Mornings - Does your kids get up before you? - Page 2

[Drummer's Wife]

My 7 yo often gets up before me; he plays on the computer or wii. My 9 yo will sleep in until noon if no one wakes her (by being loud). My 5 and 3 yo, they tend to wake up between 9:30-10:00, which is usually about when I will get up, too. Well, for summer/weekends/days-off. The 5 yo would be fine with the 7 yo, b/c they just hang out and do something together - but the 3 yo I do worry about at times, so unless my 9 yo DD is up to keep an eye on him, I tend to get up when he is up, just to be safe. I am not a sound sleeper, though, so I don't really even fall back asleep-asleep once the 7 yo is up - I can hear him and am lightly sleeping, if that makes sense.

[tjjazzy]

ds1 (4 years old) will generally get up (around 7 or 7:30 a.m.) before ds2 and i do (around 8:30 a.m.) he putters around in his room playing or singing or goes downstairs and watches TV if daddy has put it on for him (daddy gets up for work earlier than everyone else) or he plays at the dining room table. he can also come into my room if ds2 is awake and watch TV with him or look at books or play with the toys that are in there. he knows not to go outside and that i don't like him to eat if he isn't supervised. he will start bugging me to get up when he gets hungry. he's a pretty easy going and independent (i've always encouraged it) kid. he used to play in his room when he was younger (3 and under) for such a long time (up to an hour) while i slept in (i had on a monitor.) he puts himself to bed every day for naptime as well. i read him stories downstairs and then up he goes to bed on his own.

[ssh]

My 4.5 year old calls me when she wakes up. If I'm still in bed and I answer her then go into her room. She was co-sleeping with us until right after turning 4. My house is really childproof but I don't think I'd be comfortable with her up alone. She obviously isn't either since she calls us instead of getting out of bed.

[limette]

My two and four year old get up before us (around 7). They take the opportunity to play on the computer. Around 9 they come into the bedroom and start asking for breakfast which is when we get up.

[tjjazzy]

Originally Posted by neetling

(although my oldest DD has been shutting my door so I can sleep longer. What a thoughtful kid)

awww very thoughtful indeed!

[Violet2]

DD gets up at 6am. We've been able to push her back by changing her bed time, but she is an early bird.

If she's fussing, I go in, fix whatever the problem is and tell her it's still time to sleep. She has toys and books to play with and has been good about entertaining herself.

Then she comes into bed with me for a little bit and we go downstairs for bfast.

V

[Peppermint Poppies]

DH and I get up reluctantly every morning when DD and DS wake us up. They share a bedroom, so the first one awake tends to wake the other one up.

[-Resque-]

We "trained" DSD at the beginning of last school year to rise with an alarm that we've set for her. She is almost 7. This occurred at the same time as her moving from co-sleeping with us to her own bed, and was really natural. She was used to getting up with an alarm anyway... ours.

She now knows that when her alarm goes off (7:30 on week days, 8 on weekends... we're not monsters!) she can leave her room and come wake us up. Sometimes she'll hop in with her dad on week days and go back to bed for a while (I've already gone to work) or both of us on weekends. Some weekends she'll decide we're being boring and will go back to her room to read books or play until we're ready to get up... one weekend we found ourselves sleeping until 10am!! She's never gone anywhere other than her own room or our room, and is pretty much past the age where she'd get into anything anyway I guess... or just never had that personality. I'm guessing, should she have ever WANTED to hang out anywhere other than the two bedrooms, we would have been fine with it at ANY age... it just never came up.

[Mountaingirl79]

Originally Posted by childsplay

When we lived on our boat my now 7 year old, who was 5 at the time used to have us set an alarm clock for him each night for 6:30am. It would go off, he'd roll out of his bunk, get dressed, fasten his lifevest and go out on deck to do some fishing. He'd sit on the aft deck, right above our cabin so we could hear him and if he needed us he'd just call down. He'd be out there singing, muttering, calling out "morning!" to people going by in dinghys, even the odd curse if his line tangled, as he casted and reeled over and over. We used to call him the old man.

Well now THAT is the cutest thing I've ever heard! Cursing and all!


My kids are almost 10 (!!!!!) and 7. During the week it is I who gets up first, and then I wake Ds#1 pretty easily, then my mini-me Ds#2, takes a bit of coaxing to get out of his bed. ( He's a deep sleeper/they share a room)
Then I turn PBS on and go make breakfast.

Then I coax everyone into high gear and we get dressed, brushed and out the door.

The weekends: Both boys get up whenever ( I actually have no idea, maybe somewhere between 7 and 9...) and I think Ds #1 is actually up before #2 most weekend mornings. They each get their own breakfast and watch cartoons and sometimes play elaborate games that involve all of their stuffed animals and couch cushions. LMAO... Then Dh rolls out of bed next and I follow in time to make lunch.

[Centura]

I am SO thankful for all your replies! I have really have felt like such an awful mom that I some times find they have been awake before me! I am gonna stop feeling like that, and maybe, I can even start enjoying the few breaks they do give me some mornings!

Just like many of you have said, I think even when I have slept "through" them getting up, I am not really hard asleep, I can always remember hearing them in my subconsious mind. So far, the "worst" that has happened is them deciding to do dishes , I always do the dishes after dinner, but there was some cups in the sink from bedtime snack, and they had "washed" them so good the whole floor was clean!

[Boot]

I wish

My kids (3 and almost 4 months) tend to wake up around 6 or earlier. The baby will often go back to sleep but the 3 year old bounces around bugging me. I sometimes persuade him to play in his room for an hour but usually I just try to doze in between the questions and the bounces. It sucks because I really need that sleep. The baby wakes up to nurse quite often from about 2-6am. Oh well. This too shall pass.

[illumini]

Originally Posted by childsplay

When we lived on our boat my now 7 year old, who was 5 at the time used to have us set an alarm clock for him each night for 6:30am. It would go off, he'd roll out of his bunk, get dressed, fasten his lifevest and go out on deck to do some fishing. He'd sit on the aft deck, right above our cabin so we could hear him and if he needed us he'd just call down. He'd be out there singing, muttering, calling out "morning!" to people going by in dinghys, even the odd curse if his line tangled, as he casted and reeled over and over. We used to call him the old man.

Kind of off topic but reading this brought a tear to my eye. I lived on a boat when I was 7 and I did the same thing as your son. I used to wake up, go walk down to the beach to get fiddler crabs (bait), go back to the boat (or other fave fishing spots) and fish all day long. It was the best time in my life. Your son will thank you for that opportunity, I'm sure, when he is older.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

I dream of the day that mine will wake up and find something to do on his own.

During the week I'm up a good 1.5 hours before him...on the weekend I have a human alarm clock.
"Mom. Mom. I see sun. It's gonna be a beautiful day. Get up. Now. Meep! Meep! Meep! Mom. I sound like your alarm clock. Mom?"
Covers get pulled off...

And so, the nonstop weekend talking begins.....Lol.

...but I'm up just as early when he's not with me.

[pianojazzgirl]

My kids (esp my 5 yr old) quite often get up before either dh or myself. She can easily get up, fix herself a snack, and busy herself drawing or whatever (usually drawing). On the weekends both kids go downstairs together and watch cartoons for a little bit until we get up.

[jumpmama]

DS wakes baby and I up every morning. He wont leave the room until we are up...i think mainly because he is a mommy suck and he likes to eat right away. I wouldnt let him help himself yet..much to young and I would hate the mess

[limabean]

On weekdays, it's crucial to my sanity that I am up, showered, dressed, and fed before the kids get up. Getting to shower/dress alone and then having 20 minutes to eat and surf the web set the tone for the whole day, and on the rare days when I have to shower with the kids underfoot and then eat bites of breakfast in between doing stuff for them, the whole day just doesn't seem to go as smoothly.

On weekends, my 5yo DS is usually the first one awake (around 7am), and so far he still comes to wake us instead of just going downstairs on his own or playing in his room. So DH and I alternate getting up with him on weekends -- I sleep in on Saturdays and DH sleeps in on Sundays.

I gotta say, I kind of long for the day when they can come downstairs and pour themselves a bowl of cereal (DS could, but he doesn't want to). DH and I wouldn't sleep the day away or anything, but it'd be awesome to get to get up at 8 both weekend days.

[childsplay]

Originally Posted by illumini

Kind of off topic but reading this brought a tear to my eye. I lived on a boat when I was 7 and I did the same thing as your son. I used to wake up, go walk down to the beach to get fiddler crabs (bait), go back to the boat (or other fave fishing spots) and fish all day long. It was the best time in my life. Your son will thank you for that opportunity, I'm sure, when he is older.

Thank you for sharing that! The children were just talking about 'the good ole' days' over supper last night. It was, for them as well, the best time of their little lives - and ours too.

[Teenytoona]

DH and I are always the first ones up. But we are real morning people - like get lots of stuff done in the morning types. Dude I'd mow the lawn at 6 am if it wouldn't irritate neighbors, heh... We get up around 5 for work days (because we have to) and on weekends anywhere from 5-7, but the closer to 7 we are the way later it feels. LOL. Our 2yo is usually the next one up, between 6-7, and then our 8yo sometime around 8. Our 10 yo would sleep til noon or later if we let him and always complains, since we end up waking him up at 8-9.

But on the flip side, the big kids can stay awake wayyyy later than we do. DH and I are usually out sometime between 9 and 10, with an occassional late night here and there.

[nola79]

My son has always been the first one up. I got up with him until he was about 4, I guess, and could fix himself some cereal and was mature enough not to do anything that would tear up the house or get himself hurt.

[limette]

Originally Posted by Centura

Just like many of you have said, I think even when I have slept "through" them getting up, I am not really hard asleep, I can always remember hearing them in my subconsious mind. So far, the "worst" that has happened is them deciding to do dishes , I always do the dishes after dinner, but there was some cups in the sink from bedtime snack, and they had "washed" them so good the whole floor was clean!

In the mornings when I'm sleeping, if the kids walk into the kitchen, the pitter patter of little feet wakes me up and I remind them to stay out of there. It's like co-sleeping, I sleep lighter when I know I need to.