Does anyone want to guess what will happen in the morning? Please come and troubleshoot our new plan for ds getting up

[FrannyandZooey]

We have come up with some new ideas for ds (4.9), for various reasons. At the moment he shouts "Can I come in to your bedroom?" as soon as he wakes up, and then appears for cuddles.

he sometimes wakes at daft times thinking it is morning and gets quite cross when I come in to say no it isn't

am expecting a baby and think we could do without all the shouting on days when ds wakes up before dc2

the other day I was really knackered and asked him to read books and eat satsumas quietly in his room for 20 mins and he was fine about this. I got some more sleep and he was quite happy.

So, we have bought him a digital clock (he can't tell the time but can recognise some numbers) and said don't come in to our bedroom before it says 7 (and we have tweaked it so that clock will say 7 around 6.20 - dp has to get up then anyway and ds doesn't often sleep much longer than that). We also got a very dim nightlight and a timer, and have set the light to come on at 6 am, saying if he wakes up and the light is on, he can look at books quietly until the clock says 7. If he wakes up and light is off then it is nighttime and he should go back to sleep.

I think we will need to tweak these times a little but we can adjust them as and when. Can anyone see any major flaws with the plan, and, given that he is wildly excited about these new gadgets and the whole responsibility of it all (moaning from 5.30 pm "I wish I could go to bed now"), HOW early do you think he will wake up to see if the light is on / what time the clock says?

[anxious] [hopeful]

sorry it is a bit long isn't it

It sounds like a good plan to me, fingers crossed that it will work.

Re digital clock
Works for us (ds now nearly six) was a similar age and knows on no account to wake me before 7.00 (he has been known to sit by the bed and whisper 6.07 6.08 6.09, quick point if you have a clock in your room make sure both are at exactly (to the second) in time .. otherwise its mummy your clock says 3.05 and mine says 3.06 .. you really don't want to get into that.
I'm not sure about the light, wouldn't that wake him up ?

thank you, I thought I might have missed some gaping obviousness and be doomed to getting up v early indeed

(which I may well be, anyway)

I think it sound fine

another option of course is to tell him that he doesn't need to ask and he can pile into your bed whenever he wishes as long as he doesn't wake either of you

worked with mine .. DS doesn't come in any more not even for a morning cuddle unless it's weekend .. DD sneaks in when she wakes up

aaaw bless
that sounds like a fab plan
I reckon he will wake up at 5.50am, see the lights not on, go back to sleep and not disturb you till 8....NOT

I hope it works, it sounds like it really will

Yadda I think the light is so dim (just one of those little glowy plug things, and he sleeps with the spare room light on anyway) that it won't disturb him, but yes, if we have waking every morning at 6 am I will change it to the light switching OFF

I think I will explain about the clocks if necessary - he knows he can only tell the first number so can't come in at 6.30 or whatever.

Twig when he comes in, he wants our attention and cuddles

on the rare occasions I have said "no way i must sleep some more, lie still" he gets very upset and goes back to his room in a huff! Otherwise I would agree with you

Trinity I DON'T THINK SO. but thanks

Ahhh in that case fine
Good luck !

dd1 used to get up early so we made a rule that if the hall light was OFF it was still night

if the light was ON it was morning and she could get up

worked wonderfully with her, dd2 just does as she pleases so I have given up

i think it sounds like a great plan - my dd[3yrs] gets quite cross at 3am when i say it's not time to get up and all i can think of to say is i'll give you a huge cuddle and then you must go to sleep because you'll be too tired to have fun in the morning. on the positive side she never wakes her twin brother up who's head is inches from hers in their shared room. does he go to school yet - that changed ds1 from a 5am ish to a 6am ish waker.
good luck

yes this is a delicate balance between encouraging him to stay in bed as long as possible, and not getting upset at being deprived of our company

if this is going to upset him I would rather forget it, but surprisingly he liked the idea so much (mostly I think because of being BOUGHT STUFF for his room) that I thought we would grasp the nettle

he isn't going to school atm LL so his sleep is still a bit random. He tends not to get enough - the years have taught me I can't do a lot about that, but I think now is a good time to see if at least I can get some more sleep....

oooh yes I was planning to tweak on days dp doesn't have to get up

I wonder if it will work?

I am no authority on sleep, but I think it sounds good. He is enthusiastic about it so that must be half the battle! Good luck

yes I am roadtesting this for you Tatties so you can do it in a couple of years

I think you are thinking too much my lovely. Do the clock thingy and keep your fingers crossed.

I speak as one who did go through all this but cannot remember at all...

Except for, how come on a school day I have to wake my children at 8am. And on a weekend, they invariably are (loudly and conspicuously) awake at sparrowfat...

I often use fruit eating as a substitute for actually parenting ds

when he was small if we wanted a quiet half hour we could just give him an apple. He would methodically eat his way right down to the core and it would take his tiny mouth AGES

the apple works for me too

Sounds good - we got a digital clock for DS1 around the same age - like your DS he couldn't tell the time - but he knew his numbers so if it was before "X" time (can't remember what time we said) he was to stay in bed.

It worked"