Physically fighting with kids to get dressed in the morning

risa

Sun, May 31 2009, 9:20 pm

I'm not sure how old your children are but we've had the same issue with my 7yr old. Our incentive: Just pay him. Every time he gets dressed on his own without a fuss, he gets a quarter. I make sure to have EVERYTHING ready for him the night before so that he can just do it on his own. But, he doesn't get paid 'til the end of the week. As for my 4yr old, I've taken him into the car in his pajamas many times with his clothes in a bag. I can't have e/o being late bec. he doesn't want to get dressed. By the time we get to school he's ready to get dressed. If he chose to go into school with his pajamas, I really don't think it's a big deal but I would not make the Morah have to dress him.

gottago

Thu, Jun 04 2009, 2:13 pm

There are a lot of good solutions but I think you have to figure out the root of the problem before you can "solve" it. Are they old enough to have a DMC (deep meaningful conversation). Sit down with the after school and say something like "It makes me so sad when I have to hold you tight in order to get you dressed, do you want to tell em why you don't like getting dressed?" Give them some time to think of an answer and then ask them for a possible solution "What can we do so that we don't have to fight about this every day?" Kids are smarter than we give them credit for. You'd also be teaching them the value of understanding themselves and of solving a problem.

Someone mentioned sensory issues, there are kids who don't like the feel of clothing on their skin etc... the solution would be OT.

It could be an attention thing- How else would they get mommy's undivided attention for 15 minutes every morning. The solution would be to ignore the behavior, I agree that if they go to school in PJs once it is not the end of the world (just make sure the night before that they put on the matching PJs without the holes LOL) Give attention only for the one who is dressed. If you start a little early, you can say whoever is downstairs by x time, we'll read a story.

It could be their are too tired or hungry. Try going to sleep a little earlier (this can take a few weeks to work). You could also give them the option of getting dressed before or after breakfast- me, I love breakfast in PJs!