We had a daily battle on our hands with our two children, since they were 3 and 4 (probably earlier, it’s all a bit of a blur). They would procrastinate about getting changed into their pyjamas at night, and since the school days started 4 years ago the morning has been pretty hellish. I’ve never been very good at the whole getting the school uniform ready the night before, it’s more like ‘get the clothes from the floor where they were taken off,’ and get new pants. If there’s a stain, change the offending item. Cue much scrabbling around and cries of ‘No!’ and ‘I don’t like that jumper’ ‘I don’t want to get dressed!’ and then a stressed mummy at the school gates. For the night time getting into pyjamas, we implemented a technique that works really well.
Get them in competition with each other. If you only have one child, get them to do it with you or your partner – bonus is you get to be in your pyjamas early. Win/win. When it’s time, we get the pyjamas ready, which if I’ve remembered are in a pyjama bag we keep downstairs, then we yell ‘Competition Time! 3 – 2 – 1 …’ and proceed to sing a tuneless melody the same each time. I try and vary who wins, help either one of them along if necessary. It never fails! If you’re going against them it’s easier to let them win whilst still making it challenging. William hates to lose so sometimes it backfires, but hey, they’re in their pyjamas.
We’ve started doing it for the mornings too and if I do it with them then they really enjoy the interaction and we’re all ready super quick. When Daniel’s a bit older I’ll do it with him too.
Other techniques that may help:
- Reward chart using stickers that lead to a bigger reward
- See who’s the best at getting dressed
- First one to get changed gets a spin around the room with Daddy (then the next one gets a spin too)
- No tech until you’re changed
- Father Christmas/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy won’t come unless you get changed (only works at certain times)
Have you found any other technique that works? I’d love to hear your ideas.
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