Do Gro Clocks work???

[fraggle73]

I am not sure whether to get one for my 3.5 ds, he has always woken around 6am, lately abit early. Is it too late now, is his body programmed to wake up that time now :(

It worked for us hand in hand with bribery. DS was 2.6. He loved the clock understood what it was for but chose not to follow it for the first month or so. Then, one day we were looking at a book that had a picture of a hamburger in it. He said he wanted a burger now, and I said that if he stayed in bed the next morning until the sun came up on the clock we would go out with daddy for burgers at the weekend. The next day it worked . So, I think it can work some of the time with some children. My DS woke earlier than yours though 5-6am. I bought the clock second hand on eBay for about £5 less than retail but I think they are pricey and I thought that if it was a failure then I could resell and get my money back.

his body could well be programmed to waken at that time
BUT DONT LET THAT STOP YOU

my smallest two at ages 3 and 5 were also like that
I bought a gro vlcok, made ahuge thing about it
read the cute little books that comes with it for the first few nights
made up a little 'bit' that we always (still even now at 4 and 6) say when we say goodnight to the sun

and it worked like a dream

UNTIL gecko, yes the three year old, worked out how to 'make' the sun come up as soon as she had woken

HUMPH

but sod that I thought

she would run in shotuing, 'sun is up mummy'
I would roll over, see it was too early (first morning I thought I had mis set it or something...second morning,, I realised and she admitted that she was tampering with it) and put her back to bed, she would cry, I would ignore, she learnt

she realised I knew when the sun was supposed to get up (obviously I explained calmly) and that messing with it got her nowhere

now they seem to have adjusted (I only ask for 7am) and if they do wake before the sun is up they know not to come into me (and also that its not downstairs time)

they g o to the loo and return to bed with some toys or books

sometimes they are a bit loud (not overly) but that is what the pillow you aren't using is for to put over your ears

oh and she lost her turn on my computer for tampering with the sun on the second and third day

she stopped doing it then

I sound a leetle too evangelical about a clock and a bitch all at the same time

and it probably about 2 weeks of occasianl having to put her back and ignore her if she came in too early (after she had decided to stop tampoering with it before it worked again

No. .

3yo DS learnt how to re-set it and make the sun rise on the second day. Bribery didn't work either, he would get pancakes if he stayed in bed until the sun came up.

We stuck it out for a year with me begging, bribing and explaining why we shouldn't get up so early. He has black out blinds and black out curtains but his body clock seemed to be set to 6am . I've packed the clock away now as I was the only person paying attention to it.

6am I could do. 4.30 I struggle with. Especially nights like last night when DS was awake from 1.30-4 and then DD woke up at 5. We've just got a Gro-Clock and I'm really hoping it's going to make some difference. Even 5.30 would be an improvement.

Worked like a dream for DS1. You can lock it once you've set it for the night so they can't interfere with it. Worth every penny imo.

Didn't work for me. Totally depends on the child in question, I think. Didn't stop DD from getting up at 5am and refusing to go back to sleep/be quiet. She would just say that it was time to get up, and that the clock was
WRONG.

DD sleeps a little longer now (until 6ish, 6.30 on lucky days) but that seemed to happen naturally once she started doing longer days at pre-school.

I do think it's worth a try, though, as it clearly does work for some children. Maybe you could see if you can borrow/freecycle one, and then pass it on if it doesn't work?

As Super Nanny says, I don't think it depends on the child in question but more on the parent in question!
The clock won't work on it's own - it's not a magic solution! You still have to use a certain level of dicipline and make them understand that ignoring the clock is not acceptable, as you would over any other issue.
The first time they get up before the clock is 'awake', gently tell them it is not getting up time yet and they must wait until the clock says it is time to get up. Put them back in bed. The second time they get up you tell them it's not getting up time yet and take them back to bed. The third and subsequent times you say nothing and just put them back into bed. It's the same tecniique as the famous sleep training technique that Super Nanny uses, except you are not trying to get them to go to sleep, just to stay in bed until the clock wakes up.
Initially don't be unrealistic with the time you set the clock. If you have a child that wakes at 5am, then setting it for 7am is not going to work as they will no way stay there for two hours without a fight! Try setting it for 5.35am then, once they have mastered staying in bed until the clock wakes up, set it for 5.40am, 5.45am, 5.50am, etc. You get the idea. Every few days move the time back by five or ten minutes. Every time they stay in bed until the allocated time, give them loads of praise.
Be consistant and don't give in!

flowery DS worked out how to un-lock within days .

We loved the story book that came with it though, we still read that.

Surely un-locking the clock should be dealt with firmly, as you would if a child tampered with any other electrical appliance or an item that was not not a toy?

Surely un-locking the clock should be dealt with firmly, as you would if a child tampered with any other electrical appliance or an item that was not not a toy?
You are the parent and you are in charge. If you say the clock is not to be touched or played with then it should not be touched, played with or changed. If you say they need to stay in bed until the clock wakes up, then that is what needs to happen. You need to enforce some dicipline over this matter as you would in other situations.

He was told off all the time, given time out, had toys taken away, nursery chatted to him about it, never made any difference. After a year of it I realised it wasn't going to work.

FWIW this is all karma, both mine were GF babies and sleeping through from 3 + 5 months .

My ds has a bunny clock, similar principle. Bunny opens his eyes when it's time to wake up. At first ds totally ignored it or pushed the button to open bunny's eyes. However when I finally offered him the prize of a Buzz Lightyear toy and a Woody toy and we did a whole month of reward chart with a star for every day he stayed in bed until the clock went off and he seems to have got it. He still stays in bed until it goes off even though we've stopped the reward chart part. He's very proud and every morning comes in to my bedroom proudly waving his clock in front of my face :o

I can tell them off all I want, it doesn't mean they are going to pay attention to me!

You are obviously very lucky in that your toddlers pay attention to you .

It works if you have a child who will do as they are told and stay in their room until the sun comes up and doesn't fiddle with it. My dd doesn't fiddle with it but does wake up earlier and goes to the loo which wakes me up anyway, then she starts reading aloud in her bedroom - pointedly loud to try to wake us up I think!
I don't really mind that, so let it go, but at the weekend I tell her she can go down and make herself breakfast and watch tv when the sun comes up.

Meglet - I don't think I'm lucky, I just worked very hard at making sure they listen to me and know that mummy is in charge, not them. I consulted Jo Frost's (Super Nanny) books and programmes frequently in the very early years and made sure I stuck to the advice and never gave in or waivered. It wasn't easy (I am no super mum by any stretch of the imagination) but the techniques really do work if you stick to them.

Er, I'd just like to point out that when I said it didn't work, I don't mean that I didn't try. I spent several months trying to make it work before giving up. The fact is, my daughter has too much energy. When she's awake, she's awake, and I wasn't able to affect this. I don't think even Super nanny could have got her to sleep for longer.

but you dont need to make her sleep longer, just understand that you stay quiet in bed with a book or toy till sun comes up

I did try to make her understand that too, but she just wouldn't stay in bed. Or in her room. Or stay quiet.

I reitterate what I said in my previous post, it's about the 'putting back' technique. The first time they get up before the clock is 'awake', gently tell them it is not getting up time yet and they must wait until the clock says it is time to get up. Put them back in bed. The second time they get up you tell them it's not getting up time yet and take them back to bed. The third and subsequent times you say nothing and just put them back into bed. You keep going, even if you have to do it 100 times. You do it religiously every day until they realise getting up before the clock is awake is a waste of time. It will work as long as you stick to the rules. If you give in then your DC will never take you seriously and always know that if they are persistant enough then you will give in and then you will never have any sort of meaningful authority.

It worked for us. The little book suggests you set the sun to come up at their normal wake up time for a few days, then move it by 10-15 minutes increments until you get to the time you want. We did have a few times when we needed to put DS back to bed but he seemed to get the idea most of the time. I just took him back with a firm "it is not time to get up yet" whenever he got up before the clock.

Then DD was born who is still too little to understand the clock and she gets up before 6 every morning. She wakes DS and then he doesn't want to stay in bed while she is up I can't wait to try it on her too