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Your question is perfectly timed for the beginning
of a new school year. Parents who struggled last year may want
to institute my anti-nag morning routine outlined in my book "How
to Parent So Children Will Learn" (Crown, 1996) from
the start. Parents whose children are already efficient dressers
may ignore this column. The routine is truly effective, for toddlers
on up through high school students.
Here it is:
Announce to your children -- one at a
time -- the guidelines for the new beginning. From this day forth,
they will be responsible for getting themselves ready for school.
Your job will be to await them at the breakfast table for a pleasant
morning chat.
Nightly preparations should include laying
out their clothes and getting their books ready in their book
bags. An evening checklist will permit their preparation without
your help. They should set the alarm early enough to allow plenty
of morning time. They will feel just as tired at 7 a.m. as they
will at 6:30, but the earlier start will prevent their usual rush.
Children should wake themselves up (absolutely
no calls from others), wash, dress, and pick up their room. A
morning checklist can help them to remember each task. Breakfast
comes only when they are ready for school. Absolutely no nagging!
The parent must wait at the breakfast
table, and not be anywhere around the children prior to their
meal together. After the children are ready, the family can enjoy
a pleasant breakfast conversation about the day ahead!
If you wish, you can allow them to watch
TV on mornings when they are running early, as an incentive for
being speedy.
Dr. Sylvia Rimm,Phd
Copyright © 2000,
Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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