Getting My Daughter Dressed in the Morning

Dear L.,

Where does she go in the morning? Pre-school, daycare, private care? She’s old enough to be potty trained, so hopefully wet diapers aren’t still a part of the picture.

“Allow me to get her dressed?” That’s the first myth you must overcome as the parent. If she refuses to get cleaned up and dressed, she goes to the sitter “AS IS”. Take her bag along with the change of clothes and necessities in it. If she sees the other children in regular cloths, she will soon get the message.

I agree with the mama that suggested a short haircut…..but before you do that, if your little girl likes her long hair, let her know if she doesn’t let you get her ready in the morning, she will have a short haircut next weekend! FOLLOW THROUGH.

SUPERCUTS is great and not too expensive. I recommend the one in Palo Alto on Charleston and Middlefield.

Allowing her to have her own way instead of taking charge will create a “brat”! Allowed to continue the “princess attitude” will create a not so nice teen!

Blessings.....

Hello, I had a similar problem with my son. He didn't necessarily want to play, but he didn't want to get ready. We started getting him up at the same time daily, even on weekends. It became the habit and now, at 10 years old, he is up and ready in no time. Also, the night before, I gave him a choice of 2 outfits for the following day. Then, that morning, there was no conversation about clothing. We also did a reward system if I didn't have to help him get dressed or remind him more than once. It was a process getting the habit to change, but it worked. I do have to say that he went to work with me everyday, but he did show up a couple of days in pajamas. He was unhappy, but I think it helped him change. Good luck.

Well...she is 3. =) I suggest two things; Cut her hair short so it is easy to brush. Put her clothes out the night before and HELP her get dressed. Be firm, "We need to go soon, it is NOW time to get dressed".
And be patient, she's still little....just wait until she is a teen.

My younger daughter is 4, and also marches to the beat of her own drummer. I tell her that she can choose her outfit, but if she hasn't chosen one in 2 minutes, I'm choosing the outfit and I won't care if she likes it or not. (That usually gets her to pick an outfit pretty quickly!) I store all of her clothes in clear bins that are clearly labeled, on the floor of her closet: "Shorts & t-shirts" (with a little drawing of shorts and a t-shirt), "Skirts and shirts" (again, with a picture), Pajamas (with a sleepy moon picture). I fold the skirt or shorts over the shirt that it goes with, so she can easily locate a complete outfit quickly.

Once she has her outfit in hand, I tell her she has 2 minutes to put on her clothes. (In this time, I get her big sister's hair done.) If I walk in and she's dancing around naked or crawling under her bed or doing whatever crazy thing she's doing, I take her by the arm and physically dress her. Yes, she kicks and screams and howls that she can do it BY HERSELF, but I just respond that if that were true, surely she'd have done it BY HERSELF by now! Once she is clothed, we go brush her teeth, and while she is brushing her teeth, I brush her hair (I use detangler so it doesn't hurt). I took her to my stylist and got her a cute little graduated bob - it's actually very grown up, but adorable, and takes about 10 seconds to brush. I am a big fan of those headbands that are wrapped in grosgrain ribbon with a huge bow on them - looks adorable and girly, takes me 2 seconds to put on her.

So I guess my method is part coercion, part brute force, part military-style organization. But usually she looks adorable by the time we leave the house! =)

L...... I am definitely a fan of "whatever works" in my household.... even if others laugh at me. My daughter, who happens to be 16 years old now- meaning we survived it- was a nightmare to get ready. In addition to the dawdling there were temper tantrums almost every morning. At times I swore she was channeling something straight out of the Exorcist! By the time the drama was over I was exhausted and in no way in the right frame of mind to tackle a full day at the office.

To solve this issue I simply had her get dressed THE NIGHT BEFORE. She was a little rumpled but the insanity stopped. I only had to worry about hair, teeth, shoes and breakfast. If the shoes started to be an issue I had her sleep in those, there was a brown bag breakfast ready in the fridge if she wouldn't eat before we had to leave and a toothbrush was stored at both my house and the sitters.

Try it. If it work then just shrug and know you will have one more silly story to share with your little one when they get old enough to understand.

Good luck!