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.

It's a bit odd that your 5yr old can't entertain herself for an hour in the morning. I'd have thought she'd be fine to go downstairs, make some toast and quietly watch tv. At the very least she needs to stop the loud singing, that's just bad manners when the household is still asleep.

Make some toast?? Unsupervised, at age 5? I would absolutely not consider that for a moment!
Hope Ritaorange enjoyed making her update this morning - can't imagine she'll have many friends to share it with judging by her manner on this thread.
OP, I get everything you say and only comfort is, am sure this will be a short-term nightmare. I have just the same short-term problem right now. However I'd rather get up early than leave a five-year-old unsupervised in a kitchen as suggested. Different with an older sibling, but no way if she's the oldest.

Yes, DS1 can, and does, entertain himself for an hour in the morning, but it is STILL only somewhere between 6.15 and 6.30.
Personally, I think two hours on his own at that age is too much.

So, to those of you with obliging children, please don't mock us. Do you think we are encouraging them to get up before the sun?

To those of you with early risers, here is wishing you a good nights sleep.

to hazeyjane - no, they weren't robots, why would you think that? Alice - no, baring illness 5 year olds shouldn't be disturbing others sleep on a regular basis. Unless there's SN, what's the problem with them being quiet in their bedroom or going downstairs to turn the TV on? They have to follow rules at school at that age.

In ds's case, yes he has sn. But sometimes the dds wake early too and can't get back to sleep (they are 7 and 8) - it could be that their brother has woken them up, a bad dream, not feeling well, worrying about something or just not able to get back to sleep.

I suppose I thought all families had that sort of stuff!

Really mystified as to what provoked the quite personal reactions on this thread. For what it's worth, some of the comments were quite hurtful. Not most but some, You know which ones.

Yeah I'm sure those in question will now come back with some well crafted response designed to make me look over-dramatic and probably like a bit of a dick.

But when you've finished crafting said response, maybe just think about the energy you're putting out into the world and why you do it.

I'm out.

So your son has SN hazey and wakes the others. There's not much you can do about that and I can understand that's not easy. Doesn't make other kids that can understand not to make a noise early robots.

My Dd (nearly 5) is up about 545 every day, I'm shattered. Fine in the week as need her up them but at wknd I'd love to sleep to 9 7! She was wiped out by 9am as tired but won't sleep! She . Will play on her leappad for a while but pretty sure that takes place from 5am at the wknd.

Early nights it is...in. a few years I can't wait to get my own back ha!

Well said, OneFoot.

One foot in , I have discovered there are bitter hurtful people on every thread . Just ignore and take the positive advice you think may help . Lavender oil certainly helps my dd who has had sleep issues from 18months (now8) I notice a big difference when I sprinkle it on her pillow before bed.... Also I use mediation CDs and massage her feet when it's near bedtime or she is reading to me / I used to read to her . I find she sleeps longer and deeper . I definitely used to say dd can't come and wake mummy until the alarm goes ! Even if it's 630 it's better than 530 xxx

Nah, Annielouise, they wake up anyway sometimes. Most of the time ds doesn't wake them. Dd2 went through a good year of early rising before he was even born!

Both mine have SNs. I went to bed at midnight last night as I had to do some paperwork, and ds1 woke up at 1am and was awake literally the remainder of the night. Ds1 is now in school and ds2 is HE'd, so after I have a cup of coffee (or two), we will crack on with the learning stuff.

My dd did not have SNs, but was also an early riser. I got up with her because it was a nice quiet time of day to chat while we were making breakfast and discuss plans for the day - even when she was a teenager. I see no harm in being awake and being sociable when your dcs wake up, even if it is early. Yes, it can be tiring sometimes, but that's life, unfortunately.

I'll admit I was frustrated when she was quite young and displayed an obvious tendency to wake up between 5 and 5:30am, but I very quickly decided that it certainly wasn't her fault that she woke up that early and it also wasn't her fault I was tired if I chose to go to bed at midnight knowing that she was an early riser. There are so many other things to put your foot down on as they're growing up, this just didn't seem worth an ongoing battle over.

Lie in until 5am this morning! Hurrah! Combined with my sensible bedtime of 7.30pm I actually feel well rested. Even better - DS has gone back into his room and is playing in there. Not quietly, but not bad for a 3 year old, so at least DH can stay asleep. This is a good day. I will enjoy it.

I thought of this thread this morning at 5 when ds was screaming and signing for his sister. Poor girl ended up getting out of bed to give him a cuddle, then curling up next to him and me whilst he played the iPad.

heres strong coffee /tea/gin for all the early risers!