How do I encourage my 4&5 yr olds to wake aftre 7am!

[Shhhh]

Its driving me insane and has been going on for months now..

Weekdays we don't need to get up till around 7am YET my 4&5 yr olds insist on waking at 6am (sometimes as early as 5.15am). DD who is the eldest isn't as bad as she will sit and play in her room or will sleep longer than ds BUT ds is a nightmare.

I have tried going into him and asking him to go back to sleep and explaining why, tried suggesting he reads his books or play quietly BUT he is not able to do anything minus noise..

I have shouted, smacked and bribed BUT still nothing.

Problem is as well in that ds will come into our room and wake dh and i or dd.. He seems oblivious to what we are asking.

I have treid dvd players in their room for when they wake,they last all of 5 mins.

They both end up shouting, screaming fighting with each other and its driving me insane.

Its even the same as weekends....

HELP! What do I do..?

They both go to bed around 7pm, a time when they both seem to be ready for it.

Ds (as he isn't in school) also then has the cheek some days to lay downstairs around 1pm claiming to be tired, or once in the car falls asleep...

I think you have to accept your kids get up earlier than you would like and get on with it tbh.

Shouting/smacking and bribery is not the way to get children to be quiet anyway is it

There is no magic solution and you have my sympathy.

Take turns with your dh-we do every weekend, so at least one of you gets a lie in.

My 6 yrolds go to bed at 730 and it's often 8 pm by the time they go to sleep. Use the clocks changing to adjust their schedule, but you'll probably have to shift meals/bath and so on for it to have an effect.

Loads of 4 yr olds still have the odd nap especially in the car-my 9 yr old will in the car! I do put them to bed later if that happens.

School will have an effect on the 4 yrold possibly.
When mine have been swimming/been at the park all day/had a bike ride after schoolthey do seem to sleep better.

Tons of kids get up at this time so if nothing works at least you're not unusual.

I quite enjoyed watching tv with them this morning-try to be positive.

By the way you may get flamed for the smacking comment-I'd leave theat out on mumsnet cos you'll get no sympathy.

I'm sorry I agree, we tried everything in the past to solve this - bed earlier, bed later, tiring them ot before bed but nothing works. We have had to accept the earlier mornings and just go to bed earlier ourselves to cope.

both mine have had a digital clock in their room from around the age of 2 1/2years and they arent supposed to come through until it says 7:00 unless they need the toilet. They are now age 4 and 7 and rarely annoy us before 7am. DS (4) is in bed for 7.30pm weekdays and 8pm weekends and dd (7) has an 8pm bedtime weekdays and 9pm (just started being a bit later this weekend) at weekends

Thanks for the advice.

See I really dont mind if they wake at 6am, as long as they played and allowed me time to wake. I just atm seem to wake so abruptly and it wears me down.

Bribery.. I can't see whats wrong..? I don't mean "if you sleep I will get you sweets BUT more along the lines of "if you sleep or let m&d sleep it means we are in a good mood and refreshed to take you to x today".

Im pretty sure the majority of us offer x to our kids if they do x..?

seona,digital clocks is a good idea. Will try that one Thanks. They have clocks in their room on their walls. Bought about 2 months ago when we redecorated their rooms in the hope that they may actually enjoy their rooms that much they would stay in them longer on a morning lol! BUT clocks on the wall don't seem to work... digital is a good idea.

They both are able to use the toilet on their own and have an onsuite between them..YET one goes, doors is slammed, light goes on and hey presto wakky races starts .

i have a gro clock for my 4 year old. i set the time on it at which he is allowed to get up (7.10 during week; 7.30 at the weekend). it shows a moon and starts until the time it is set for and then it silently changes into a sun. bless him, he lies in bed and waits for the sun - even on xmas day! sometimes i hear him in there playing quietly / singing and if i get up for a shower, i then go into him before it turns into a sun. he gets VERY upset about this. 'my sun isn't on yet, mummy'.

may not work with your 2 OP but works with mine.

I have seen them wiwrh .
See that would be my ideal wake up ! I tell ds (he is the worse) to stay in his room till mummy comes in and wakes him up.

In the past few months He/I have managed it for 2 days.. so he knows what he should do