At what age do you feel you should be able to rely on your child to get his/herself dressed and out to school without being told constantly what to do next

[saltire]

10 times in the past 15 minutes I have asked - note asked, not yelled at - DS2 to get his school shoes on and sweatshirt on. Has he done it. has he heck. he is tapping away at a plastic tumlberfull of frozen water!. He is 8. Everyhting is such an effort with him. Everything is just "let me finish this" or "mum guess what happens to the dalek when I press this. look. Look.LOOK" followed by "Ok your not looking, that's fine, I don't care" and then will sit sulking on his bed for another 10 minutes. As you will see it's now almost 9am. We live across the road from the school.

my 5yo ds has to be told "go and get dressed for school", but then gets himself ready. Sometimes I have to nag to get him started, but not all the time.
He is alot better if I remind him that if he gets ready quickly there will be time to do something he wants (play a game, ride to school - he hasn't cottoned on that this is actually quicker! etc)

Well my boys (6 and 4) are up before me in the mornings and the rule is that they don't have breakfast until they're dressed. They're fairly basic in their needs so they are usually dressed and breakfasted before I am. I suspect it depends on whether you are a morning or an evening person.

5 and a half.

My 11 year old can't manage it.

LOL saltire your ds sounds exactly like mine.

I am hoping it will happen before he actually leaves home.

We used to have problems until I changed the rules to no breakfast unless dressed. My boys are 9 and 6 and get dressed quickly most mornings now, though sometimes we have to shout up to remind them that their Weetabix is ready - they are always hungry for breakfast.

I also changed the rules so they're not allowed back upstairs after breakfast. They have another toothbrush downstairs and clean their teeth there. They're allowed to play downstairs if there's any time (but they can't get as distracted as their stuff is all upstairs.)

I think I am a drill sergeant in the morning.
I wake up 7.10, doze till 7.20 Then:

Get dressed as soon as your bones are awake. No going downstairs until you are dressed.
No tv or playing till after breakfast and teeth are brushed and hair is tidy.
If you have not decided what to bring for show and tell by the time mum says it is time to leave, you bring nothing.

8.25 Get your shoes, your coat, your hat, your scarf on, Take your bag, your bookbag, your violin, and take mums car keys, open front door, go to car, open car, put your bags in and fasten your seat belts. and WOOOHEI! off we go at exactly 8.38. Each morning on the dot. (Ok if we are late, it is 8.39 or even 8.40!)

Into the school with two of them -- but they were only 4 at the time and just outright refusing to get dressed. The other managed to dress himself in the car.

my 5 year old can do it easily
my 8 year old needs gentle reminding about absoltuely everything 'mum is it swimming today' er no its Friday, in Feburary, you havent done swimming at school since last summer

The only time my nearly 6 year old (boy) does it on his own, is when we 'race' both boys eat their breakfast, race starts as soon as I have got DS2 out of high chair, most of the time I am waiting around for DS1 to say 'I win I win' but he does get on and do things, without the said nagging.

And it gives me 10 minutes or so on MN before school Bonus!

A race is a good stimulant when they're little.

We banned TV in the mornings some time ago. IF they're ready ealy they help feed the animals,unstack the dishwasher etc tehn sit & read.

Mind you we're lot less stressed since I started getting up a little earlier to avoid them coming in for a cuddle.

We all LOVED it but it was fatal -we'd snuggle down & fall asleep again!!

Why can't they do that at the w/ends??

My DD's 8 and she's a blooming nightmare at getting ready. I ask and ask and ask and ask and then lose my temper and yell sometimes . Even bribery and begging don't seem to work.
She used to be excellent - when she was only little and it was fun to get ready for school. Now it seems to be a pain in the bum for her to get dressed on any day of the week, it's only been the past year or so that she's started to slow right down to snail pace (and imagine what it'll be like in a few years time?! ). And last year she decided she couldn't tie a tie anymore (despite being able to do it since she was 4 )
Sorry, I'm no help whatsoever - but you're not alone!