Early rising pre schooler and filling time in the morning

[graysor]

Dd is 3. She gets up at 6 in the morning every day. 3 days a week she goes to preschool and we leave at 9. We have a no tv in the morning rule on preschool days (as it’s too much of a battle to turn it off to get ready and out of the door. ) But the 3 hour stretch before we leave feels like a lifetime.

What do you do to fill the time of a morning? Dd still has a tiny attention span and isn’t interested in anything like drawing, colouring, puzzles etc.

Suggestions and ideas welcome! Thanks

Do you usually bath her in the evening, if so can you switch it so she has one and In the morning? I can waste an hour with my two giving them a bath

Switching bath to the morning is a
good call. But dd is a chronic bath refuser so I suspect that would be unachievable at the moment

I would put the TV on! No way would I be entertaining a child with wholesome activities in what is basically still night time.

TV until 7, shower, breakfast, playing etc, out the door.

The 6am start actually doesn’t bother me too much. It’s a vast improvement on much earlier waking not that long ago. It also worked better when I was at work (mat leave at the mo) as we had to be out at 7.30 so that made it about right for having enough time to get ready, but not too much of a rush. But currently the long morning stretch is challenging!

Estrella - playing? What sort of playing?

I know it's hard to fill their time when they're still so small! Does she has a play kitchen, stuff like that, where she can roleplay serving you breakfast, etc?

Or maybe different things for different days? That way she'll never get bored with one thing too quickly. And Friday can be the day she's allowed TV, to give you a mental break?

Read to her? Get her interacting with the story. Ask her about it. Make up stories with her.

Does she take a packed lunch? If so, she could help make it with you.
Go for a walk
Leave earlier and go to the park/library/supermarket on the way
Get her to help do jobs. Give her a dust pan and brush, get her to match up socks, help load the dishwasher or do the washing up!

I'd introduce a sticker chart and Groclock for staying in her room playing quietly by herself until a time you think is appropriate. Consequences for waking you up early.

You sound quite passive here, remember who is in charge of your household and take control of the situation.

Your DD will thank you in the long run.

I only have one morning a week like this at the moment but this week we did some drawing on the blackboard and cleaning it off, read a couple of books while feeding the baby, he came in my shower with me and made pizza out of some foam shapes (not even remotely related to pizza!) with a flannel topping, got the trainset out, put the train set away again to get the dinosaurs out, put the dinosaurs into their matching families and took half of them to his bedroom, wanted the diggers out but I dragged him off to playgroup!
He’s also good at playing with his toy kitchen and making me meals, scoooting round on his scuttlebug, undressing his doll and trying to change its nappy, puzzles, fingerprinting, ‘helping me’ - load and empty the washing machine, match socks, wash up, cook, sweep, wipe etc.

Well mine can often get up at this hour and tbh I have to stick the tv on until I've had a coffee and come to! After that tv is off for breakfast at around 7 at the table. Then I say she can't have it back on until she's ready and everything is done - teeth, do a wee, get dressed etc. She faffs around doing these tasks and playing in-between so often there isn't time for more tv anyway!

Do you walk to pre school? We do and that stretches out the time. Lots of dawdling etc!