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Behaviour/development

"Lazy" six year old boy - any ideas?

4 replies

Littlemissbusy · 22/02/2006 13:55

DS of friend is 6 - and she can't motivate him to do anything! He'd be happy lying on the sofa etc. It's not bad behaviour at all, but getting him motivated to get dressed, get to school on time etc. She's at her wits end, and saw me this morning and asked advice - I've never encountered this with my children. She's tried rewards etc, but nothing seems to light his fire! Any ideas?

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hugeheadofhair · 23/02/2006 21:24

My ds is a bit like that. I have several strategies. One is counting: "I want you to be up the stairs in the bathroom before i have counted to 10" Or more positively treat the counting as a race " I bet you can't do this before I count to 5" Other strategy is to give him a certain time to finish a task. Friends of mine use a timer,I just use the clock. My ds has to be dressed and downstairs before it's 5 to 8 and I would point at the clock and say "you've only got 5 mins, 2 mins, 1 min. left..." I have been doing this for about a year now, and nowadays I don't have to cajole so much anymore. I only count to three now and the dressing is no problem anymore. Oh, and I do the pasta jar for listening/obeying purposes, which works really well

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egocentriczebra · 26/02/2006 15:05

Would it work if said child didn't get privileges until he did a bit more for himself. Like, no breakfast until after he's dressed for school, no tv or less tv-time after school if he's late to school, that kind of thing? Not one to overdo, of course.

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hovely · 26/02/2006 20:21

could buy him a stopwatch (simple type) to make it more of a game.
does he get enough sleep? is school getting a bit much?

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Littlemissbusy · 02/03/2006 21:41

Thanks - some useful comments there. I wondered whether he was going through a growth spurt or something, as he's certainly getting enough sleep. He goes to school on a bus, which collects just before 8am, so the morning routine does need to be on track - dressing, breakfast washing etc and out of the house - I don't think it's fair to wake him any earlier than 7am - but he has to be woken, then won't get moving.

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