Son gets up early and sneaks around help!

[PrincessHickory]

My son just turned six and its been a difficult year, I have had many mental health problems and have to take a lot of medication one of which is a sleeping tablet which leaves me in a pretty deep sleep in the mornings and difficult to wake. I have told my son that he needs to come into the room and shake me to wake me up but instead of this he sneaks downstairs at about 5am and gets into all the food and makes a huge mess. I really don't know what to do, I have told him off, confiscated his favourite toys but he doesn't seem to care, he just ignores anything I say to him, he doesn't even try to wake me up, he just sneaks around and then when I wake up naturally about 7am I come down and it looks like a tornado has gone through my living room. Today he spilt food colouring all over the carpet and I have an house inspection next week. I really am at my wits end! I cannot stop taking my tablets as I get very sick without them, he is such a good boy in other ways but he is an opportunist, he admits that he didn't try to wake me and just says "sorry" and then does the same the next day. I don't know what to do, I think perhaps he might be acting out because of my illness but I can't carry on like this... I know I need to get to the bottom of the reason he is doing this but does anyone have any advice in the meantime for perhaps preventing him from taking advantage of my medicated state? Many thanks

[Floralnomad]

Is it possible to fit a bolt or door chain high up on the kitchen door to stop him getting in ? also could you pack a snack for him and leave it out for him after he has gone to sleep so he can eat that in the morning when he wakes up .

[PrincessHickory]

Yes I usually set his breakfast out for him and all he has to do is pour the milk, I stopped doing this foolishly thinking it would encourage him to wake me up, there is no door to the kitchen unfortunately as it is open plan thank you for your response

[Kleinzeit]

Well, most parents don’t like be woken up early and would rather their kids played quietly so I wouldn’t think of it as “sneaking”. Even though it's a nuisance.

How about saying “I need to take a tablet that makes it hard for me to wake up. So it would be a big help and I would be very pleased if you could wake me up in the mornings. Please could you be very good tomorrow and give me a big shake to wake me up at five o’clock? Then we will have a big hug in bed together and I will get you breakfast and we will watch telly / read a book / ”. And then when he wakes you up thank him and act very pleased about it? Or you could say, “I would love it if you had a big Lego model all ready for me when I wake up” to distract him from playing in the kitchen! If punishment isn’t working then maybe that kind of positive thing would work better.

Other thought - it might be a bit scary for him to try and wake you up if you don’t wake easily. Could you take the tablet earlier and set an alarm so you wake up about the same time as he does? If you can’t do that it would help if when you do wake up and come down, you are cheerful and nice to him no matter how much of a mess he’s made. Otherwise he is going to be afraid to wake you, because in his mind you getting up might be associated with him getting a row. Even though in reality him making a mess is what’s causing the row, it might not feel that way to him! Kid logic isn’t always the same as adult logic. So get him to associate you getting up with something nice, like hugs and stuff.