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Parenting

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Original poster

What morning 'rules' do you have re. getting up time/noise etc?

57 replies

Gameboy · 23/02/2008 16:14

DSs are 8 and 6. DS1 always wakes up early (despite us letting him go to bed later), but we say he has to stay in his room and read etc until at least 6.30. DS2 usually hears him and gets up at the same time .
(I'm not convinced that DS1 isn't waking him up deliberately...)

We've previously let them watch a bit of TV, or play on the computer until we get up (at 7 ish weekdays or later at weekends).

But recently they've started making so much noise in the morning, that they're waking us up when they get up. It's mostly DS2 getting more argumentative & shouting/ arguing I think.

We have been warning them that unless they keep quiet, then we will change the 'rules'. But nothing's changed, and we were woken at 6.30 again this morning .

Just wondered what other people do - do you say they have to stay in bedrooms til later, or read, or something?

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Pitchounette · 25/02/2008 21:23

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DarthVader · 25/02/2008 21:28

Everyone gets up at 6.30am everyday.
Simple!

Posey · 25/02/2008 21:30

Ds was a terrible wanderer, at all times of the night, disturbing everyone. So we made a sticker chart, and it has worked. He has to stay quietly in his room until he hears our alarm clock. This has worked really well, and I have a much happier boy consequently.

The only other rule for mornings is quietness. Dh works shifts so is often not in bed til 3am so we don't want to wake him early. My mum loves coming to stay with us where the mornings are peaceful!

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Posey · 25/02/2008 21:31

Happier I should say because he is sleeping all night, not because he is quiet in his room til the alarm goes off!

charliecat · 25/02/2008 21:31

Mine are 10 and 7. They get up and do whatever, including making themselves cereal and toast.
Have been doing that since they were 3 and 6....trained the 6 year old to use the toaster properly
If they argue I holler to them to shut up and doze back off.

lou33 · 25/02/2008 21:40

mine get up and sort themselves out too, aside from ds2, who gets sorted breakfast by one of the others, then they wake me when they have eaten and i nag them to get dressed, and help ds get ready

TheGoddessBlossom · 26/02/2008 09:40

Mine are 18 months and 3. They have always been early risers.

i think they have a chat the night before to decide who is to wake hideously early - if it's the baby, he just shouts "NOMUMMYNOMUMMYNOMUMMY" (his new fave phrase) and bangs the end of his cot until either DH or I go in with milk. This is between 5.15am and 5.30am. If it's the 3 year old, he gets up, wanders into our room to ask a random question, gets into our bed, goes back into his room for his telescope/playdoh penknife/light sabre/rabbit/whatever he has insisted sleeping with the night before, gets back in our bed, gets up for a wee (which is what has woken him in the first place although he vehemently denies this) by which time he has woken the baby and we all get up. We are always downstairs by 6.40am. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz No wonder I go to bed at 9.30pm. Although it was 11 last night and I am knackered today.

gwynniestwin · 26/02/2008 10:23

ds(11) always wakes up at 6, no matter what, but takes himself downstairs and makes his own breakfast etc. before dd2 came along, dd1(5) used to wake shortly after six and yell until either myself or dh went to get her. A sticker chart sorted that out, thank god. she then used to make her way downstairs with ds (the rule was NOT before 6am) and we would brace ourselves for the squabbles. Now dd2 is in cot in same room as dd1, dd1 likes to stand over her cot a 6 in morning and talk to her till she stirs, and then she helpfully comes to our room to inform us dd2 (6months) has woken!

Loshad · 26/02/2008 10:30

Mine get up when they want, if they are up exceptionally early - say 5 am or so then i'll point out it was a bit early when i drag my weary bones out of bed. They tend to play very nicely at that time, or they can go and watch TV, provided they keep the volume below the magic 30 (DH is really quite deaf so when he's been watching TV at night he has it turned up really loudly). They don't often go for the TV tbh, they do sometimes get their ds's out and play each other.
They can go into the kitchen but mummy will shout if the dog escapes up into her bedroom
Personally I hate lying around in bed once i'm awake, seems a bit mean to make children do that.

snotbuster · 26/02/2008 12:49

What age do you all think is old enough for the early waker to go downstairs and watch tv alone? As a lone parent to a 2.3 yr old I am very much looking forward to it (and to not being woken between 5.30 and 7 everyday) but can't see that it'll be safe anytime soon.
Suggestions as to how to persuade him to sleep longer/be quiet also welcome but have tried most things. Even spent 35 quid on one of those Bunny Clocks, only to be woken at 4am with a hysterical, "Take bunny clock away mummy, no bunny clock mummy".
I am most definately not an early riser myself (well, I wasn't...).

scattyspice · 26/02/2008 12:58

DS is 4.5 and is quite able to go into lounge and watch TV or play etc but he likes company and wouldn't do it alone. Usually they both pile into our bed when they wake up.

bellavita · 26/02/2008 13:20

Mine are nearly 11 and 8.

It does get easier as they get older - they do get quieter.

DS2 will go into DS1's room and they will put a dvd on and snuggle down under the duvet or read annuals.

Sometimes they will go downstairs into the conservatory and play on the Wii.

Most times they wait for me or DH to get up and we will then have breakfast, but if they are exceptionally hungry they will help themselves to it.

I do not get up on a Sunday before 8.30/9.00am.

My2Weegirls · 26/02/2008 13:30

my dd's are 3.1 and 6mo. dd1 is an early riser and must stay in bed until at least 6am. she's allowed up for a pee but must go back to bed and wait till her clock says 6 something - we've set it so that it is half an hour behind .

ScubaDuba · 26/02/2008 18:22

My solution to the problem of 'early risers' is to put them to bed later than 7pm. You can't have it both ways, they either go to bed early but wake early, or they go to bed a bit later (say, 8pm) but then wake later.

Simple!

SugarSkyHigh · 26/02/2008 18:31

I have to drag my three out of bed on a school morning!!

lilQuidditchKel · 26/02/2008 18:34

PMSL thegoddessblossom...

my 2yr old DS and 9mo old DD are beginning to hatch plots too...

What I'm wondering is - - how do you enforce these "rules" whatever they may be?? It's one thing to say "7am, and if earlier go back to bed" but my DS is of the age where getting out of bed (he's in toddler bed as DD needed the cot) is the greatest game EVER invented!

I would love to know how to keep DS in bed till 7am...zzzzzzzz

rumblethump · 26/02/2008 18:40

but scubadube, some kids can go to bed stupidly late for days on end and still wake up at the crack of dawn! my ds is genetically pre-disposed to wake up at 6.20am and no exception!

lilQuidditchKel · 26/02/2008 18:46

Rumblethump my DS is the same. 6am (or 5:50 if he's feeling exceptionally perky) is our hurdle...

beforesunrise · 26/02/2008 20:47

i cant believe the amoutn of incredibly organised parents out there. my dd used to wake up early- i mean 3 am. i gave up trying to get her to sleep in her bed and have instead trained her to come and sleep with us when she wakes up. on a good day, she'll then sleep till 8- on a bad morning we'll all be up at the crack of dawn. she's 2 and i just don't see this pattern breaking anytime soon... oh wait... i have another due in 2.5 monhts... that may upset things a bit!

(but in principle i agree- i am sure there are kids who sleep 7pm till 8 am but i can't imagine there are many...so i'd think a 4+ would need a later bedtime?)

Othersideofthechannel · 26/02/2008 21:15

lilQuidditchkel

How do you enforce it? I don't think you can with a two year old. If they accept the idea (easier in the winter when it is still dark) you're lucky. If they don't, they'll either keep getting up or have a tantrum and wake the whole house.

DS didn't start getting up before 7 until he was 3 something by which time he was able to read 7 o'clock.

DD has always been an early riser. I couldn't send her back to bed when she was 2. We sometimes get an extra 20 minutes now, depends on her mood, but mostly up when she is.

lupo · 26/02/2008 22:20

agree with subaduba.. try to get mine to stay up til 8.30, wear him out as much as poss and then go to bed, would rather cut into the evening than wake up at silly oclock...not a morning person and anything before 7 just makes me very grouchy

givemehope · 26/02/2008 23:16

My DS goes to bed at 8, is often awake at 6. Later bedtimes do not make him sleep longer in the mornings - just grumpier for the entire day.

ScubaDuba · 26/02/2008 23:30

Perhaps our LOs are just sleep-friendly, however we do have a little secret...we have installed a security shutter blind at each child's bedroom window and they render each room completely and utterly black. Only a tiny chink of light filters in under the doorframe but that is it - even in high summer, the rooms are so dark that you cannot see a thing.

Forget black-out blinds, go for heavy duty metal frames instead; such blinds are fitted as standard in houses in many European countries.

Othersideofthechannel · 27/02/2008 08:12

Scubaduba, I'm in France. We have those but it STILL doesn't stop DD waking early!

Piluncha · 27/02/2008 13:32

I can't believe how lucky I am!!! DD1 (2)normally wakes up at the earliest 7.30 and DD2 (1) could be anywhere between 7 and 7.30. On a weekday we use her as our alarm and on weekends we try to leave her in her cot and then when they wake up bring both to our bed for cuddle/jumping on mummy's bed, stories or anything that would allow us 10 more minutes in bed. We also try to take it in turns for a lie in (until 8.30/9ish).

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