To have a moan about early rising

[OneFootIn1999]

Dd is five. She has slept until 7am maybe twice in her life. 6.30am is considered amazing. 6am is standard and some days (partic now it is lighter in the mornings and the birds are singing) it is 5.45ish. Like today. She will sing (loudly) to herself for a while, read in bed for a few minutes- but then she is bounding in to us. Adorable, yes, but too damn early.

I do realise that on the spectrum of 'issues' this is nothing, really. And that she could be waking even earlier (believe me, in her younger years we knew the 'joy' of 4.30am).

It's just the way she is. She's an early bird. No Gro Clock or blackout blind or later bedtime (she goes to bed at 7pm) has succeeded in pushing her wake-up time back. We gave up trying ages ago.

But I am tired.

Tired of having to go to bed at 10pm and panicking if I do have a late night or a few drinks that the morning will be hell.
Tired of looking forward to getting back into bed the moment I get woken up in the morning.
Tired of the unspoken game of 'which one of us gets a lie-in today' (which I lost today)
Tired of feeling grumpy for a good hour while she is chipper and ready to rock the day.
Tired of trying to keep her quiet so she doesn't wake up her little brother (which she invariably does)
Tired of feeling jealous when friends talk of their kids' regular 7am wake ups, having to rouse them kids for school, and getting to sleep til 8am on weekends.
Tired of feeling a bit bloody knackered all the time.

Am not a morning person.

Early waking is a genetic mutation. ;)

My DD (4) is the opposite, but her best friend has always been a 5am early riser. No sleepovers for them anytime soon!

Yanbu but to make you feel better ds wakes four plus times a night and then often wants to get up at six it earlier, I'm exhausted, the good news is he's having a nap now while I mumsnet.

She is old enough to be quiet in the morning. Singing loudly and waking others up is not on.

It will pass eventually. I am the only person in the house awake now, 9.45 am, boys still snoring away.
But I remember weeping with tiredness, desperate for even half an hours extra sleep. I had 12 years without an unbroken night.
What helped? TV in my room, kids could watch TV in the morning in bed with me, so I could snooze. Extra huge bed to accommodate this - best money I ever spent!
Gaffer tape around the edges of the blackout blinds so no chink of light could get through.
Bedtimes didn't seem to make much difference.
Clocks are going forward soon, that might make a difference temporarily.

Hmmm, she doesn't actually have a clock in her room- perhaps missing a massive trick there as she has no idea what the time is!

RitaOrange I think the dressing gown thing is cute because she isn't doing it to be naughty, she is just an early bird. I'm not cross with her, just her body clock! And she genuinely wondered who would tie her dressing gown. I think that's rather sweet.

My 8yo wakes up every morning by 5am, sometimes earlier. He is awake off and on from 1am until about 4am every night. He has never slept through the night. He only goes to sleep from 830 until 1am because he is medicated to sleep.

Sleep deprivation sucks, plain and simple.

I think some children are just early risers and that's it. My dc have not grown out of it. My Dd age 12 still gets up at between 5.20 and 6.30 no matter what.

Why cant she do it herself ?

Any one else hit a wall about now?

Ds is knackered so grumpy as hell, and I just want to go back to bed. 2 hours 15 mins till I start bedtime

I'm a terrible parent, we bought dd (5) a cheap tablet at Xmas loaded with iPlayer and Netflix and taught her how to use it so when she wakes at 6 (Arghhhh) we can watch anything in her age controlled Netflix channel and cbeebies while still snuggling in bed and if she wants to snuggle with us she has her leapfrog headphones to use with it! She's currently obsessed with Charlie and Lola and Christmas movies

Ritaorange- because she can't tie a bow yet, if that wasn't already obvious from the fact she needs someone to do it for her.

OK I don't think I ever tied a bow on a dressing gown.
MY 5 year olds were able to dress, do up zips, put on shoes etc.
Its up to you OP - its you who will be woken up by a singing child at 5.45 not me.

It sounds like your DD is disrupting the sleep of your entire household, including their younger sibling.
Lack of sleep is serious and I really would have put my foot down with this nonsense by now but its your call so ...

Both mine are early birds, they're two and four and are awake and on the go from about 5.30am. My youngest often wakes us up through the monitor with his rendition of 'twinkle, twinkle little star.'

It's a pain, and I get very angry when people moan about their kids getting up at 8am. I actually laughed at my friend when she said her son was being a pain and getting up at 6.30am.

I'm not a morning person, but it is what it is and the mornings here are very laid back and unhurried. We get dressed slowly and come round to the world. I'm not a fan of them, but I will miss the sleepy mornings when they're gone.

Onefoot yes yes yes to a clock. Not cheap but highly recommended

Those of you saying old enough to entertain themselves til 7 - how long do you think it is reasonable to get a 5 yr old to entertain themselves quietly? Just asking, because I think the hour my DS does is plenty. It would be nearly two hours if I left him til 7. Is that too long, or am I too soft?

I think that if you leave them to their own devices consistently they may get the message that getting up early is boring so would start sleeping a bit later. If they really don't need any more sleep then I would think gradually moving the bedtime later would help? My dd has needed 12 hts a night for a while but is now sleeping a bit less having settled into school. Therefore I adjust her bedtime accordingly. She does go to bed at 8pm at nearly 5yo though.

Ritaorange the dressing gown wasn't really the point. It was an amusing (to me) aside. So never mind.

It's good to know there are so many others experiencing this normal but knackering stage! Will be getting a digital clock ASAP...

Sorry but I don't think its normal for a 5 year old to be causing such havoc.
2 year olds - yes.

hahahaha to sleeping later because its boring! He's been left on his own (without even any toys) for a year, we've moved waking from 5.15 to 5.30, and pushed bedtime back by 45 mins! DS is already going to bed at 8. I really don't want to push it back later quite yet. I value some evenings with DH.

We have the opposite situation! We have to get up at 5am for work, so sneak about trying not to wake DD. I wish she was more of an early riser

2 year old got up at 10pm 12pm 1am 2am i finally got him to take calpol he fell asleep but by that time i was in a horrible place and couldnt sleep till four thirty ish he woke again at five and mooched around till he could get me upright then he woke his brother and then his sister up

i know its part of having children but ive had approximately ten hours sleep over four days my eyes are burning they are messing about now up in there room im too tired to deal they will go to bed eventually

it sucks no doubt about it

Wait until they are teenagers !
Its bliss- I will be snoozing until 10 am tomorrow and DS2 will do a full cooked breakfast !

I agree completely with ritaorange.

Indulge her if you want, but then you can't really complain about the early starts.

My response to the 'who will tie my gown' would have been 'you will, dear liza'.

No noise before 7am is non- negotiable in my house. Waking other people up is just rude.

Thank god some common sense arethere

I think the dressing gown remark was cute too - not sure why you are being so mean to the OP when she's just looking for some support and to vent!

Awww yes so cute she wakes everyone up so early to have her dressing gown tied.
BUT ITS NOT CUTE WHEN THE dc is 5 ,its annoying and she wakes up her little brother as well.
So the whole household including the Op and DC are tired and miserable.