I'm going utterly crackers, here. (As if it were something unusual-ha!)
My evil little children insist on being up at the pre-crack-of-dawn. I've said it many, many times before: Mommy don't do kids before 6:00 am.
I. Just. Don't.
There's just something very sick and wrong about children being awake and up (playing loudly) before 6:00am. I can't and don't want to handle it.
BUT!
My children have consistently been up and awake at 5:00am, 5:20am every. single. morning. I don't know what to do about it. I've tried to put them to bed later (10, 15, 30, 60 minutes (and more) past their bedtimes): still up in the 5:00am hour. I've tried to run them around and wear them out more in the afternoons: still up. I'm at my wits' end with what to do.
I am up early, early in the mornings. Part of my early waking is insomnia (ironically I could easily go back to sleep about 6:30am...too bad for me, that doesn't work), the other part is that from 5:30-about (ideally) 6:00am that is my private do-whatever-quiet-activity-I-want-to time. Just one problem: evil little monkeys who refuse to a) sleep until a reasonable hour, or, b) the same evil little monkeys who refuse to sleep until a reasonable hour also refuse to stay and play in their rooms.
So, dear reader, this is where you come in: I need your help! Desperately!
I'm looking for ideas of how to get my kids to sleep until at least until 6:00am or how to get them to play quietly in their rooms until 6:00am. Let's face it folks: I'm not picky. In my perfect world my kids would sleep until 6:30am weekdays and 8:00am weekends. But, at this point I'd settle for staying in their rooms until 6:00am.
Please, please write in. Help me find the 'magic bullet'. I'm open to just about anything--as long as it works.
I'm counting on you, dear friend, help me out!
Monday, December 17, 2007
I'm living with roosters!
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5 comments:
You are a much better parent than I, because I don't do kids until at least 8am :)
What if you get a clock for their rooms? Obviously they can't read the time, but you can write down what the numbers look like and give them the paper. Then, they can wait until the clock says six and come out of bed.
There is also bribery. A sticker chart and a prize if they stay in their room until 6 that morning, or that week. I know my 3 year old would need a daily prize, but my 6 year old could handle a weekly one.
The first number that Sydney learned was 7. As in, Mommy and Daddy do not get out of bed until this clock says 7! It worked. Maybe, like Mrs. Ranch suggested, you could try the same. And rewards are also good.
Fortunately, I have also been blessed with later sleeping children.
Good luck. You have my greatest sympathy...
Yep, I agree with Mrs Ranch & Creaturbug...teaching them what the number looks like on the clock and saying they are NOT allowed to come out of their room(s) until the clock says 6 or 6:30 or whatever you say.
What time do you put them to bed? Just curious...cuz the later I let my kids stay up, the later they sleep.
And yes, bribery also works. But sometimes...a threat works too.
Good luck re-training them...it's gonna be really hard on you at first, but stick with it, it'll pay off in the long run. :)
I have to agree. Luke used to say, "Mom it's 8 o:clock, get up."
Something about winter though, they linger in bed longer. They do come to my bed at 7:30 and turn on the T.V. to watch cartoons. I make sure to leave it on PBS the night before...honestly sometimes I don't even wake up until DragonTales.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to work the 'clock' and 'bribery' angles.
FWIW: they go to bed around 7-7:30pm. Ironically, if I put them to bed at normal time or let them stay up until 9pm, they're still up early. Strange little buggers, huh?
:)
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