and all the toys and next weeks pocket money has been removed already.
However if theres a sticker for washing thier face and brushing thier teeth, they might just do it.