How to Get a Child Ready for School on Time

Have you ever noticed that when you tell a child to hurry up, they slow down? You need them to get a move on and they are dawdling over breakfast. You have an early morning meeting and your kids are taking their sweet time putting on their shoes. You remind them countless times to “hurry up,” and they seem to move at a snails pace.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A little bit of patience

1. Give your child an alarm clock for the bedside table. Perhaps they can pick out one that they like. Tell your child that he or she is old enough now to be the wake-up boss.
2. Let the child pick a range of time for getting out of bed such as between 7 and 7:30.
3. If your child doesn’t jump right out of bed, say something understanding, “Take another five minutes” or “It’s hard to get up in the morning.”
4. Remind your child in a friendly voice, “Let’s stick to your morning schedule.” Telling a child to hurry up seems to throw him or her off the task at hand, but reminding him to follow the established routine is better.
5. Give the child a sense of time by announcing the time-table: “Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes,” or “We are leaving the house at 8, it’s 7:30 now,” or “It’s 7:00 now, we will leave at 7:30 because band practice starts at 8:00.”
6. It’s natural in the rush of getting ready that a child might forget her books, lunch, or homework. Instead of barking orders, simply hand her the lunch box and say: “Here is your lunch.” This is not the time for lectures about forgetfulness.
7. Smile and part with a friendly goodbye.
8. Repeat the same friendly wake up schedule each morning. Allow for mess-ups by reminding yourself that they are learning a new skill and as in learning any new skill, there will be setbacks.
9. After a week of practice, acknowledge how well they are doing.

Tips & Warnings

• Your child won't get it right every time, they're learning. The trick is for you to stay positive while they are learning. Eventually they will get the hang of being their own wake up boss.