to ask how on earth you fill the first few hours of the day if you have very early risers?

[BettyFriedansLoveChild]

2 year old DD up at around five or six everyday, without fail (aware this could be much worse - it was four or five am for a good few months). After breakfast (lets say around 6.30) we can either let her watch TV or do some kind of activity. This morning (after about an hour of TV) she has done painting, helped me hover the lounge and tied up her bedroom, and helped DP make a cake and bake some bread. Its only just gone 9am. It seems that either we take the first few hours of the day at a relaxed pace (which involves lots of TV), or we run out of things to do before most people are up and about. How do other parents of early risers get the balance right (and hopefully minimise screen time)?

2.30 am

Dd wakes sometime around 6, I bring her into bed with us and bf her, then put cartoon on the iPad and snooze until our alarm goes off or until the whingeing becomes unbearable.

So glad we're not the only ones who do this.

The exception seems to bewhen when she wakes in the night. Then she has a lie in till around 8am. Unfortunately this usually seems to happen on mornings when she has to go to nursery.

Five years in here . Thankfully my DH does the getting up as I work late evenings. Ususally they read, or DS plays quietly. TV not allowed on a school morning, or if it is, it's something quiet and educational rather than Cartoon Network etc. Weekends they will watch TV or a film or do some craft activities. Sometimes they go out on an early morning milk and bread run in their jammies, which DS loves. Now the better weather is here, DH is going to use it to go out for a run with DS on his bike alongside.

It's bloody grim. DS1 was the same and I was effectively a single parent with him till he was three as DH (DP as was) lived 250 miles away!

I can't believe ppl actually get up
At this time my three used to be snuggled in till a reasonable hour I used to work till 2 am there is no way if I could have got up at 5.30 -

DS2 is up often twice a night and still gets up at 5, and he is noisy and demanding on waking. We have tried everything. If he sleeps till 6.30 this is considered a luxury.

God. The pain. Lest we forget.

I used to refuse to clear up the kitchen in my precious child-free evening, because I might as well do it between 5.30 and 7.30am. I know a lot of people would find coming down to chaos unbearable but I didn't mind.

Couldn't go in the garden as it's a terrace and being woken by other people's children before 8am seemed a horrible fate to inflict on the neighbours.

Making bread is quite good as it takes over 2 hours if you do the full shebang and at least feels productive. I used to make the evening meal as far as I could as well. All in the interests of being able to do absolutely nothing in the evening tbh. DS would usually play with duplo or career from one end of the kitchen to the other provided I was obviously working - if I sat down or read he would obviously scream blue murder immediately.

I also used to sit with him on a hard chair and sing right the way through a nursery rhyme book. Less mindnumbing (and longer) than a straightforward reading book, requiring less 'performance' oddly, and if I sat on a soft chair I would just be fighting sleep all the time and it was SO painful.

I always found the playgrounds deserted at 8am. I used to wonder why, it's not exactly uncommon

Golightly, if we could get DS2 back in bed we would. Sometimes it's just not as simple as "I can't possibly get up at that time". We really have no choice or he would wake our other DC/the neighbours/the people in the next street.

And he is the main reason we haven't been camping since he was born; an activity we used to love. WE would be politely asked to leave the site after one night!

I take a sippy cup (no-spill) of water and a banana up when I go to bed, and charge my phone overnight. When DD wakes up at stupid o'clock I change her then bring her in with us. She has breakfast she can manage by herself and plays on my phone. I put the Fisher Price apps on it because they are free and I can pretend it is educational.

By the time she gets bored of that DH is usually half awake and will read a book with her or help her with the shape sorter whilst I pretend to be asleep some more.

If we are lucky that can fill up the day until 10am! (But usually about 8).

My early riser has settled into a slightly more reasonable schedule now, but if I have to get up (normally having attempted to convince dc to come into my bed for a cuddle) I'm pretty useless. Sleepy and grumpy until at least 7am, even after years to have acclimatised to earlier starts. Breakfast and tv, maybe facebook/mumsnet for me while dc pootles with toys.
If dh has to get up obscenely early, he refuses to turn the tv on and engages dc in all manner of useful activities like laundry, hoovering etc. So its best all round if he does the mornings really

DC3 who is 9, wakes at about 6 and we do reading (him and me), science and general chat. Then he watches tv while I sink into grateful sleep on the sofa.
I HE and it's good to get some stuff out of the way early.

Do none of you just get up & go out? Newborn DS would always wake about 5.30 last summer and all of his fussing would wake (then) 2.5yro DD so, once I'd fed him, I'd change his nappy, shove some clothes on, make a tea & put it in a travel mug and go to the park. We were often there by 6.30/6.45. I'd sit on a bench in the morning sun (I quickly learned to take a rug to sit on as otherwise would get a wet bum from the morning dew) whilst DD ran around loving having the park to herself & then got for a stroll ending up at Sainsburys as it opened at 8am to get some fresh croissant and then home to eat those & say hello to DP before he went to work.

I'd then shower etc whilst DD played & then I gave her and DS a bath. By that time, it was getting on for 9.30 and time to head out for toddler group or to meet friends. Always had quiet time after lunch which often involved TV (DD had stopped napping). Sometimes, we went out again in the afternoon but it didn't matter if we hadn't as we'd had a pretty busy day.
We didn't do it every day but 2 or 3x a week. It really worked for us and, on weekend days, if the DC wake early, I still do it. I found it so much easier than having to come up with activities to do as, as OP said, some days I'd done everything in my parenting repertoire by noon. DP appreciated it too as it meant he got a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep.

My 4 year old now sleeps till 6.30-7am and usually at the weekend I get up with him and we watch CBeebies (and surf the net!) till 8.30ish when I wake DH up.

He used to be consistently awake at 5am until about 3 1/2. I refused to get up and make breakfast before 7am so we got into the habit of him having a beaker of milk and a biscuit or dry cereal in bed with us instead while we had coffee. He still has this 1st thing and then a proper breakfast a bit later!

I treated anything earlier than 7 night time and wouldn't entertain getting up. Snuggly time and back to sleep never really sleep issues tbh

Average 530-6am here but not an issue as DH has to get up for work then so am awake. Bit of a pain at weekends though. I stick ipad on - currently anything Tumble, Andy's Dinosaurs etc and DS has his milk and biscuit while I have a cup of tea. Downstairs after 7/730 depending on how antsy DS is. He plays with toys while I surf internet and breakfast after 8. Start getting dressed before 9am. We always do an activity class at 930am or go out to the swings so are always out of the house by 915. Sometimes if he's up particularly early we head to Waitrose as it opens at 8. Get shopping done and have breakfast in the cafe.

I used to get tons of comments stating they wouldn't allow their little Darlings to get up that early.

It's not about allowing them to be up at that time - DS3 has sensory issues, and has NEVER slept a full night through from birth, EVER. We also suspect ADHD too. He's on melatonin to make him go to sleep, and until he was given a proper dose he used to sleep 11pm-2.30am. That was horrendous. Now he goes from 8-9pm to 4.30am. It's still horrendous, but slightly more manageable. As soon as 4.30 comes he's awake. It's not a gradual awakening, it's like someone flicks a switch and his eyes open and he's ready for the day.

Im in bedroom right now with door closed eating breakfast. My 6 and 2 year old are just playing in the living room. I dont entertain them in the mornings

I would love to know how people manage to enforce the refusing to get up before a certain time. 2 dcs here, 2 & 4. Anytime from 5am for both. Take in turns for weekend lie in. Tv/ milk/ snacks til about 730, breakfast, do odd jobs if poss (rare), out the house by around half ten and already counting down to bedtime :-)

I think if they get up they get up, but just leave them to it.

We used to go to toddler/pre school groups most days so would spend the morning preparing to go out.
Weekends would be at the park first thing and then we would feed the ducks.
This still left time for board games, swimming or a family film where we would all snuggle up on the sofa together.

My dcs all tried to get up at 230 when they got to around 2yrs old. I allowed them to go downstairs but refused to turn on any lights or the tv stating that it was sleeptime. After 10mins or so they asked to go back to bed and I refused saying that they had asked to come downstairs, now we were here and I was awake we would stay downstairs. They were told to be quiet as it was night time.
I kept this up for about half an hour before letting them go back to bed.
They didnt do it again.

Stop serving breakfast at six, that's why she's waking up. Breakfast at half past seven, no entertainment until then. Read in bed.

I agree with coveredinweetabix - we used to do that too. Eventually though we concluded ds didn't need 12 or even 10 hours' sleep and went with the flow of letting him go to bed at 9.30/10ish and funnily enough once we started to do that he was ready to get up at a nice, civilised 7am. Worked much better for us.

I can't bear it when people say 'I wouldn't get up'. Like it's a choice for some of us! If I could stay in bed and cuddle them back to sleep I would obviously do that. My children aren't happy to just 'cuddle up' and if I tried to keep them in bed once they are awake (alone or in with me) our mornings would be traumatic for all involved (because of the noise!)

Some children are just early risers and, despite all efforts made to get them back to sleep, it's just impossible. My almost 4 yo went through it and now I'm back with 5am starts with my 3 month old daughter.

Also not sure how leaving them to it would work? My son did this from 3 months until he was 2.5. At no point could I have just left him to it?!

When DS was a baby, out of desperation, I sometimes used to go out. I remember one such morning when we were staying at a hotel in Brighton. 4.30am I was pushing him up and down the seafront. It was beautiful but my god I was so depressed. Not much of a break for me :/

But once he was a toddler it wouldn't have been fair to take him straight out as he isn't great at being quiet and I'm pretty sure he'd wake up the streets we'd have to walk on on our way to the (sadly rubbish) local park. Sounds like a nice thing to do in the summer though, if you've a nice park within walking distance. Our park is crap and surrounded by houses so I'd be worried about him making any noise before 8am.