Feeling drained....advice?

[kindertime]

I know someone who mentioned (in the course of a conversation) "the other morning when I was getting xxx dressed for school" the child was four. Four. I almost bit my tongue off to stop from asking why she was still getting him dressed at four years old.

I can top that! Getting carried in from the car. Every day. For 5 years!

As for the getting dressed themselves. I have written policies (this helps a lot) and they state that I expect the children do do the things they know how to do. So if they know how to put their boots on, but they refuse, well, then they are going outside in their socks. Some kids learn this lesson quickly, others, it takes longer.

[torontokids]

Heh heh, I went through this today! My one DCB refused to undress himself fully (he did his hat and jacket but refused to even try and do his shoes and splash pants). I left him on the mat until he did this (much to my assistants horror because he screamed and she felt we could just do it). Luckily I'm the boss and I told her more than once to ignore him and go play with the other kids. 5 minutes later he was undressed and he joined us.

My assistant is a lot like the parents described above. She also questioned me when one of the kids refused to eat lunch and asked what I was going to make him as an alternative? When I told her nothing she was mortified. 10 minutes later he had a clean plate.