8yr old DD Will not get dressed in under an hour, wont brush her teeth or wash

[monkeysnbears]

I need some help. As in desperately need some help. My Darling Daughter who turned 9 in April has decided that she does not need to wash, clean her teeth, brush her hair, clean her ears, wear clean clothes, get dressed or even get out of bed. This morning is a classic example of what usually happens........
6:30am i go into her room and tell her Time to get up bear. I make sure she is awake, I go downstairs and stick kettle on and make lunches.
6:40 Knock on her door. Holly. its time to get up. she replies that she is up shes getting dressed. I go back downstairs and drink the coffee I made.
6:50 tell holly to hurry up, I go into my 6yr olds room and he is awake playing on his DS. so i tell him morning monkey, go and get your breakfast. He goes downstairs and makes his own breakfast and starts to eat it, I get dressed
7:00 go into hollys room. she's lying on her bed with her underwear on. HOLLY HURRY UP! I go downstairs and tell Owen to get his teeth brushed, wash his face and get dressed.
7:15 Owen is clean, dressed and sat on the sofa with a drink, i tell him to go and change his top as its dirty. he comes back down with a clean top. I stick the tv on coz he has gotten dressed and ready for school. go back upstairs only to find holly is still not fully dressed. she is in fact now sitting on the end of her bed kicking it. Holly get dressed. walk out the room
7:30 Go back into hollys room to find she has got her underwear and now socks as well on. walk out.
7:45 go into hollys room again to find she now has her trousers on. walk out.
8:00 Holly comes downstairs dressed. I say well done holly now have you brushed your hair? she says no. have you washed your face? she says no. have you brushed your teeth? she says no. well go and do it. she says but i'm hungry. holly go and clean otherwise you wont have time after you eat your breakfast. she stamps her foot and crosses her arms and shouts NO! So I look at her and quietly say Now. she turns and runs upstairs and slams the bathroom door.
8:30 Holly has locked herself in the bathroom and we have to leave. I ask her to open it and she shouts no, i ask her if she has gotten clean and she shouts no. so I tell her that she had better move away from the bathroom door otherwise she will get hurt. she shouts no. at this point Hubby comes and tells her to move away from the door and kicks it in. bathroom is open. holly is sat on the loo refusing to move. I pick up the flannel and give it to her. she throws it on the floor. i say "Fine then, smell, see if I care. all the kids at school are going to call you stinky holly." surprisingly she washes her face and brushes her teeth.
8:45 holly is downstairs. expecting breakfast. I have made her toast as she can eat that in the car and she is meant to be in school now. so tell her its toast again and ask if she brushed her hair. she says no, I cant find the hairbrush( Thats right in front of her on the table).
At this point I am close to screaming. I grab the brush and put up her hair.
9:00 we get in the car.
9:05 we get out the car and holly runs back into the house because she has forgotten her glasses that i told her to get just before we left.
9:10 back in the car
9:25 at the school and holly has forgotten her book bag and lunch box.
I apologize for being late and explain that holly wouldnt get dressed...to which she replied "Yes I did you just didnt wake me up early enough" thankfully my son turned around and said "dont lie holly, mum's been trying to wake you up since half 6 (he can tell the time bless him) the receptionist looks at me and holly runs into school.

Now for most kids doing this, its because the child does not like the school. Holly actually loves it. she does this EVERY DAY! Even on a weekend when we are going out for a day trip!
she has a reward chart, she has a list to read in the mornings, we have tried sending her to bed earlier, we have grounded her, taken away sweets and some toys, we have praised her when she gets ready quickly but thats only when she feels like it. I asked her why she took so long to get ready this morning and do you know what her excuse was? I was doing my morning stretches.
tuesday it was, I couldnt find matching underwear
Monday was I was cold so I wanted to stay in bed. I cant win :( I know its a long post but please. I really need some advice.

[CatsAndTheirPizza]

Sorry, 9, not 8.

[CatsAndTheirPizza]

I would try to make it less of an issue for a bit by helping her and babying her a bit. She'll get sick of it in a week or two if she is 8. Once something becomes an issue like this, things can get very fraught.

Are you sure there isn't something about school she is worried about? One of my sons was like this for a bit - happened to be when he had a certain, rather rubbish and shouty, teacher. Once the new year started, he was fine and is now up and dressed before I'm even awake.

[apatchylass]

Definitely take her in PJs with her stuff in a bag. But not angrily, just in a matter of fact, 'we have to be at school and this is how you have decided to prepare for school today' tone of voice.Or (as I have done) leave her at home with daddy while you and DS leave at a calmly reasonable time. Again, without any hissy fits. Just this is the way things are. Then let her be signed in late when you return to get her.

Wonder if your DH would chose the PJ option if he had responsibility for her getting to school on time.

But instead of turning it into a battle, just chat it through with her. Explain it has become a really big issue and there are more fun things to focus on. Ask her what she thinks might help - laying clothes out the night before? A new musical toothbrush and different toothpaste? A much shorter haircut? Get her to help with the problem solving and then work with her to get it sorted.

A timer might help, especially coupled with rewards. Set timer for five mins, and say if she can get her pre-laid out clothes on in that time, there'll be waffles for breakfast. If she can't, not to worry, reset it and when she's dressed in the next five mins, there'll be time for cereal.

[Barking]

and turn the clocks back an hour

[Barking]

put her to bed in her uniform

[Slubberdelatrinae]

You won't regret buying the book .

Mornings were for years the biggest flash point in this house. Absolutely terrible, shouting, tension, tears, threats, punishments. Gah it was a totally bloody nightmare.
1 chapter in a book (you must do the talk throughs first you can't just Do It without talking about the changes with all the family first) and we now have happy stress free lovely mornings.

I know like I sound like a religious nut but my God it worked.

The best parenting book I have ever read, sorry The MN Rules but it's even better than that.

[WorkInProgress]

Other issues aside, have you tried feeding her first? Breakfast in pjs then dress, clean teeth. My daughter is a foul monster first thing who also takes half an hour to put a sock on. After some food she is much much better. I don't actually give her breakfast in pjs but I do try to avoid shouting at her because I know her mood is to do with hunger rather than being deliberately awkward. In fact I go out of my way to cajole her nicely until she has eaten breakfast.

[zippey]

Ive just ordered the book as well! Good luck with your daughter OP, hope it all works out!

[RobotBananas]

Stop waking her so early, 7:30 at the earliest. And leave at 8:30 regardless of whether she's brushed her hair or had breakfast.

[ChoudeBruxelles]

Ds is 7 - he knows he has to get dressed, washed, teeth brushes etc in the mornings. I just threatening to leave with him in pjs/half dressed if he is messing around. I mean it.

You don't need to get up2 hours early though - maybe she's tired

[monkeysnbears]

Madame i am going to try that as well as the list thing. and I have ordered the book. The EWO were actually quite nice and are having a chat with the school about her lateness and what the school can do to help. She has been grounded now for 4 days. Like i said before I am really strict.

[RobinBedRest]

Have you asked her what she thinks about it all?

[valiumredhead]

So your Dh gets lots of attention for behaving like a prat too? Perhaps she's copying what she sees?

[monkeysnbears]

Zippey, me, his mum, his grandparents, my parents and grandparents and all our friends have tried talking to him about this. which is why I have put my foot down about it and told him that he knows where the door is if he dont like the fact that she is either wearing a skirt, playing out, etc.

[Madamecastafiore]

Go into her room, switch on light, remove duvet and then tell her what is going to happen and yes she will be leaving the house in her night time attire unless she has got ready herself.

She is controlling you, your oh is controlling you and you are left to clear up all if the shit.

She would not be going out to play with friends either. I'd bring her home from school, do homework or reading and send her straight to bed telling her if she is that tired she can spend even more time in bed.

I would then sit down stairs sharing popcorn and chocolate and a DVD laughing loudly, having a whale of a time with DS.

Withdraw attention and lavish it on your child that is behaving and she will soon figure out which side her bread is buttered.

[valiumredhead]

She is still a child regardless off wether she had started her period or not. She's 9, it's up to you to get her out of the house. The whole situation sounds bonkers, sorry but it does!

[PatriciaHolm]

DD can be like this very occasionally. I tell her if she doesn't get dressed, we will go to school with her dressed as she is at that point. Leaving the house with her with no shoes on a couple of times seems to have helped...

If you have been late so many times that the EWO is already involved, you need to do something drastic otherwise you could end up in serious trouble. Is she like this over anything else? As others have said, it may be a form of rebellion against her father being so overprotective. Does she enjoy school? Can you walk to school with some of her friends?

[Spartacus101]

Won't let her wear skirts???? I think (and I mean this with kindness) you have deeper problems here than lateness

[Slubberdelatrinae]

Seriously get the book. It not only gives you a strategy of what to do but it also explains how to do talk throughs with your child before you start to make changes to routine. The Never Ask Twice chapter was a revelation. I seriously only have to ask my dds (7&9) to do something once now using the strategy, and they do it. Nagging no longer happens.

[Runoutofideas]

A friend of mine had similar issues with her daughter. She ended up getting the head teacher involved. The child had to go and see the head whenever she arrived in the morning. She got stickers when she'd done well, and very told off if she was late....

[monkeysnbears]

The school has had enough. she loves breakfast club and she goes if she gets ready on time as a treat. I am going to try the rules thing, that sounds like a good idea. I am a very strict parent usually lol. I dont take any messing with anything else its just this morning thing thats getting to me. my DD started her Periods in April, just after her birthday. Its been since just before then. Would you get a 9 yr old girl who has periods, undressed, dressed, pad on, washed and ready? when she was 8 I did it a few times when she played up but now? I'm not to sure I would be happy doing it...although the threat of it might work lol

[PearlyWhites]

Why on earth are you waking her up so early she is probably just very tired.

[zippey]

DH wont let her play outside or see her friends at 9 years old? That's not healthy or wise I would say.

[valiumredhead]

Sounds like she is rebelling against over strictness.

[zippey]

Theres some good tips above, try and enforce some of them. Its very unlikely you will scar children for life using any of the advice given above.