To have realised I’ll never have a peaceful morning again …

OP, mine were early risers, once they reached the ages of 5, they were able to head downstairs and watch TV for little while alone. That meant I could stay in bed until at least 7am
As they have got older, Incan stay in bed until 8or 9am on weekends if I want too.
Now we have to encourage them to get up and dressed 😆
I let them stay up later on sat and Sunday night but ( this is key) do not allow them to sleep in past 8am on Sunday otherwise the alertness levels at Sunday night bedtime can prevent them drifting off at their usual times.

I'm a single mum, my youngest is now 17. We used to hole up in my bed on Saturday mornings all cosy, they might snooze or play or sing or they might go off and do their thing. They didn't empty cupboards tho, make them put it back! I miss those times. Now I'm asking at midday if they should get up! Don't think you have to do stuff all the time, it's ok to just be in the moment

When they are teenagers you won't see them for dust in the morning, but they might then disturb you in the evenings/early hours

It was a joke, you’re an early riser so I’m guessing you woke your parents early!

My top tips:

Gro clock for the early years. Won’t buy you long but maybe an extra 30 min and at pre 7am every little counts.

Once they are say 5+ an Ipad with screen time settings is helpful. We used to set ours to allow screen time from 7-8 ish on weekend mornings. Gave us an hour of lie in time

When they get to about 7/8+ it should be plain sailing but don’t allow them to get into sports! (Only half joking). We had just about reached the age where ours could get up by themselves and get breakfast etc… that lasted a year or so and now they have early weekends clubs and matches so we are up and out the door to take them to those.

Sigh.

That’s karma for you.

Yup they're finished

Until aged 8 ish or so when they'll get up and play computer games/watch tv/steal biscuits

One day you'll have long leisurely lie ins, nice peaceful lunches, start figuring out what's for tea and then realise you haven't actually even seen your teenagers yet 😆

Hang on in there! Mine are 13 and almost 10 now and I do get a chilled morning sometimes!
The 13 year old usually gets up later than me at the weekends

We each get a lay in at the weekends. Dh gets up at 530 in the week for gym/work. I get up at 615 for kids/work

Haha, yes! I still have a small early riser (the older one is now a dream who just stays in bed reading or goes downstairs and fends for herself), but we alternate mornings to deal with his crack of dawn wakings. On my mornings, DP slumbers on. On any morning, my body wrenches awake in a blind panic at 5am, even if the toddler has a rare lie-in. Age is a bastard!

How old are they?

Once my dc were primary age, they were fine to get up and watch TV/play quietly whilst we dozed with the door open. I used to leave out individually wrapped brioche rolls and apple juice cartons!

It'll get better before you know it @neverever24 I promise.

By the time mine were 6ish, they were allowed to go downstairs and have a drink and a snack if they woke up before 7 (we had a Gro Clock for them - before 7 they were not allowed to wake mum or dad up!) - I'd leave out bananas and water in bottles.

By about 8, they were able to make themselves breakfast as well, and even on occasion I'd come down to a drink made for me which was lovely.

Now all mine are in secondary school, I've LOVING the lie ins as I don't need to get them to school. It will come!

When I was working and DS was a SAHD, I used to sometimes get up with DS on a Saturday morning at around this time, and we'd head out to the park to feed the ducks by about 7:30 or get on the bus into town and have breakfast in town. I actually had a few friends from my NCT class who had early babies too so while we were on mat leave we got into the habit of doing this sometimes so it wasn't a complete shock. it was quite nice - it was always quiet, the two of us would have a nice time, DH would be super grateful when we got back at 10:00 and I could collapse quietly somewhere for a bit!

I will say though that it does get easier. Depends on your DC when this will happen, but they will absolutely get more independent in the mornings and/or start to sleep in. the bigger issue of course becomes that you then have dance classes and football and rugby or whatever, so the mornings when you can just lie in and do nothing become very precious!

What do they like to do?

I've got a two year old, he's not madly into TV although will sometimes request an episode of Octonauts or something. More often, we read a book or two in bed, then both shower together, dressed and downstairs for breakfast. We'll usually do drawing or stickers while I make breakfast, and just afterwards.

By 8am it's usually getting light outside so if it's getting noisy/chaotic, we'll go look for leaves/snails/whatever in the garden; and we're usually getting ready to go out by 9am/9:30 at the latest.

Also why can’t he take them downstairs, put the telly on and try and be quiet? That’s what we do if the other is trying to sleep. And tell the kids to be considerate and even the 3 year old listens. I sympathise, it is tough but you need to have a chat with your DH about you replenishing your reserves. Can he take them to stay at your in laws perhaps?

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I know a lot of people don't like screens but I think there is a time and a place for them. 7:00am on a Sunday morning is tablet time for us. It allows me a bit of a lay in and a quiet coffee.

Mine were early risers but tbh getting them up and out for school as teenagers now is horrific.

They do get to an age where they just get up and do their own thing but sadly I've now lost the ability to sleep in after years of getting up early. Later comes the realisation that, as they get older, you don't get a peaceful adult evening either because the older kids are still up and about!