The thing I most fucking hate about parenting young children

[Rollitsndpatit]

Up before 6. Every single day. 517 today.

And no MN, I can’t just put CBeebies on and doze, I’ve been kicked in the head, belly and arms. No, they ignore Gro Clocks. No, I can’t just put them to bed later.

I know I’m going to get a lot of ‘well I just don’t tolerate this’ but that’s not my life unfortunately

Grim isn’t it.
You forgot the ‘put them to bed earlier, sleep breeds sleep’ brigade!

Same but not children, menopause! Up at 4 today.

Oh yes and then you’re cursing the fucker who suggested that at 4am the next day!

I had two early risers, it's hard OP.

They do eventually turn into the mythical teenagers who have to be dragged out of bed.

I had 3 in 18 months (twins). The day they could all climb unaided into their car seats was one of the happiest of my life.

I actually can’t wait at the moment. Although someone will be along to tell me they are far more tired because they have to pick their teen up at midnight.

Nightmare. I love kids and often say I would have loved more than two. But my youngest started his day at 5:30am . Absolute killer . Just so very exhausting .
They might be too young for TV and Frubes but eventually they will . Then it gets easier

No kids just a dog here...she's old now and cant hold her wee like she used to, so we get up somewhere between 4.30 and 5 most days. I love her dearly but its killing me. Solidarity!

My middle child used to get up early… massive shock as eldest rarely got up before 8… horrific, use to turn up at work feeling likes I’d done a full shift!

Nothing but solidarity here. Mine was the only one in our albeit small antenatal group of children who didn't sleep and I swear the other mums sometimes thought I was exaggerating. It was beyond brutal and I have nothing but sympathy, nothing worked here either except time so feel free to rant away.

That’s it, it isn’t just being woken so early. Youngest has ballet at 9 and I’ll have done four hours.

yeah it sucks and the "just put them to bed later" people can do one. I tried that so many times and they still got up at 5am but were then super grumpy all day due to having had less sleep overall

Absolutely!

Except I have a 14 year old and young children so I'm up late....all night and up early....

Send coffee 😂

It's bad.
Have you tried having a banana ready for them to eat by themselves near their lego on a mat?

Same OP, we were up at 5:30 today. Me and DH take it in turns on the weekend so we get one lie in a week at least.

Mine grew up fo be a super sporty teenager so never had the sleeping in teen it was off to training at 7am Saturday…now she drives herself it’s heaven but I’m still awake at 5.50am as my body clock is just so conditioned & flipping menopause!

Yep. I've been up so long I decided to create a Venn diagram to show how I feel. Might take a while to load....

Gro clocks were purely decorative in this house too, 5am was a lie-in until DS started school and even 7am was a rarity until he hit 12.

Yep early risers here too. And DH, whilst lovely in many ways, doesn't really pull his weight on early mornings so it's always me. Always.

It sounds trite and I'm sorry about that but I have eventually decided to embrace the early mornings. I now do admin, online shop, catch up with work, put things in the calendar, load the dishes, put on a wash, pay the credit card, browse all inclusive holidays...

I had to start using the time effectively for my own mental health otherwise I would get to 8am and be furious I had 'wasted' the last 2-3 hours and still had a shit load of jobs to do. Now, once my youngest is in bed at night I take the time back for myself at that point.

How old are yours? I struggle to get much done and even if I did it would still all need doing again come 7pm.

Yep solidarity here. Its already been a very long morning and I'm very tired. Nice to know I'm not alone in this x

The ones that get up are 4 and 8. I get their breakfast and put the TV on and they have perma-barbies on the floor that they play with. They do try to climb on me and harass me but I basically say to leave me alone 😂 I put my headphones on.

Everything completely needs done again by 7pm but I have given myself permission not to do it, because I've been up early. I've done a shift and I'm not doing it again.

My 10 year old now sleeps in, and sorts his own breakfast and clothes etc and is genuinely a joy to be around. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I remember crying on the way downstairs with him when he woke at 5am for the bazillionth month in a row.

Ds was an early riser and poor sleeper it was awful! However he actually never grew out of this and at 19 still is awake most days naturally at 6:30.

Yep. 8 and 10yo up today at 5.40am. That's our Saturday morning 'long lie'🤪

Also I have an armchair in the kitchen that I retreat to and leave them in the livingroom. If I'm in there with them it's impossible. They want to be on me and showing me every Barbie and taking selfies on my phone etc. I can't cope.

Mine was like this. Marginally better now aged 8 (630 instead or 0530). Won’t stay in a room on his own though. The whole “just force them to go back to sleep/stay silently in their room” thing does my head in, some kids just won’t.