what time does your child get up in the hols? And what do they do when awake.

[mumnotarobot]

Its been bothering me for a while now. I think its time to get it off my chest. And im sure i am not alone on this.
My ds 6 and half gets up way too early in the hols. As a single parent also i find this rather disturbing. lol He gets up at 7.00am and doesnt seem to understand what a lie in means. Dont get me wrong i am not a lazy parent who rather have a child waking up at midday and just laze around all day. But i am a hard working mum who has a packed iternary and would like a lie in at least in the summer hols.

I also find that once he gets up the first thing he wants to do is put the tele on. Thats a no-no in our house and nothing more gets to me that tv first thing in the morning. I do allow the tv on at around 10am if we are still in. And keep it at a minimum. I much rather play games and go out and do some activites than stay indoors esp as he is an only.

So anyways he gets up at 7.00am, walks up and down the hall trying to get my attention this utimately interfees with my sleep and i feel bad to know he is awake. But i much rather if he does wake up early to play in his room. But NO he must wake up mummy also.
And to make matters worse he wants to be given a later time for bed in the hols. I wouldnt object but it does neither of us any good as he would still get up at the same time( we've tried).
Any ideas?? Any other parents in the same dillema?
Look forward to reading. x

anyone????????

7am is a lie in for me. my ds (6 in a couple of months) gest up at around 6am. i tell him to go back to bed because it is too early and then he gets back up at about 20 mins later if i am lucky sayin "i have been to bed for a bit, its a nice sunny day" which means i am awake and am not going back to bed. he then crawls into bed with me for tens with the tv on whilst i "wake up". If i don't i hae to get up straight away. he then watches tv downstairs whilst i make his breakfast/has his breakfast. I work four days a week and so we leave the house at about 8am ish. if not we "play games" such as reading flashcards (more me teaching him to read as he needs extra help as he has special educational needs). We don't tend to do anything/ go anywhere until 10am ish when i am off work because i find if we go out early we always end up back home early and ds gets bored! i have tried letting him stay up late but unless it is until 10pm ish then it doesn't make a difference. i would rather he go to bed at a reasonable time and be in a good mood the next day.

7 am is a perfectly reasonable time for him to be getting up. I know you are working hard and you want a rest but that's just tough I'm afraid!

I thought you were going to say he gets up at 5am!

You need to go to bed earlier.

7am is a lie in in our house also (dd1 is 5 and dd2 almost 2). I am fortunate in that I have a dh and during the holidays (well 2 weeks of them) we can take it in turns to have lie-ins.

If tv is a no-no, could you consider a compromise, such as a pre-selected dvd even if it is just a couple of mornings a week? Or would he play with a newish toy or similar. Can he tell the time? If so perhaps think up some tactic to persuade him to leave you until 8am ish?

My mother used to leave us a snack (carton of juice and cereal bar) which would buy her a few more minutes rest.

I think your shooting yourself in the foot!

my ds (5) gets up at 6.30am but he goes downstairs and puts the TV on so I don't have to get up and enertain him

you can't say 'no TV' and then moan that he paces the landing waiting for you to get up

also if you gave him a later bedtime in the hols he might sleep in?

my ds has a tv and dvd player in his room (the tv has no ariel) he will sometimes watch that and i know what he is watching. he always has to ask me first because sometimes he may get up at 5am and then i tell him to go back to sleep which he will do for about another hour. i think sometimes you have to let kids watch tv, play computer games otherwise they want your attention from getting up to going to bed and its physically not possible seven days a week.

It is the same in our house so you have my sympathy.

In the hols ny dd (9) and me would both like her to stay up an hour or so later and get up an hour or so later as well. Sadly she is pre programmed to wake between 6.30 and 7.30 however tired she may be so we need to stick to a 7.30 / 8pm bedtime or else I have a tired and badly behaved child all of the following day!!!

I am usually up when she gets up, except for Saturdays when I often lie in - so I would get up anytime between 7.30 and 9am. Dd either watches TV, listens to her ipod or draws during this time.

I envy parents whose children have lie ins or daytime naps but that is not my destiny!!

OP my DS is the same age as yours and exactly the same.

We wakes at 7am every bloody day of the year, regardless of how late he's been to bed, and the first thing he does is get into my bed and hug and kiss me until I am awake, and then want breakfast, immediately, and will not leave me alone unitl he gets it.

I have just given up on getting a lie-in ever again now.

7am would be a lie in in our houe. Ds (5) is usually up at 6. TV is a no no during the day here too although allowed at the beginning and end of the day. I get up, make ds's breakfast and then go back to bed (if it is a weekend). Why allow tv at 10am and not at 7am? At 10am in our house the tv is off and ds is occupying himself playing.

I think you should let him watch telly for a bit. I gave myself so much aggro trying not to have TV on in the day when 2nd DS was born, that I think I just ended up knackered and super grumpy.

If he has an hour in the morning, cut down in the day, so there is only another half hour or so later in the day - that way you'll have energy to play later in the day!

Coffee anyone?

DD is proving highly erratic during her first school summer holidays. The last couple of days, we've had to be up and out at a specific time - not early, just at playscheme by 9.30, and ready for a friend to call for us at the same time yesterday. I've had to crowbar her out of bed at 8.00. Today, nowhere to go until after lunch - up at 5.50.

Getting up late DOES make her take longer to go to sleep at night, going to sleep late might possibly make her lie in, or it might have no effect at all. Typical!

This morning she managed 20 minutes back in her own bed, about half an hour in mine, then DH was getting up for work and he took her downstairs while he had a shower. Yes, she watched television, and I would absolutely allow her to go downstairs and watch by myself if it were practical. But I know she would decide the programme on Cbeebies at the time wasn't to her liking, and then would forget how to put a DVD on, and I'd be up with her anyway.

Personally I think it's pretty contradictory to not want him getting you up, but not allow television as well. If you're that anti, perhaps a compromise - he can watch television, but maybe for half an hour, at which point you will get up and have breakfast together? Personally I wouldn't have the self-discipline, I'd still be in bed two hours later if DD got engrossed in the television, but then I don't have the self-discipline to ban TV first thing either. I am SO not a morning person - DD is watching a DVD at the moment, and I haven't even showered. But we are going out for the rest of the day, once I do ...

We have DD's (4.5) nightlight on a timer switch and she knows that if the light is still on then it is too early for her to get up. This is esp helpful when it is so light so early as it can be confusing for her if she gets up for the toilet.

It seems to work for us.

1st week of teh hols DS had a number of lie ins till 9am or later. 2nd week I needed to get him up and out some days so I was waking him at 8ish. His natural waking time is 7.30-8.30. bedtime is 7.30, he just needs his 12-13 hours sleep. This week he has swim class every morning so has been going to bed at 7 and being woken up at 7.30 am in a foul mood.

7 am makes me green with envy. Kids body clocks are the same all year round, no reason why he would sleep later just because you want to! can he make himself breakfast or have something special to do at that hour ? I won't allow tv in the morning either but then you have to follow through and give them something else (not like he can go out and play with other kids at that hour!) reading?

Until recently we still used one of those bunny alarm clocks. So - bunny asleep, dd in bed, bunny awake, dd up (if she wanted). We also had an absolute rule from about age 4 that until we got out of bed we were not to be disturbed short of fire, vomiting, alien landings etc on pain of death extremely cross parents. It worked fine for us, but we did find that we needed to leave out a fairly substantial snack for dd in her room.
She's now 7 and getting her out of bed in the morning can be an interesting challenge!