Oh lordy, the cat-herding we go through...every. single. day. Does anybody have any tricks for getting a kid to move with a purpose and do what we ask without having to physically guide him in the direction we want to move and punctuating every. little. step. with "Can you do X yourself, or do you need some help with that?" Putting on jacket, shoes and socks to leave the house, brushing teeth, changing clothes, and doing final pee pee before bed - these are the worst. They are things we do daily, and they are always a struggle, dragged out much longer than they need be.
I try to break things down into small parts, so it's not "Let's get ready for X," but, "You need to come in the bathroom so we can brush our teeth." Then, "Here's your toothbrush. Squeeze the toothpaste onto it." "Okay, you need to brush your teeth a little longer than that. Keep going." "Can you finish by yourself, or do you need some help?" "Take off your pants and undies so you can do final pee pee chance." "Can you do it yourself, or do you need some help?" The only motivation I have found to keep him on task is to remind him with every deviation, "The longer you take now, the less time you have for nursing," but it's only true because the longer he takes, the less patience mama has and the less happy she is about nursing as the hour grows later and later.
Is there any way to get a kid to just do as you say without the nagging and micro-managing? He will throw the toothbrush on the floor and book it out of the bathroom if I don't keep after him with the night-time routine, he puts up a stink about going through it, but is equally put out if we try to do something like take his socks off FOR him...gah, this irrational, meandering kid...
I try to break things down into small parts, so it's not "Let's get ready for X," but, "You need to come in the bathroom so we can brush our teeth." Then, "Here's your toothbrush. Squeeze the toothpaste onto it." "Okay, you need to brush your teeth a little longer than that. Keep going." "Can you finish by yourself, or do you need some help?" "Take off your pants and undies so you can do final pee pee chance." "Can you do it yourself, or do you need some help?" The only motivation I have found to keep him on task is to remind him with every deviation, "The longer you take now, the less time you have for nursing," but it's only true because the longer he takes, the less patience mama has and the less happy she is about nursing as the hour grows later and later.
Is there any way to get a kid to just do as you say without the nagging and micro-managing? He will throw the toothbrush on the floor and book it out of the bathroom if I don't keep after him with the night-time routine, he puts up a stink about going through it, but is equally put out if we try to do something like take his socks off FOR him...gah, this irrational, meandering kid...
Fortunately, we don't have too many appts to keep 
.
