5 yr old - getting dressed for school

[Heeks]

Would really appreciate some advice/ideas on getting DD dressed for school. She has always hated getting herself dressed, and every morning is a battleground. She loathes dresses and skirts with a passion, but is very happy at school and knows she has to wear the school uniform. We have tried being nice, being horrible, ignoring her, threatening to take her to school in her pyjamas (I did once and she got dressed in the car once there), doing the sympathy thing (sometimes this works as she really is upset about something). Basically it seems to have become a routine game (?) with her now, and we don't know how to break it - help !!!! She is an only child.

can she wear trousers for uniform?

our girls can wear troiusers
so much comfier

I don't know how reception teachers cope at pe times with tights and pinafores on 4/5 yr olds

A time race?

Weused to get ds to tell us the time on his clock, then say when he will be dressed by (usually about 6-7 minutes).

Then if he is ready he gets a treat - extra book to read on the bus, a small extra treat in his lunchbox, more computer time when he gets home etc ....

We devised this at age 5, and 3 years later it still works ...... but then, he is a man!

I tell ds1 that i will tell mrs teacher if he doesnt get dressed, she is so wonderful that this is normally enough for him to get dressed!

Funny enough we have 2 girls as well and they have never had this problem! One older, one younger, so not even a birth order thing!

Have you done stickers?

I get some really fancy flashy/sparkly ones if my dd wont do what I need her to do.

She too is a real pain in the backside with getting dressed. But my favourite thing at the mo is "you cant go to school in your jammies, as that would be just soo silly!!!"

I put it in a joking, silly mummy, style, if you know what I mean.

If she puts her socks and pants = 1 sticker, top = 2 and if she puts on the whole lot then 3 stickers! I make a huge thing about these confounded stickers, but it does seem to work with her.

Plus I have her in trousers, so much easier and more comfy. Got some nice pull on ones from next .. not a bad price either

Keep the mood light if you can, as if she is like my dd, the more I get wound up, the more she digs her heels in!

I tried everything with my 6yr old and nothing worked...until I grounded her. Told her one morn, if she did not get dressed quickly with no whining, she would be grounded after school.

she didn't get dressed. she was grounded (a punishment I've never used before).

It was really effective. That was about a month ago and so far she has got dressed super quick almost every morning since (there are still odd days which generally seem to coincide with her being tired).

Good luck, it has to be one of the most irritating things to deal with!