motivation for morning awakenings...

[meemee]

... i need help with brainstorming.

dd is 7 1/2 and right now is going thru another phase of 'emotional growth spurt'. she is soooo in the throes that she has no control over her life and that she ALWAYS has to listen to daddy and mommy.

mornings are our worst. we are both night owls. no matter what time we go to bed - 8 pm or midnight, we naturally get up at 9 am. well we have to get up no later than 6:45 and that too is too late since we dont get a chance to lay in and be lazy.

so can you give me some ideas to make morning awakenings more pleasurable.

dd is a social 'party girl'. she loves 'doing'. she happily jumps out of bed to go to a bagel store and get a bagel with cream cheese, or go to a park, or hot chocolate at the coffee shop or play online games.

what else? reading and tv is not an option. she gets too much into the plot and then misses not reading enough so is hard to tear away.

i want her to wake up with a smile on her face, not tears because 'why are you ALWAYS the boss of me', when waking up against your natural clock has to be done.

[LauraLoo]

I have a special "Good morning" song that I sing when I go into my dc's bedrooms to wake them up. Once in awhile I check the bed for tickle bugs that have been hiding under the covers Sometimes the tickle bugs give very light tickles to help me wake them up. My dc's love this, but it could be a little too much for other kiddos.

[kerc]

I'm a morning person married to a night owl. We have one of each.

Dh just had a chat with our night owl and they mutually agreed upon our current policy of going in to provide a pre-waking pat on the back. 5 minutes later we open the shade. 5 minutes later we expect dd to get up. Dd is 7.5 as well. That's basically the same policy I use for getting my dh out of bed.

It requires waking before it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to get up, but honestly it's a much more pleasant morning.

[kerc]

Forgot to add: we also told a story about dh's grandma: Nana. Nana lived with her brother's wife during "The War" (WWII). They didn't really know each other but Nana is not a morning person and Aunt E is. Finally Nana had a conversation with Aunt E to tell her that Nana needed to be left alone in the morning until she had had her coffee and once Nana said hello then Aunt E could initiate conversation.

Point is: In our house, dd doesn't have to be in a good mood when she wakes up. She just has to be quiet and not impolite/mean.