Advice son 6 early riser, getting up and putting on tv

[Londonhouse32]

Really struggling with son early rising, he's getting up at around 6am or earlier for years. When he wakes he usually wakes everyone else in the house up by making noise one way or another. He's recently been going downstairs and putting the tv on and playing musuc on YouTube. Struggling on how to manage the early mornings any advice? We've tried a glow clock and just asking him to play in his room with toys/,books but he ends up coming into our room/turning on hall lights etc and wakes us and his sister up

I had an early riser, he still is really at 14.
We just let him get on with it.
He quite liked having some space and time to himself. He'd play with lego, maybe watch a bit of TV.
I can't remember what time we'd stay up in bed while he got up though.

A tablet with downloaded approved content and headphones put it in his room after you go to sleep

I possibly was around 6.

The usual questions you’ve probably answered a million times- what time does he go to bed? Is he getting sufficient exercise during the day? Good diet etc? Is he waking up hungry? What happens if you push bedtimes later?
I don’t think 6am is actually that unreasonable (sorry 🙈) but earlier would be tough!
can you get him an old mp3 or iPod to use with some cool headphones? Then you can monitor what he’s listening to but might be quiet? X

Headphones

You have a child who wakes up at a normal time. My early rise would get up anytime after 4.30am and no he wouldn't go back to sleep. I have always gotten up at 6 or 6.30am for work so don't see that as early.

DS once old enough would getup and put on the TV or play, I wouldn't allow YouTube at that age though. And make sure you have content control on your apps so he can't access any older TV shows or films.

Can't you tell him no TV until later in the day? I think you say he's age 6, so old enough to follow the rules.

Mine is an early riser, now 9 but has been for years - at 6am he will quietly use the bathroom and then have breakfast. He knows he then can read or play quietly in his room. No screens until later.

Original poster said he won’t do anything quietly by himself! My daughter is the same- ends up in tantrums and shite behaviour to start the day. I suspect a degree of neurodivergence is at play thoigh

As long as you have content control on the TV I can't see a problem.

My two always got up very early and watched TV at weekends - I'm an early riser too so they wouldn't be too long on their own.

They're now in their 40s and relatively normal so no harm done!

Is there a particular reason why 6am is problematic? Otherwise, 6am is a fairly standard wake-up time.

6 is early. It’s on the early side of normal. It’s reasonable to wake at 6 and it’s reasonable to want a bit longer in bed.

Mine is allowed to play in her room quietly, she has things like Lego, sylvanians, Barbies, colouring, sticker books, simple crafty bits she can do on her own. She’s also got a Yoto player so she can listen to age appropriate content. She’s been doing this for about a year, before that just with the Yoto, since she was 2! There would be consequences for deliberately waking us up at 6 regularly tbh.

Interesting what consequences ?

You've posted at the wrong time of day for the answers you want. At 6.40 on a Sat, MN is full of people who are awake early!!
FWIW, 6 sounds like a reasonable time to wake. I went ballistic at DS at 4.30 am when I heard him get up and watch TV. He only did it that once (that I know of!).
I would work on resting in bed til 6am (this was our groclock time), and then respecting that others want to sleep, so he must be quiet.

My sons and early riser...he's 6 in year 1.

On school days his alarm is set to 7.20 and he's not allowed out of his room till then. (Obviously toilet, emergency, bad dreams etc he will come out) he's not allowed to amble around.
Same rule for DS9 who can be eman early riser too. On weekends there are no rules.

They get up and make their own brekki and the play games, watch tv and argue while we have a lie in. (Ds9 is currently eating some leftover curry and rice he didn't finish last night. He woke me at 4am to check he could have it for breakfast 😫)

I will say, when my first son was younger I did always get up with him at 6 as the little one was 3 everyone else needed supervising. I'm more relaxed with it now as the eldest is 9, so it completely depends on what's safe and what you comfortable with.

My DS is five. He knows he’s allowed to get up any time from 6am and go downstairs, and that he mustn’t wake up the rest of the family. He also knows he’s allowed to help himself from the fruit bowl until we come down.

He was unable to resist the TV, despite us telling him it was off limits, so we just keep the remote out of reach. He plays with his toys, colours and listens to yoto. I think it’s lovely he gets some time alone 😊

Another vote for Yoto. Limit the volume though until a respectable time, via the app. My kid is almost 5 and will stay in bed listening to Yoto but likes to blast out the songs on the kids radio 😬

DD1(6) is often up at this time. She’s allowed to play quietly in her room and to go into DH’s office room upstairs and watch TV until we get up, at which point the TV goes off. I think the issue is the waking people up, not the time he’s getting up as that is unfortunately quite normal for young kids. DD1 has always been an early riser. DD2 often gets up not long after her but now DD1 collect her and takes her to watch TV with her until DH and I get up, which is nice (unless they start arguing).

I’d sit down at a neutral time and come up with a routine together for the mornings.

If your house is safe let him get on with it. There are no rules about when his screen time should be- the time that’s most convenient to you seems the best to me!

@Londonhouse32 is the issue him waking everyone else or the TV specifically?

If it's waking everyone else that's fair - my son is almost 6 and and has always been an early riser, anything after 4.30 sometimes although recently it's more around 6am most days, which feels more normal!

He usually calls for me or comes into our room, I'll go down with him and remind him to be quiet for a bit as lots of people will still be asleep. We put the telly on and have breakfast etc then we'll play a bit before we start getting ready to go out (if not a school day)

The thing is, even if he WOULD stay in his room and play or whatever (he absolutely couldn't), that would probably be more disruptive than a bit of telly (if it's at a sensible volume) because he'd be tipping Lego/Playmobil out, rummaging through it, talking to himself acting bits out etc. His room is next to ours so we'd be awake listening to it all anyway.

But I'd absolutely be telling him he needs to keep the noise down and messing with lights and stuff, especially if it's waking siblings.

And I'd think about cutting YouTube out of he's going downstairs on his own. My friend has set up an old telly and dvd player in her son's room, he wakes early and puts a dvd - everyone is still in bed and she knows he's watching something that's fine/not rolling onto anything unsuitable or online etc.

Look at getting him into a sport that requires early morning wakes ups? Swimming? rowing? Long distance running?

7yo has been waking us up before 6am for years. We have explained we are grumpy if he wakes us up this early. Makes no difference. He does it anyway. He wakes up his brother he shares a room with. It's a shame.

No "consequences" would make a jot of difference🤣

I’m an early riser. Always have been.
Parents were very clear as a child that if I was up early, I must be as quiet as a mouse. They’d make sure the TV volume was low down before they went to bed, and I knew the number I was allowed to increase it to, but no higher.

Mine wouldn't play quietly in his room. He would get bored quickly playing with toys and be noisy. He awaiting diagnosis for autism. He kicks doors in his room to make sure everyone else wakes up too at 6am....

How come the TV is waking you up? Is it really loud? Can you lock the volume control so he can only watch it quietly?