HANG IT UP

"I used to fight with my daughter every morning over her outfit," says Debbie Emmerich of Lynbrook, New York. The breaking point came when Debbie packed Mary Kate, now seven, off to kindergarten in a sailor shirt.

"When Mary Kate arrived at school, she wouldn't get off the bus because she hated her shirt," recalls Debbie. The driver had to carry her in. "I was mortified," says Debbie, who instituted a new, more successful dressing system for Mary Kate and her brother, Johnny, now five.

Each child decorated five blank labels with the days of the week and stuck them on a set of hangers. Every Sunday, the kids (with final sign-off from Debbie) set up their outfits for the week with the understanding that what they pick, they have to wear. Nowadays, clothing squabbles (as well as sailor shirts) are a thing of the past.

CREATE A "CLOTHES KID"

To make choosing clothes more fun, Hannah and Mackenzy Derrick of Rock Springs, Wyoming, made a pact with their mom, Kandi: Each night the girls would lay out the next day's clothes on the floor in the shape of a person (including everything from socks to hair accessories). Whatever their "Clothes Kid" wore to sleep, they wore to school the next day. The result? A big reduction in the number of fits thrown, says a very satisfied Kandi.

QUICK TIPS: Get yourself ready first, say many readers. If you're up and dressed before you wake the kids, you'll be calmer, and ultimately so will they.