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Original poster

What do you do when your kids get up early?

70 replies

user6776 · 10/12/2023 06:21

DS 4 has been up since half 5. We've come downstairs for breakfast, DS is watching some TV and I'm having a coffee to wake myself up.

I just feel the day is so long when he gets up early. I don't want to sit around for hours doing nothing, but it's still so early to do anything.

What does everybody else do?

OP posts:
TisTheTreasonTo · 10/12/2023 07:48

On a positive note, I never had any issue with DC1 being up in time to get read for school. dC2, on the other hand, is a constant battle to get out of bed, get dressed and ready!
Day trips are also easier when the buses are emptier and places are often less busy if you're there waiting for the gates to open.

Pollyparkin · 10/12/2023 07:59

Today it was me who woke and been awake since 5.30. Have cleaned kitchen and sorted washing and now it's time
To get kids up for footie I'm knackered !
When they were younger it was books in bed until tv started then tv until breakfast and downstairs and out for walk very early

piscofrisco · 10/12/2023 08:14

This was me for, I'm
Sorry to say, about 8 years! Both DD's were very early risers and I was up with them until they were old enough to amuse themselves safely in their rooms till we got up. We would be up at 5 or 5.30 most mornings. In winter I would put the TV on for them, then read or doze on the sofa. Sometimes I would read to them, or we would prep dinner together with them 'helping' usually something slow cookish. In summer we would sometimes go for a quiet walk if the weather was ok.
If it's any consolation by the ages of 8 or 9 the switched and we struggled to get them out of bed! I still wake up at 5 ish though even now.

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mamaduckbone · 10/12/2023 08:28

ApolloandDaphne · 10/12/2023 06:32

Lie on the sofa with a blanket and snooze a little while they watch TV.

That's exactly what I used to do when ds1 was little.

fpqand · 10/12/2023 08:31

We always treated a 5.30 wake up as if it was 1am, ie, not a chance in hell! Never let mine out of bed before 7, 7 may as well be 5.30 as far as I'm concerned though, not a morning person, so DH and I took it in turns but usually one of us would lie on the sofa with them.

mondaytosunday · 10/12/2023 08:45

For years my son was always up before 6. Until he was self sufficient just got up too. He's 20 now still gets up super early (goes to the gym before work every day). He sends me a text about 7am saying he's already on the bus! Fortunately my DD who still lives with me is a late riser (ironically he was much easier to get down to sleep in the early years).

ManAboutTown · 10/12/2023 08:52

When my two were little we used a sort of shift pattern. DS2 woke about 5 for a feed which my wife used to do but then went back to sleep for 3 hours which she also got to do.

DS1 woke up at about 6:30 which was my cue to spring into action and dress him and take him down for breakfast. After I allowed the TV to do a bit of surrogate parenting while I perused the papers online.

Not ideal but manageable for both of us

Nineteendays · 10/12/2023 08:54

DS used to be up around half 5 and it was a killer. We bought him a gro clock and he knew he couldn’t leave his room until it was the sun. He was around 4 at this point so fine to stay in his room for a bit on his own. We gradually moved the time to later and later and he did begin to sleep till about 7. Was able to get rid of it by the time he was 6. He’s 11 now and if left to it, up at 11am earliest so there is hope!

DelurkingAJ · 10/12/2023 09:00

DS1 is 11 and anything after 5:30 is bonus sleep. Even at sleepover parties. From about 7 he could be relied upon to stay quietly in his room until 7 and then allowed downstairs to watch TV.

Yes, I was the one in empty playgrounds at 7:30 when he was smaller.

The whole ‘get a gro clock’ makes me laugh…less than 48 hours it took for both DSs to learn how to reset them, unplug them etc. and they were too small at 2 and a bit to understand that that wasn’t on. (I tried putting it on top of DS2’s bookcase and found him climbing the bookcase to reach it at 6…luckily he wasn’t quiet while doing so).

Nomorecoconutboosts · 10/12/2023 09:06

@fourelementary
the theme tune of milkshake just burst into my brain, I just replayed it!
our version was the 2005-2009 version
‘Mamamama memememe more milkshake.’

the dc that couldn’t sleep is 16 now but we had 4 very long years. Note to those going through it - it’s so hard, we watched loads of tv. We had 2 breakfasts. We spent a lot of time putting her in our bed. We felt bad at the time but I can’t do crafts at 5.30 and I was working shifts so lots of late nights for me. You just have to do what you can to get through it. Ignore ‘helpful’ people whose dc wake at 7.30 and consider that to be early.

when anyone tells me now about early risers I am such an empathic listener, I can still remember it so well!

Nomorecoconutboosts · 10/12/2023 09:08

Oh yes and the bunny clock was really pretty with its shiny images of bunny with his backpack trotting off to school. Dc ignored the even prettier picture of bunny snoozing all night…

CissOff · 10/12/2023 09:13

This thread is giving me awful flashbacks of my two DC and their early wakings. I really feel for you all. It’s soul destroying.

DC are older now and one has to be woken every day for school (and will sleep in until midday at the weekend) and the other gets themselves up for school fine each day, but will sleep in until 10/11am at the weekend.

Hang in there!

Derb · 10/12/2023 09:19

When they were younger we would take it in turns for a lay in and one of us would get up with them and then swap the following day.

Now they're a little older they're allowed to come into our room and get their iPads as long as it's a reasonable time and we manage to get a little more sleep that way.

LargeSquareRock · 10/12/2023 09:36

It sucks. My 3 kids have woken between 5am and 5.45am their entire lives. None of them has had a nap in the day since they were 18 months old, except when sick. None of them has ever dozed off again in the morning after waking.

We had to outlast it. Now they are 12, 10 and 8 we can leave them to it in the morning. But nothing is more creepy than going outside to sort something at 5am and seeing them all lined up on the couch like owls.

As for groclocks- there are certain types of kids that groclocks work on. But if you have kids like mine who are fully, 100% awake and rearing to go the second they open their eyes, groclocks don’t work. They work on kids who are still dozy when they are wake up and can go back to sleep for a bit or kids who happily potter in their room for an hour or two. I was one of these kids, my children are not.

Vettrianofan · 11/12/2023 07:09

DelurkingAJ · 10/12/2023 09:00

DS1 is 11 and anything after 5:30 is bonus sleep. Even at sleepover parties. From about 7 he could be relied upon to stay quietly in his room until 7 and then allowed downstairs to watch TV.

Yes, I was the one in empty playgrounds at 7:30 when he was smaller.

The whole ‘get a gro clock’ makes me laugh…less than 48 hours it took for both DSs to learn how to reset them, unplug them etc. and they were too small at 2 and a bit to understand that that wasn’t on. (I tried putting it on top of DS2’s bookcase and found him climbing the bookcase to reach it at 6…luckily he wasn’t quiet while doing so).

None of mine paid any attention to "gro clocks" either. Waste of time and money. It's been sitting on top of a cupboard for years and I have 4 DC!

fuckssaaaaake · 11/12/2023 07:10

I've got to leave for work at 7 anyway so doesn't even feel early to me. That makes me sad when I think about it 😂

fuckssaaaaake · 11/12/2023 07:11

Seagrassbasket · 10/12/2023 06:56

Yep the TV goes on here. Usually for about an hour 🙈 but it’s the only TV DS gets all day and he wakes up at 5.30 so I justify it to myself!!

You don't have to justify it. Especially not to us! It's just tv 😂

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 11/12/2023 07:14

DS2 woke at 5am no matter what time he went to bed. Still does now as a teenager.

we ended up putting a Tv/dvd in his room on a timer plug. He could play quietly until 5.15 and then when the green light came on he could put the DVD on until 6am.

It was a sanity saver for me.

Reepycheepy · 11/12/2023 07:20

Cry?

To be honest I never found an answer. My eldest got up at 4.45 until he went to school. Single parent working full time and honestly think it’s left me with PTSD about sleep! He now finally at high school sleeps in until 7 ish ( he does have adhd).

Youngest still wakes at 6 most mornings and he’s 9. He’s pretty self sufficient now though. Like others I’m now pre programmed to wake though!

I have tried being productive or just slumping and never decided which was best. I think if awake enough doing something if they are old enough to watch TV at least made the time
go more quickly, which helps a bit with the looong day.

Oh yeah and go to bed myself at 8!

you have my sympathy but it does eventually get better!

LinguisticallyCunning · 11/12/2023 07:23

I used to just not get up with them. We had a normal clock and would say that if it was before 7, they'd have to stay in bed and try to sleep. After 7 but before 8 they could play in their rooms. When the youngest was 5 onwards they could go downstairs after 8 and get their own breakfast and we would get up half an hour or so later. Mine slept really well though, despite the adhd.

NancyJoan · 11/12/2023 07:26

I used to lie on the sofa with DS, as he watched hours of Thomas the tank engine. The point when he could get up and go downstairs by himself was a long time coming, but absolutely wonderful!

LargeSquareRock · 12/12/2023 00:20

I reckon we are legion and someone could make a fortune having a soft play centre that opens at 6am and sells coffee.

The worst thing about having super early risers when they were young was that no child activities or groups started before 10. We had always been up for 5 hours by then.

Ishoo · 12/12/2023 00:26

Mine were always made to stay in their bedrooms playing quietly until they heard my alarm go off at 7.

crumblingschools · 12/12/2023 00:27

DS would sometimes wake up early and ask from his bed ‘is it breakfast time?’. We would shout back ‘No!!’ and he would have to stay in bed. I know we were very lucky he was happy to either doze off or play quietly with toys.

Mind he was a bugger going to sleep at bedtime, that could be a long drawn out affair!

Rosiiee · 12/12/2023 01:02

DS2 has been waking up around 4.30am for the past week. I’m wrecked. Been trying to ‘teach’ him to sleep until at least 5.30am but that means an hour of tears and resettling. Once we’re up DS7 can hear us creeping down the noisy wooden stairs and he’s up as well!!! Yesterday morning we watch Sing 2 😴😩

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