Until I became a mid-life mom, I didn’t truly understand the meaning of the phrase “slow poke”. Now, unfortunately, I do. As kids enter toddlerhood they seem to go into slow motion mode at the exact same time you have somewhere important to go. For many older moms accustomed for so long to be able to just pick up and go, go, go, having to suddenly slow down your pace can be frustrating in the beginning. When you find yourself in this situation, and if you haven’t yet, trust me you will, here’s a few things to keep in mind when dealing with your own little slow poke.
1. When your child dawdles, he/she is not doing it to be difficult. Little kids like to explore and at this age they really have no concept of time or your need to stick to some dumb schedule that you have set. They have their agenda and you have yours and rarely do the two meet.
2. When a child stops to explore their environments, they are actually learning. And once they are focused on an activity sometimes it is difficult to get them to switch gears and move on to something else– like out the door so you can get to wherever it is you are trying to go. Which leads to my third point.
3. To make transactions easier, try setting a timer to go off a few minutes before you need to leave. You can also say something like , “when Sesame Street goes off , it’s time to go.” Or set a timer.
4. Finally, start early on establishing a routine so that your child starts to understand the concept of schedules and their importance.
Most of all take heart and remember that this is just another stage in a child’s development and it too will pass. And no amount of rushing is going to make the child move through this stage any quicker.