How do you motivate the child who takes FOREVER to do something?
(This is the child who takes quite a while to get dressed or plays/sings while getting dressed. The child isn’t rebelling or disobeying, just taking her time.)
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4 comments:
Our 3 yo boy used to dilly-dally with his chores. He would play with the fork or spoon instead of putting it away. And sometimes, he’d even pull the clean dishes out of the drawer to add them to his play. We finally decided to set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes. If it beeped and he wasn’t finished because he played instead of worked, then he was punished and set back up to continue his work. More often than not, when he just buckled down and got to work, he’d complete the task in 2 – 3 minutes. He also has discovered that having 1-yr old help makes the job go a lot quicker.
Our 5-yo has such an imagination that it infiltrates everything she does. (I LOVE her imagination; please don’t think I have anything against that! I do what I can to encourage it!) But on our days that actually have a time-constraint, she takes the longest of anyone to get dressed, take care of bathroom stuff, etc. I’ve even tried waking her up earlier to allow her more time, but that doesn’t alleviate the pokiness. HELP!
I have a friend who has a 5-year old girl who reminds me so much of your little 5-year old. They are so sweet and friendly and also so imaginative and thorough. Just an idea for the pokiness... my friend made it clear to her little girl that being pokey is not helpful and that if she continued to be pokey then she would need help like little kids do... Kind of like taking away priviledges. If your little girl is allowed to pick out her own clothes, then say she can no longer make that decision becuase it takes too long. Or putting on her own clothes, or tying her own shoes, or putting on her own seatbelt, or washing her own hands... Granted, this will only work if taking away her independence (for a while) actaully bothers her. If she's like, "Great, mommy will do everything for me if I go slow," then it will backfire. :-)
What a GREAT idea, Nicole! I think that taking away the privileges will work splendidly; she really, really relishes her independence!
My thoughts on this subject are that all children are in their own little world. Time actually doesn't mean anything to them so parameters or "rules of the game" have to be understood by all. Not too many rules to create confusion, but basics then when they grasp that idea then add another. On the singing while doing a task maybe a certain song could be used but by the end of the song the task has to be completed.
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