To tell DC to stay in bed til a reasonable hour at the weekend?

[Bemyclementine]

Dc aged 6 and 7. Had to wake the 6 yr old up every day this week at 7.30, tired and grumpy. Then getting ready for school is an ordeal. 7 yr old gets up OK at 7.

Today, 6yr old wakes me up at 6.20. Talks at me, then goes downstairs. Back in seconds to complain 7 yr old has got to the TV first and is watching YouTube . YouTube is not allowed at bloody 6.20am.

So then they start playing, noisily.

Aibu to tell them to stay in bed and quiet til 7?? I'm shattered. I never get to just wake up naturally. Always the alarm on weekdays and a child on weekends. I don't want to sleep in til 9. Just not be woken up for no reason.

I'd say they're young to understand that you need to sleep even if they're awake. Does one of them have a tablet? If no-ones supervising them downstairs, they will surely watch what they want, right? What's better - YouTube or you being up?

I have a 4 year old who woke me up at 5.20 this morning so I'm honestly not being rude here - you have my sympathies!!!

We've had to wake our DC up all week and then this morning DS(3 years) is up at 5.30. I was so grumpy too and then felt bad as I know it's not his fault. To be fair DS normally sleeps til much later and then the older one who is 5 nearly 6 will come into our room to the toilet and then he is allowed on his iPad in his room until we're all ready to go downstairs. I know not everyone might agree with it but he chills in bed playing for an hour and we get some extra sleep.

I think it's a bit unreasonable to expect them to just lie quietly in bed.

Not unreasonable to expect them to play/watch TV and not come into you immediately

I’ve said YABU because you have YouTube readily accessible for young children. You should have parental locks on that stuff.

No I don’t think YABU! They’re old enough to read a clock but you might need some form of bribery eg you’ll make them a special breakfast/take them swimming/whatever would work for your family.
We listen to a lot of audiobooks on weekend mornings - 9yo has her own in her room and 4 and 6yo tend to come into DH and my bed and cuddle with us with a story on. Though this morning they’re all still asleep!

It’s a killer, the early starts. Mine is still only 2 (and the absolute latest he’ll sleep till is 620, usually it is 545 but 5 and 430 are not unknown!) so 620 now seems a glorious lie in!

Would they read with a gro clock or anything?

Get them one of thos clocks that change colour when they can get up?

We have a similar situation with a 3yo and 5yo. Can’t wake them all week, and then they’re coming in at stupid o’clock on the weekends.

I’ve bought clocks that change colour when they’re allowed to leave their rooms, and they’re both being taken out for some very active physical activity this afternoon in the hope I get some rest tomorrow morning… you have my sympathies!

Oh my god had EXACTLY this this morning and the last month or so. Sooooo fucking annoying!!!

The baby poos around 5 and would go back to sleep I’m sure.

But me getting up wakes up the 5 year old - if I didn’t get up he’d still get up at 5:30. And then he wakes up the 7 year old who has SUCH an attitude!

We say go back to bed/sleep in our bed but they just won’t!! They lay with us until 6 this morning but that is unacceptably early at their ages tbh.

I want them to start going down on their own and getting breakfast etc but the eldest hates to be alone/without an adult so that’s a battle.

On a a Sunday our DC know not to wake us. Breakfast and drinks are accessible and they can be in their iPads. It's the only free for all morning they get and that's roughly twice a month due to shift work. Sometimes something just has to give to get some rest.

Oh but ours is every day not just the weekends 🙃😴 at least we don’t have a rush on school mornings 🤣

7 is too old for a gro clock - they dgaf about it and you can’t trick them as they can tell the time on their actual clock.

They're old enough to know not to come into you unless there is a genuine need, but you can't expect them to lie in bed.

Dts are older now but still up at 6 every morning, they're just wired that way.

My dcs have all always been early risers , my eldest is 11 and is still up latest 7am. I’ve never had to wake any of my 3 dcs in my life ever !! It makes absolutely no difference what time they go to bed, often in summer it’s a lot later as hot as brighter outside , still up 6.30/7am. I never wake naturally but tbh I like making the most out of the day but I am tired , I could definitely do with an hour or two extra on the weekends. Also once I’m woken I can never go back to sleep …

If we'd had Mumsnet in the late '70's I'd swear my Dad had written your post 😂🤣

weekdays - childminder & school. Particular un fun in the winter!!!

weekends -PLAY at home, with OUR toys in OUR house in the warm!

back when 🦕 🦖 roamed the Earth, childrens tv wasn't a thing so early in the day, no streaming, no 'devices'. My parents, one Christmas, bought us tiny transistor radios, and we were allowed to listen to Saturday/Sunday Childrens stories. In our own beds, quietly.

It was brilliant!! We thought our parents were THE BEST. It's only as an adult that I realised how cunning their plan was!! 🤣😂

can you not let them use devices in bed until you get up? Lock down the parental controls.

YANBU. We used to have a rule that noone was allowed downstairs until 7.30 at the weekends. Until then they had to stay in their rooms. And they were definitely your kids ages or even younger when we implemented that.

You are only asking until 7am. Reasonable to me.

Ii realise 6.20 would be wonderful for some of you! Ds1 was always an early riser, and had a loooong 4.30/5am phase. They both do sleep pretty well.

They can also both tell the time! So they know how early it is.

They do watch stuff on YouTube but its limited, what ds1 watches is very very specific and harmless. Its difficult actually as dc2 wants to watch all manner of crap snd gaming stuff where you get inappropriate things appear, and I find it hard to balance letting dc1 watch hus hobby/interest YouTube but then not allow dc2 to watch what they want on YouTube....

I really don't want to encourage tablet time at 6.20am. It will end up with ever earlier waking to get to the tablet.

I've had a cuppa and feeling less grumpy now.

They do have a yoto player so I might make thar the rule. They can read or listen to stories til 7.

We have the rule not out of bedroom before 7. The 6yo is pretty good 90% of the time and when he does go downstairs he is happy to entertain himself with lego or TV or mariokart and will get a snack/drink. The 3yo is completely non compliant with the 7am rule so I just try and be super boring until 7, he requires full participation and me to do every single thing for him between the hours of 6.30 and 7.

I think staying in rooms till 7 is fine. Just make sure they have some books and colouring in there. Then they can get up at 7.

Mine are a bit older but I can clearly recall the morning a coue of years ago when I rather grumpily ranted 'For goodness sake why do you both have to wake me up to tell me you are awake'. I always wake up when I hear them get up anyway but it was they way they just came and stood by my head expecting me to get up and start serving them that was annoying.

Also we let our dc watch kids you tube.

My 3 year old understands that unless there is a problem/she's upset, she stays in her room until her gro clock wakes at 7am. Sometimes I hear her before 7 just "reading" to herself or playing with a toy. Then she comes in to us when the clock wakes up. So I don't think a 6 year old is too young to just be told they can't go downstairs until 7.

Lego and reading in my DC room - she is an early riser, but I need her to be quiet as the other DC is not and needs to sleep longer. No tablets as I agree that would get them up earlier.

Those of you with children who get up at 5/5:30 what time do they go to bed? Aren't they exhausted?! DS was really tired last night when he went to bed at 7:15 I went to use the bathroom at gone 8 and he was still awake and had a torch and a book.... I took the torch away. He got up at ten past seven this morning and was being ratty and looked shattered still so he went to the loo and I asked him to go back to bed, put his audiobook on and in five minutes he was asleep again, he's awful if he doesn't get 11-12 hours , he's 4.

@JennyDarlingRIP yes, exhausted. Hence wanting them to sleep longer. 5 year old out like a light at 7pm, 7 year old reads until 8ish but usually asleep before then.