AIBU to tell 8 year old to entertain themselves at 7am on Sunday morning

[naturallydelicious]

Every weekend morning without fail as soon as she opens her eyes my 8 year old keeps telling me and my husband to get up
Out of bed . This can be as early as 6am . She keeps saying she's bored or she has nothing to do& will keep going on about it until one of us gets up . Bear in mind she has a room full of toys , books , puzzles , arts and crafts , a tv and iPad so loads to do . We never stay in bed past 8.30/9am on weekends and we're both up at 6am Mon to Friday . I usually get up when she insists because I feel guilty lying in bed when she asks me to get up . But ,this morning after her moaning at us to get up I shouted at her to go play in her room and I'd get up soon . I now feel awful ... was I being unreasonable?

She’s FAR too old for that nonsense.

Tell her it stops now, and leave out the means to make breakfast

This is fucking genius

She's just being a brat now. Have consequences for that. My 8yo has been doing this since 6yo.

Mine wake up at 5.30 (even now they’re 8), there is no way I’m doing fucking baking with them over getting more sleep.

@Grimbelina "Is it legal?" Seriously ? Can you link to the legislation which evidences your belief? Actually I'll save you the bother, because it doesn't exist.

OP no not unreasonable at all. I would not be dictated to by a bossy 8 year old either. It's especially annoying that she isn't scared or lonely or even bored (struck by once your husband got up she ignored him anyway and played in the iPad). She just wants to make sure you do what she tells you to! Fuck that shit.

My daughter's best friend started coming for sleepovers last summer. My daughter is a lazy arse and rarely wakes before 8.30/9 at the weekend. The parents has given me no warning that BF gets up at 5.30/6 like clockwork. Daughter got up with her, fine. They went downstairs, got breakfast, put telly in but BF repeatedly barged into my bedroom telling me to get up. At first I politely asked her to leave me alone as it was too early. But she kept coming back asking WHY I was not getting up now it was 6.30, 6.45, 7 etc. In the end I was quite sharp with her and said I would get up and take her straight home if she barged in again. The girls are now very clear that they are not to come into my bedroom bar an emergency or there will be no more sleepovers. I mentioned it politely to the parents and it seems the mum always gets up when BF tells her to! She isn't scared of being alone apparently, she just likes to "be in charge". Rod, meet back!

When DS was about 4 he complained about having to wait for us to get up for him to have his breakfast. So I asked him to prove to me he could get his own, limits were put in place and he was allowed to sort himself out. To be fair I don’t sleep late, but this meant I could take my time. When DDs were older, he would sort their breakfast out too.

I have the opposite problem. My six year old is very independent and I sometimes wake up to find that he has spilt milk all over the kitchen or bought a film on amazon🤣 I tell him the rule is to come and wake me up first!

@AngryGreasedSantaCatcus

Not at all. At that age , and even younger she's perfectly able (bar any SEN) to not only entertain herself, but also understand that you need your sleep and that other people's needs matter too.

My DS 8, has ASD and ADHD and has known since about 5 not to get up and disturb us on the weekend. He gets his own breakfast, drink, and watches TV / draws / plays on his iPad. It’s also good for teaching them independence skills.

Your daughter definitely shouldn’t be waking you up if you don’t want her to OP!

YANBU, telling other people to get up for no reason is just being a dictator! She can get in and snuggle or read a book or she can sod off until a set time. My parents had a firm rule that we weren’t to come in til 8 and it was fine! She just needs to learn that no is an acceptable thing to hear. Love the idea that you’ll be “too tired” to do something Later.

You get up when she insists?!
Blimey.

I think @Grimbelina was joking because @PrincessHoneysuckle said ‘DH 9’ 😂

Bit unreasonable to shout, but not unreasonable to tell her to go play and leave you alone for a bit.

Don't feel bad for shouting OP.

She's 8. She has her brother for company. She's been told/asked multiple times not to do this, is still doing it and stropping when she doesn't get her way. She's acting like a brat. Sort it out for her sake as much as yours- she needs some kind of consequence IMO.

Forget the shouting. If you ask her not to do this and she is defiant and insists, fine get up, but then later in the day when it's time to do something fun (trip out, park etc), you don't do it. Sorry love, I'm too tired after you got me up early.

@Achwheesht she's not an only child , she is up with her 10 year old brother . They don't fight and get on quite well together so don't need me or my husband present to sort any squabbling

I mentioned SEN because I work with children and the way they are affected can vary massively. We have children like yours which would be totally fine, we have children who would be extremely anxious and couldn't cope so either they'd wake up their parents anyways or spend an hour or two in a really heightened state of anxiety which will then fuck up the whole day, we have those ones who either aren't actually able to be left alone because they function at the level of a 2/3 yo, we have the ones who wouldn't be safe because what's a good /entertaining idea for them is actually dangerous/destructive.

I do apologise for using it as a short hand for those possible issues.

Yes! 😂😂😂

the anger about that reply has made me forget dh is still in bed at 10.30…

No, op said she has a 10 year old brother . Plus when her dad got up she just ignored him anyway. Parents are not to be dictated to by their kids. They need to learn to respect other people’s choices.

Tell her as a consequence to this behaviour, every time she does it she will lose her pocket money. If you are both getting up with her and giving in to her demands she will continue ruling the roost.

I’m amazed you’ve let it go on this long.

If it was me I’d be telling her that if she’s bored I’ll give all the books toys etc away to a child more grateful of them.

Im not sure why people think being an only child or not makes any difference?!… my DD (an only child) will happily just stay in her room playing dolls or read a book for hours at that age. I wouldn’t be able to lay to bed with her downstairs though unless you fully trust her not to touch anything hot/sharp etc…

But she should be able to entertain herself.
I’d be really cross with her too.

As for being starving, then not hungry and ignoring DH… I’d have come back to bed and told her not to dare aiming in your room again.

My DC are 7 and almost 5. On a weekend their tablets get put on charge in their rooms (Fire Kids so they're disabled overnight so can't be played with even if they tried to be sneaky), they have a bottle of water in their rooms for overnight and there's usually some left in the mornings. They usually wake up and laze in bed a little while playing on their tablets before getting up. Sometimes they will wander down and help themselves to a drink/cereal bar/yoghurt if they're peckish, then will usually stay in the playroom once they're down there. We all wake up at a similar time anyway, but it means I don't have to dive out of bed the moment they wake, I can wake up gently, read a little etc before starting my day without being nagged at. It works for us.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

6am is not at all reasonable on a weekend! At 8 years old she is perfectly capable of getting her own breakfast, watching a film, and making her parents a cuppa to wake up to. To demand parents get up at silly o’clock is just bratty.