Suggestions for surviving the morning hell?!

[RubySlippers77]

I have twin boys who are almost 4 and they are such hard work till I get them out of the door in the morning..... (well they are hard work the rest of the time too tbf, but mornings are particularly torturous!!). We have to leave the house by 10am even at the weekends otherwise they are bouncing off the walls

DTS1 keeps waking himself up far too early - 6am or thereabouts - won't go back to sleep, won't keep quiet unless constantly shushed, which tends to wake DTS2 eventually anyway. DTS1 then cycles between absolutely manic - running round screeching, jumping, etc - and desperately tired and sad. (We are looking into possible ADHD for him but that's a whole other thread!). I try to encourage them to play with toys, watch a bit of TV, eat their breakfast etc but really DTS1 has zero concentration for anything.

I don't want to let them out into the garden before say 8.30am as I don't want to annoy the neighbours, but at the same time I am so fed up of him not giving anyone a moment's peace, as there are things I need to do in the mornings - get dressed myself and have some breakfast, for a start!

We leave at 9am for preschool and he has calmed down by the time I collect them but that respite will be going soon and I have no idea how to cope with six weeks of this..... DP leaves for work around 6.30am, PIL will look after the DC but only for one afternoon a week, meaning I'm stuck with them - I'm a SAHM as we simply can't afford childcare.

I'm absolutely desperately tired myself as the DC aren't great sleepers in the night either, I was sobbing by 8am this morning - combination of 4 years of crap sleep and DTS1 being such a little horror.

Should I just suck it up and get up with him as soon as he wakes up? Should I take them to the park early doors to work off some energy? (DTS2 will be grumpy as he's still tired!). Should I keep trying them with different things in the morning? Should I see if anyone will adopt them for the school holidays?!

Thanks all. Just at the end of my tether with tiredness, general hard work with toddler twins, and DTS1 driving me right to the edge at the moment.....

[sleepismysuperpower1]

try having a routine in the morning. so tell ds1, when he wakes up, to put the clothes you have put out the night before on, and to go to the toilet. (but he can only get up after 7. you can get a gro clock which turns yellow when its time to get up). then you get up, make him some breakfast and go and wake his twin to get dressed and go to the toilet too (giving him time to wake up). then, once ds2 has had breakfast, it should be after 8:30 so they can go outside whilst you get dressed (if not, turn on the TV). once you are dressed, i would get out their scooters and let them scoot over to the local park for a few hours so they can let off some steam. see if you can find some drop in classes (eg: preschool gym or swimming) which will help the day pass by quickly too. all the best x

[RubySlippers77]

@sleepismysuperpower1 thank you so much for your suggestions! Sorry, I did mean to reply before but was overwhelmed by end of term stuff and then the hellish school holidays.....

It hasn't been going too badly apart from today when they had an enormous squabbling fit and we had to leave McDonalds I was mortified. Think DTS1 was tired out as he fell asleep straight afterwards and is still sparko two hours later! I did try a gro clock but he ignores it

Still, now our holiday away from home has been and gone I'm going to re-think our morning routine and get them out of the door earlier, they are just too bad tempered at home otherwise.

Thanks again

[BelleSausage]

Sounds like it is going better. Just a thought but have you tried a rewards chart I.E- He gets a sticker for the chart every time he doesn’t wake anyone in the morning and then something he wants? You could do one with the other twin too, for fairness.

Failing that- look into mini hamster wheels for burning off excess energy. I wish I had one for DD!

[RubySlippers77]

He does have a reward chart @BelleSausage but just doesn't care at 6am!! It's like once he's awake (whatever time it is) he just won't even consider that he might still be tired!

A hamster wheel would be amazing and in constant use!!