[erinellakal]

Ok, so school started a few weeks ago and every morning its a fight to get Erin out of bed. I have to tell her to eat her breakfast b/c she will just sit and stare strait ahead with her brkfst sitting in front of her. I am now telling her when she has 5 more minutes until she has to be done eating....then she has 3 mins to brush her teeth, cuz she'll sit and stare at her self in the mirror for 10 mins instead of brushing!

Just this morning she was to be putting on her sox and shoes while i was making breakfast for Ella, Kal and kid i babysit for....she had like 15 mins and when i check to see what she was doing, she was sitting on the living room floor playing with ponys with one sock on!
I don't want to be nagging her constantly all morning about "hurry up, faster, we're in a rush, you're going to slowly" Nagging her is not going to make her faster, obviously.
So what can i do to help her get herself ready faster....i am not going to do it all for her either....she's 5 and she can do it all herself.

Please if you have any ideas tell me tell me tell me!!!!!!

[DivasMomma]

Make it a game....time her every morning, and if she gets done in the allotted time ( maybe a half hour? 20 mins? Not sure how long she has) If she does it consistantly for a week then maybe offer her something on Friday...even if its just as simple as staying awake 15 mins longer that night...gl!

[MissyChrissy]

Oh man, I don't know but I feel for her. I'm not a morning person and I never was. What time does she go to bed? Is she just too tired? I agree with trying to keep it upbeat and turning it into a game. I have a 9-year-old and I have to sorta keep my eye on her and give her verbal nudges throughout the course of the morning. Unfortunately, she takes after me and it's just too difficult for her to get going in the morning.

I wish I had more advice.

[deedee1231]

I used to use an egg timer. I would tell my son, you need to be fully dressed and have your shoes on before the timer rings, and he could see the dial turning and hear the thing ticking, so it would keep him on task.

You can use a reward system, too, if you need to. You can tell her that if she is done with everything by the time the timer rings she will get a "token" I have used poker chips for tokens in the past. I use to make up a chart showing different "prizes" that could be purchased for a certain number of tokens. The prizes can be anything you want to offer from small toys to activities or outings.

[MommaColleen]

It must be something with the name because my Erin is a slow poke in the morning too. She is 11 and I have found nothing that works on her other than CONSTANT nagging and reminding her to do whatever it is she is supposed to be doing. I honestly think it is just her personality.

Like you said she just sits there starring aimlessly or she gets totally off task by doing something totally unrelated to getting ready for school.

Thankfully we have a really nice bus driver cause I cannot tell you how many times the bus waited out front while she finished getting ready.

[Samual]

Does she get up earlier now she is at school? Remember as well school makes you tired so if you havn't already, try an earlier bedtime. Mikey normally gets dressed downstairs for school, so we don't find him in his bedroom mesmorised by a scratch on the wall.

[MiaCamille]

Same boat here.... Emma is the same way, she's 8 and we have to nag at her for her to get ready, she's the same as Erin. I literaly wake her up take her blankets off and sit her in bed, then i may have to help her get dressed cause if i don't it will take her 15 minutes to do cause she'll start playing with something, then she comes for breakfast.... i have to sit down in front of her to remind her to take another bite, she'll play with her hair, her place mat, her glass of milk, then i have to go with her while she brushes her teeth cause she'll start playing with something in the bathroom... So i have to follow her around until she's gone it can be such a pain... Good luck and lots of patience

[erinellakal]

She goes to bed at 8pm and has to get up at 7am....i think thats plenty of sleep!
Today she didn't have to get up for school and she was wide awake at 6:55am!!
What the heck?

KIDS!!!!!

[MiaCamille]

same here in my house!!! they always get up earlier on weekends when they can sleep in