Gro-clocks are shit

[Alpineal87]

My 3 year old can’t give two shits whether sleepy cat is still asleep or not. Introducing this piece of crap to our mornings hasn’t given us any extra sleep past our usual 5am wake up call, it’s just given us the painful endurance test of keeping my youngest in his bedroom for an extra 60 minutes using various pointless distraction methods which descends into threats and bribery.
Absolute fucking waste of time and I’m dealing with it well.

It worked for us - but with a lot of input about what it meant at bedtime, pretending to sleep until the yellow sun, setting it for when they woke up and gradually moving it forward.

It’s not a quick fix, and it doesn’t make them sleep. But my experience was that, with persistence, it meant they stayed quietly in their room (with plenty of toys and books) until the sun went yellow. I used it for naps, too.

It's a clock, with numbers and a count down of dots that represent hours how is that difficult for an adult to work out?!

To be fair, my five year old was reliably waking up at 5am for at least 3 years but recently stopped going to sleep at his usual 7pm and keeps making excuses to get out of bed till at least 8pm. As a result, he did eventually start waking up at 6am so it’s been good in that respect and shows a later bedtime can work.

Yes it works for mine. It’s not rocket science.

It might not be rocket science but it also isn’t as simple as you’re making out.

DS woke at five for a year. It didn’t matter what time he went to bed. At most, we might get to 530 or 545. He was asleep by ten pm last night and bouncing around at six. Sigh.

DS figured out how to turn it to day time aged 2.5years. It was an expensive waste of money 13 years ago too!
The only thing which stopped 5am being getting up time was him going to school. So you have my sympathies.

I think it is entirely dependant on the child and their personality.
My first was a nightmare, up early every morning, awake multiple times a night. We got the clock when he was 2 and it changed our lives. Sleep improved almost immediately. His understanding was excellent and he was the most compliant toddler (later diagnosed as autistic)
Second child was a similarly shite sleeper and much less compliant. His speech was also much better. He would wake us every morning to complain that Ollie the Owl wasn't awake yet 🙈 however we were consistent in they he had to stay in his room until the picture changed and in time he did get the hang of it. He is still an early riser but he learned not to wake everyone else up.

It's not a magic bullet and it is reliant on the personality of the child and how consistent the parent is at returning to bed until it's time.

My son is 3.5 and very much understands the concept of the groclock, the problem is he feels that I need a running commentary of it so whatever it’s showing when he wakes up he’s just NEEDS to tell me. God knows why I even bothered with it, it did fuck all for his older sisters sleep. The older sister that has even gone to bed as late as midnight at various family events and still wakes up at 5am.

I think where you may be going wrong is this "it’s just given us the painful endurance test of keeping my youngest in his bedroom for an extra 60 minutes using various pointless distraction methods which descends into threats and bribery."

No talking, no eye contact, he gets nothing from you if he leaves his room before the clock tells him he can. What you have taught him is all this interaction between you can happen whilst the clock says sleep.

This isn't about them waking later, it is about them waking you later. Mine knew to stay in their rooms with the aid of the gro-clock. Once they were a little older then a normal digital clock worked too because they know numbers in order.

There is (hopefully) light at the end of the tunnel...
DD was always a. Early riser no matter what we did and we tried everything! Until she turned 13 and it was literally like a switch flicking overnight, she now needs to be woken everyday for school, sleeps until 9am at weekends/in the holidays.
The major downside is her staying up later than us at the weekend though 😆

Not necessarily. My 33 Yr old son still gets up at 6 am.😂😂.

DS is 9 and he only stated to "obey" the groclock at 7 - as in, he will stay in his room and read/play til it goes green.

My son is a whirlwind, but he is also compliant with instructions. However, it does make me worry about nightmares/illness - do they still call for you then?

We also went with magnesium, and that changed wakes from 5.50 to 650.

Saying "it's not rocket science" to an exhausted parent is pretty crap tbh.

As a parent of older children, I can tell you that many of the bits of parenting we think are not rocket science are down to the individual personalities of our children.

My son woke at 4/5am until he was 5. He's 8 now and it has stretched until 6. It got easier not because we cracked the mornings but because he became old enough to entertain himself when he woke up. Changing bedtime didn't help, made it worse. He actually has ADHD and part of that is he needs much less sleep, about 7 hours does him. (Not saying your child has ADHD OP, just that we discovered that was the reason in our case).

Other bits of parenting never felt like rocket science to me. Like eating. My kids eat whatever is put in front of them without complaining. It isn't down to my parenting. It is down to sheer luck - but oh man, do we have other problems 😂

Solidarity to you. I so clearly remember this time!

This doesn't work. I tried endless permutations with mine of shofting bedtimes, longer/ shorter naps, velcroing the curtains to the wall to ensure total blackout. He was about 8 before he reliably slept past 6 am. He doesn't really lie in past 9 now even as a teenager.

Same. It didn’t stop them waking but they knew not to leave their room until the sun came out. Gave us an extra hour in bed.

recent development @Peonies12 ?

Peonies12 · 13/01/2026 11:14
We are usually asleep by 10pm, but have a toddler who still wakes in the night, and is up for the day anytime between 5.30am and 7am. pre baby I'd probably do 10.30-6.30/7.

My three year old jumps about screaming ‘the owl is awake!!!’ At 7am. Works for us.

If you want to properly sleep train, in theory you need to set the gro clock for just after 5, then gradually move it later.

True, adults can (try to) read the small, low contrast numbers on the display to work out what time it is... Toddlers are stuck with staring at a circle of stars that only changes about once per hour!

….. it’s how many stars are left

No one said it was rocket science 😂

in fact it would be easier if it was.

All 3 of mine had a gro clock from about 2.5. I found it very effective. I was also very strict with it and only adjusted it gradually by 15 mins or so.

Im pretty sure the yellow light on it is now what wakes my youngest in the morning ready for school.

Ah, it doesn’t though does it? Given your previous post as highlighted by @Thumbup .You just want a superior stick to beat other parents with, for some strange reason.

Apologies if you have difficulties with your eyesight or there are different versions but our gro clock numbers are a lot bigger than my bedside clock.
If it doesn't work for your child it is what it is, but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with the product. My son has ADHD and it was a clear easy way of saying to him when the sun comes up on your clock you can come in to mummy and daddy. When it's still blue it's still nighttime so you need to go back to sleep.
I don't think it's meant to be any more elaborate than that