How do you get up early?

[RadUnschooler]

Hi everyone! I have wondered how do you get up early for your kid to go to school if you are a night-owl and so used to sleeping late. I see it as one of the hardest things to do. It's like you the parent are now forced to do school time if your child goes to school.
What is the average wake up time?
thanks

[hottmama]

Last year we got up at 8:30 to get my little one to preschool at 9:10. This year my oldest will be in 1st grade starting at 8:48, so we'll get up at 8. I am not looking forward to it after a summer of late nights!

[octobermom]

School here is at 8am I wake my DD up by 6:45 and we leave at 7:30 cause shes likes having some playtime before school starts. I wake around 6:30 I'm a huge night time owl and am rarely asleep before 2am yet i naturally will wake up around 6:30.. I can't sleep past about 7am even if i tried.

deanna

[The Hidden Life]

I will have three in two different schools--elementary and middle school. My ms'er will get up at 6 and be out the door at 7:15 to walk to a school that starts at 7:40 am. My elementary kids will be up at 7 and out the door at 8:20 to catch the bus in front of our house at 8:30; their school starts at 8:50 am. I am *hoping* that I can get the three of them to sit for breakfast together at 7 so I don't have to do breakfast twice.

I like to allow an hour at least to get ready for school to accomodate showering, reading/playing, lollygagging and the inevitable "I can't find my..." as well as packing lunches.

ETA: Just noticed you asked "how do you get up early" not "how early do you get up"! I am a night owl also. I really have to make myself get to bed when I first start feeling drowsy between 9 and 10 pm. Otherwise I get a second wind and I can be up til 2 am no problem! My kids go to bed at 8 pm during the school year and only the oldest (11yo) can stay up reading til 9. The rest of them really need their sleep!

[Drummer's Wife]

I am so not looking forward to waking up early! We have all been sleeping in this summer. School starts next week, though, so I should begin going to bed earlier.

My kids start school at 9 am. The bus comes between 8:30-8:45, so last year we got up around 8:00. I imagine it will be about the same this year. If my younger two are still asleep, I'm going back to bed That's what I did last year. I am very happy my 4 yo has PM pre-k b/c I can't imagine getting 3 up and ready in the morning.

ETA: clearly, I am not a morning person.

[StephandOwen]

DS starts kindergarten tomorrow. School starts at 7:45 so I'll be waking him up at 6:45. We will leave the house (driving) at about 7:15. We may have to alter wake up or leaving time as the days go on and we figure this thing out. Last year his preschool started at 11:30 so this is WAY different. LOL! I've set up my work and school schedule so I either go right to work (3 days a week) after dropping ds off or right to my school (2 days a week). My school is done and my work is done 1/2 hour before ds's pick up so after he gets out of school we're FREE! LOL. My work schedule had been having me work until 6pm every night and that sucked. 2 nights a week I will have a class from 6:30-7:45 though.

[karne]

Originally Posted by RadUnschooler

Hi everyone! I have wondered how do you get up early for your kid to go to school if you are a night-owl and so used to sleeping late. I see it as one of the hardest things to do. It's like you the parent are now forced to do school time if your child goes to school.
What is the average wake up time?
thanks

Do you have kids in school, or just interested? I couldn't tell if you need actual practical suggestions? I'll offer mine, anyway, since I'm seriously challenged in this area. We have one out the door at 6;25, and another at about 8;45. For me, being able to get up and not feel stressed or anxious means that I, and the kids, have everything done the night before-lunches and snacks made, breakfast table set, blender ready to go, school bags packed, clothes laid out, etc. DH and I have figured out that our mornings go best when we are kind to each other, so whoever is up first pours the other a cup of coffee and brings it upstairs for a quiet moment together. It might only be 2 mins., but it helps! One of my kids needs a long wake-up, and little social interaction in the AM, so we try to respect that. The other needs some cuddling for a bit, then is bright-eyed and bushy tailed, so we try to accomodate that too!

[Alyantavid]

Last year, we were up by 6:45 (I was up much earlier, but the kids slept until then). Then I'd drop my youngest off at daycare to get to the bus stop by 7:30 for my oldest.

This year, dh will be doing the drop offs but he'll still have to leave about the same time. I do pick ups, so I leave work at 3:30 to do that.

My normal work schedule is 7-3:30 so I'm used to being up early. And the kids have started going to bed and getting up earlier over the past week to get ready.

[Marcella_Moxley]

You just force yourself. Really, I'm a night owl too and there is no other "method" or way around it. I don't think it's possible to completely retrain a circadian rhythm, but you can get in to a routine- and you can do everything the night before, when you are so awake, and alert for planning, to lessen any sort of thinking or required coherency in the morning.

We have outfits planned, and everything layed out the night before. Since I'm so wide awake then, It's a breeze to think forward and know that the next day is PE, I need to wash PE clothes and hunt down socks or whatever. Everything down to the shoes, backpacks, instrument, signed papers ect are layed out in a staging area the night before. This could be a dining room table, or just the floor in the hall. Whatever works best for you. Make lunches the night before and stash them in the fridge.

I'm not awake enough to "cook" breakfast- it's cold cereal, instant oatmeal , toast, ect. Scrambled eggs and pancakes are dinner foods or weekend foods around here.

Teach kids to be more self sufficient- take their own showers, tie their own shoes, we don't do playtime or Tv at all in the morning because I don't want to be the time nag. ( I'm too tired) Set a routine, and follow every morning. Get up, shower, hair, dress, breakfast, teeth, leave. If we have extra time in the morning they can make their bed but as a general rule I'm to tired to do morning chores either.

[EFmom]

I set the alarm, and I haul my lazy carcass out of bed. There's nothing magical about it. I don't have to be at work until 8:30, but I've got two kids to get ready and on the bus first.

My older dd starts jr high next month. The bus comes at 6:45 a.m. I'll have to get up at 5:45. Dh has to get up at 5:10, in order to be in front of a high school class some 50 minutes away.

You do what you have to do.

[RadUnschooler]

Thank you all for answering me. My son is 7yo. and homeschooled. I am doing alot of thinking and talking with my husband but i am very naive about school. It has been a long,different time since i went :P
I have heard that a mother has time to herself,can go out places and do things before her kid/s are home but if you have to drag your butt out of bed(which i would have too!) how can you really enjoy yourself feeling like a zombie? I have alot more energy at night. So,do you get used to it and enjoy it anyway?
ty again.

[Bekka]

Originally Posted by RadUnschooler

I have heard that a mother has time to herself,can go out places and do things before her kid/s are home but if you have to drag your butt out of bed(which i would have too!) how can you really enjoy yourself feeling like a zombie? I have alot more energy at night. So,do you get used to it and enjoy it anyway?
ty again.

I take a nap every day, even when my "baby" is over 2 y.o. Also, some days I get out and do stuff, and other days I go back to bed after walking the kids to the bus or whatever. I have other kids, so this is seldom an option. But 1 pm to 2:45 pm is pretty much "sacred naptime/quiet time" at this house. Right now my baby is 4 mos. old, so I sleep shamelessly.

[Heavenly]

Don't you have to get up with your child in the morning even if they aren't in school? My girls wake up at around 7am on their own and I sleep until 7:30am and then I get my son up at 8am (he would sleep later if he could) and we have to be out of the house by 8:35am.

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by Heavenly

Don't you have to get up with your child in the morning even if they aren't in school? .

lol, right!

dd's bus comes at 8:30. We get up at 8:00 on school days. We get up around that time or earier *every* day, because my 2 yo is up before us!

Caffeine always helps. But, yeah, you do what you have to do. IME, parenting has not been very compatible with sleep, even when I was homeschooling my dd :

[karne]

Originally Posted by RadUnschooler

Thank you all for answering me. My son is 7yo. and homeschooled. I am doing alot of thinking and talking with my husband but i am very naive about school. It has been a long,different time since i went :P
I have heard that a mother has time to herself,can go out places and do things before her kid/s are home but if you have to drag your butt out of bed(which i would have too!) how can you really enjoy yourself feeling like a zombie? I have alot more energy at night. So,do you get used to it and enjoy it anyway?
ty again.

I'm guessing in part it the type of lifestyle you lead that can influence how you deal with early rising. We have farm animals to care for, dogs to let out, etc., so sleeping really isn't an option anyway. My kids are early risers-they love to be outside ASAP, and most of the other kids we know are the same way. I can't imagine my kids sleeping in on a routine basis, although maybe it would be nice once in a while. My kids would feel that the day was wasted, lol.

[melis79]

Our kids just started school last week and getting up with them has been a huge adjustment for me. I have been wiped out most of this pregnancy and have enjoyed my kids ability to have some morning independence ( playing quietly in their rooms and knowing what morning snacks -fruit/yogurt- they can have before I get up). Their school starts at 8am and I have been getting up with them at 7am and doing the breakfast, making lunches, and walking them to school (1/2 mile roundtrip). I am a total night owl too so I have found myself coming home and crashing after I eat breakfast. I have good intentions of taking a short nap and being prodcutive around the house, but have mostly been lazy... I guess being 4 weeks away from being "full term" gives me somewhat of an excuse for being so tired.

[MommyHawk]

we do the "Morning 4"

* eat breakfast
* brush teeth
* make bed
* get dressed

doesn't have to be in that order, but those are my DC's duties in the morning and we do them in a fun way so the winner gets a reward at the end of the week (whoever gets the most stickers)...

makes sure we're all ready to "get out the door" when we do the "morning 4"

[MCR]

My alarm goes at 6am. If I hit snooze I'll never make it, so I switch it off and fall out of bed and down a big mug of coffee.
School starts at 7.30am for elementary Dd is in the preschool there and it starts at 7am, I never get there before 7.35 and I'm not alone, they don't mind.
But next year in K I'll have to be dropping off at 7.20am.
Ds #2 has to leave the house to catch the school bus to high school at 7am.
Back to the grind, it's the same school (and schedule) my Ds#1 21 year old had back in the day.

[LisainCalifornia]

You just set your alarm and get up--it really is that simple. It doesn't mean you have to like it, but if you do it for long enough you will re-set the time you get sleepy at night to a bit earlier.

I have 3 kids at 3 different schools--they have to be at school at 7:30, 8:00, 8:25. I get up at 6:00 so that I can get ready before I get them up--and that way they get a good breakfast like omlette and toast. I get myself all the way ready, then make their breakfast and set everything up, then get them up. This way I don't have to rush around while I get ready for my part time job. I work while they are in school.

I hate waking up early and always have, but for me that is just a part of being a responsible adult. Once I had my first job I realized that--and then later when I had my first baby. I do sleep in a little on the weekends, so I am lucky to have that.

My favorite tip is to set up the coffee and lunches the night before, so I don't have to do that in the morning. I love my automated coffeemaker!

[inkslinger]

You get used to it. I've found lots of ways to streamline things so that mornings are easier.

*The girls bathe at night, so we don't have to worry about that in the morning.
*Clothes are set out the night before so they are ready.
*Lunches are made the night before.
*My coffeepot has an automatic function, I set it all up at night and it makes itself in the morning, so I have coffee when I wake up!
*I make things on the weekend or in the evenings that can be a quick breakfast, muffins, pancakes that I freeze and throw in the toaster, egg muffin cups, breakfast burritos. Lots of these can be eaten in the car if I'm rushing.

Our morning schedule is:
I try to wake up by 6:45. Get some coffee, throw my clothes on, wash face and brush teeth.
Wake the girls up at 7:00. They have breakfast, then brush teeth and get dressed. I do their hair, grab lunches and backpacks and things and we're out of the door by 7:45 to be at school at 8.