Step by Step

If there's one thing I want to change this summer it's a new habit the girls have developed. It used to be that when we said "go get ready for bed" the girls went upstairs to change and brush their teeth and hair. We'd go upstairs, remind them to get out their clothes for the next day, check their teeth and hair and put them to bed. It wasn't always perfect, but they were proud to be able to do it all by themselves like big girls.
Lately we have to remind them of every step of the process. I call it the step-by-step-by-step. When I get really frustrated I say, "It's like we have babies again. We have to say get in your room. Take off your clothes. Put on your pajamas. Go into the bathroom. Get out your toothbrush. Put toothpaste on it."
I admit it's not my finest parenting moment. I realize they are only eight so they have short attention spans. They also don't want to go to bed. They want to stay up and play. It's their parents who think it's time for them to go to bed. I don't like the step-by-step lecture, but I know that one day I won't have to say it anymore. If nothing else, they will get so tired of it that they'll start getting ready the way they should just to make me stop giving the step-by-step lecture.