Am desperate - any ideas on how to get a 6 and a 4 year old to not wake up so early??

[ceebeegeebies]

Both DC are excellent sleepers (which I am very grateful for) but insist on waking up generally anytime between 5 and 6am

After 6 and a half years of no lie-ins, I think I have reached the end of my tether. Me and DH are permanently tired, snappy at each other etc.

They share a bedroom and they know they are not allowed in our bedroom until 7am (at weekends) but they always wake us up by going to the toilet, talking, playing (or killing each other). Particularly if they wake up at, say 5.30, they cannot play nicely with each other for 90 minutes in their bedroom

One of us could have a lie-in whilst the other one takes them downstairs and we do do this occasionally but both me and DH are generally 'once awake, have to get out of bed' people.

They don't have particularly early bedtimes, and over the Easter weekend these have slipped anyway...yet they are still awake at the crack of dawn!

Please help - any advice would be greatly appreciated

[joolsangel]

my little girl generally wakes between 5.30 (sometimes earlier) and 7. if I feed her a bowl of porridge before bed and put the heating on in her room from about 5.30am she tends to sleep a little later so I do this at weekends if I want a bit more sleep. generally im awake at 5.30 anyway so I don't mind too much but I do hate it at weekends when she springs into our room at 5.30. so feed her up before bedtime and turn heating on!!!!! I think tho every child is different and they all go thru stages - good luck!