How long before school do you get up in the AM?

[peaceful_mama]

Does the title make sense?

I've been spoiled by preschool schedule. School did not start till 9 and I had a child who naturally woke between 7 and 7:30 most of the time. AND they ate a snack right when they walked in the room, so if we were running late, I could just dress him and take him, he'd eat there.

K starts at 8 AM. He *could* eat breakfast at school if he arrived about 15-20 mins. early. (I don't know if we will do that at all...depends I suppose, I think though that he will likely eat better at home at first)
I have gotten to his school in 10 mins, but adding in morning arrival traffic and time to walk to his classroom, i should probably figure on 15-20 minutes. (20 for winter when we'll have to drive slower, maybe even 25 just to be safe.)

So, leaving my house roughly 7:40. maybe a bit later occasionally, earlier in winter possibly.

How much time before you leave do you get up?
And when is bedtime? I'm currently wondering if I shouldn't make lights out as early as 7:30 rather than 8...figuring on ASLEEP by 8 that way, probably even earlier. (he's a kid who falls asleep literally minutes after hitting the pillow...I am changing the routine though to him and his sister watching a DVD in their room and then lights out--after dinner, bath, books.)

Is "asleep by 8" early enough for getting up at 6:30? I'm thinking that should be early enough wake up if we've laid out clothes, packed the backpack and the lunch if needed the night before? And breakfast is something relatively simple or also pre-made, like if I can thaw leftover pancakes, cereal, eggs that take 5 min, toast? Is an hour and 10 mins, about going to be enough time??

I *hate* rushing. Oh and I'm saving TV for after all the necessary stuff as an incentive to get ready quick. (He's used to getting it because dad works a late shift and he's always had probably 90 mins from the time he woke up to when we needed to walk out the door.)

[whatsnextmom]

Our is changing this year. My kids (9 and 13) have always gone to local schools within 5 or 10 minutes from home. They've had a 9pm bedtime, DS wakes naturally about 6:30, I would wake my DD up at 7:15. They'd leave the house with DH about 8 to get to school at 8:20 and 8:30.

DS's schedule will be the same in the fall but DD is going to high school 25 minutes away and starts at 7:15 in the morning! We're keeping the 9pm bedtime (she's a kid who really needs a lot of sleep even more so as a 13-year-old.) She'll have to wake about 5:45 and we'll leave the house around 6:30. I expect that will shift a little later once we see how quick the morning commute is.

Both kids are good about prepping as much as they can the night before. 45 minutes is usually enough for them to get ready at a relaxed pace.

[philomom]

If you bathe and lay out clothes the night before, pack your lunch and have the backpack by the door.. I found I can get kids out the door in 45 minutes.


Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and brush your teeth and hair.. put on shoes. What else is there?

[peaceful_mama]

hmmm I can see where having little "downtime" gives less time to get in trouble or argue....

maybe *I* need to get up at the aforementioned 6:15-30 and then get HIM up at 6:45

(*I* like my coffee and quiet and not rushed. HE is probably fine with get dressed, eat, brush teeth, comb hair, leave)

[CarrieMF]

My kids walk to school, it's 5 houses away. So they could get away with not having to leave until 8:40(first bell is at 8:55). This past year though I was working & had to leave by 8:10 so the kids were usually gone by 8-8:05. They got up at 7-7:10, I got up around 7:15. They made their own lunches, breakfast(and often ate at school). Before I started working they'd still get up around 7-7:10 & it'd take them 1 1/2hours to get ready, yet they don't take nearly as long when they have less time. They're going into grades 3, 4 & 7. The one going to middle school has to be at the school earlier to catch the bus there.

[Alyantavid]

Our schedule is kind of crazy because of my work hours, but at our school, the bell rings at 8:10 so the boys are usually up by 7:15-7:30. Just enough time to get dressed and drive there. The whole class eats breakfast after the bell rings before going to class.

When I have to do morning drop off, we have to leave the house by 7:10 to make it to the bus stop by 7:20.

[meemee]

NO TV. NO TV. find some other incentive. but tv is HARD. they just get a few minutes of a show and its HARD.

on top of that after a while if they are still adjusting waking up earlier than usual even tv stops being an incentive.

my dd like me HATES being rushed. and yet waking up between 6:30 and 7 is NOT her natural routine.

so some of her incentives was me waking her gently. going into bed with her at 6:15 and start the rousing process. back rub, gentle talking and then she wakes up in 15/20 mins. then give her time.

some of her incentives has been stopping for hot chocolate at the local coffee shop, or bagel at her fav. bagel place.

no tv. no tv in the morning. no tv during the evening. it just worked out well for us. she has a tonne of hw. we ended up going to the park or a coffee shop to do it.

bed time has always been hard. i would try to get her into bed by 8 but realistically 9 and 10 was her falling asleep time. this is without tv. our tv time has been cut down to nothing. by tv i really mean movies.

however she mostly wakes up anything between an hour to half hour before she leaves. i am up at least an hour before she is up and all ready to leave the house before i go wake her up.

however now thats summer is here its back to natural cycle. go to bed after midnight and wake up between 10 and noon.

[Drummer's Wife]

With my kids, too much time seemed to leave room for trouble. Their school starts at 9, so we usually got up at 8-8:15 depending on if they were eating breakfast at home or at school. My 5 and 3 yo could sleep in until 10 if they wanted to since pre-k started at 12:20.

Next year we might get up a bit earlier depending on how the mornings go b/c I will have four in school full-time including my 3 yr old who is a bit slower at getting ready and needs some help. Still, it won't be any earlier than an 45 min to an hour before they have to leave.

My DH will be doing at least one morning a week b/c I have an early class myself - I may just have to dress the kids before they go to bed Not sure how exactly that will work, since waking them at 6:30 when I have to get up wouldn't fly.

[peaceful_mama]

I think after thinking about this, *I* need to try to get up before him and have a little of 'my own' time before I have to help him...if *I* can do this, I think *he* will be just fine with probably a half hour or so to dress, eat, brush teeth and hair, and go. I think actually he will probably do best with little/no down time and no TV. (thanks for that point )

He shouldn't have a problem with the early bedtime and rising, it is pretty close to what he naturally did last school year.

[jen in co]

Our school's first bell is at 7:55, we live a 10 min walk or 5 min drive from the school. Kids have to be up no later than 7. Lunches are already made (by me) if it's a cold lunch day, we do no TV in the AM, kids get up, eat breakfast, brush teeth/get dressed and walk out the door. Backpacks are packed the night before. Bedtime for us is light's out by 7:30 (we start bedtime around 7ish) and our kids generally get up a little earlier than 7, so we can sometimes squeeze in piano or some reading in the AM. This will be the first year both have to get there (I have one entering K and one entering 3rd grade), so hopefully it will continue to work I normally get up no later than 6 (and I've often gotten up earlier to work out)...early bedtime is the key for us...

[mtiger]

I get up at 5:30. The kids are up at 5:45 - youngest leaves at 6:05, oldest at 6:40. He likes to shower in the morning, she prefers evening, so it works out well.

[Heavenly]

None of us are morning people (except my 4 year old) so we try and sleep as long as possible. I set my alarm for 7:45am. Usually my younger two (ages 4 and 7) are up before then but I just send them downstairs to watch tv until I'm ready to get up. I get up at 7:45am and get breakfast for the girls. I get my oldest (age 9) up at 8:00am and give him an Oatmeal to Go bar and a fruit/vegetable juice (that is all he will eat in the morning) and we are out the door at 8:25am. School starts at 8:45am (it's about an 18 drive away). I lay their clothes out the night before so they can just get dressed easily and I pack their lunches the night before. They are all asleep by 8:30pm every night.

[Hatteras Gal]

I get up anywhere from 1-2 hours before I wake the kids. I pack lunches, take my shower, work out if I get up in enough time, visit with my dh before he leaves for work. I wake them about 50 minutes before we leave (7:30). We leave about 40 minutes before school starts (starts at 9) (we live about 20 minutes or so from school depending on traffic) and the school opens 10 minutes before school starts.

I try to get them in bed by 8:30 but it's usually closer to 9. I think this year we're going to have it a little harder than last year b/c they are staying up way late this summer. I made them turn their light off at 10:45 last night. Dd2 (6 yo) is still asleep!

[raksmama]

We are all kind of slow in this house! We like to take our time in the morning.
DS leaves for work at 7:00 so he gets up at 5:30
I get up at 6:00 take my time drinking my tea while reading,wash,get dressed, then wake up ds(12) at 7:00 so he can leave the house at 8:00. His bus comes around 8:10. If we try to give ourselves less time we all end up cranky!

[amma_mama]

I am a morning person but DD and DH are not. So I get up about 2 hours before our departure time so I can get MY stuff done (including a few minutes on MDC) at MY pace, then be ready to focus on DD to get her fed, dressed and out the door. She soemtimes wakes up on her own and get her fed, since we do everything else after that (so that we do not have oatmeal dripping on the otherwise freshly cleaned shirt). If she does not wake up on her own, I get her up about 30-40 minutes before departure (now at 8:20 or so) and DH up at the same time (he works from home but drops me off at the subway and DD at camp/school).

[mistymama]

We leave the house at 7:15am, and I wake up at about 5:30am, get ds up around 6am.

He goes to bed around 8pm on school nights, he needs that sleep. Now that it's summer, I'm so dreading the early morning routine when school starts again!! I still get up naturally around 6am, but ds is sleeping until 7-8am and I think it's not going to be easy to switch back to 6am!!

[mumm]

We need at least an hour. My kids need time to just sit and stare into space before they could even contemplate something so complex as eating breakfast or getting dressed. And I like a few cups of tea before making lunches. (ugh. I hate making lunches!)

We need to leave by 8:30, but someone is always up by 5 and very rarely does anyone sleep past 7.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by peaceful_mama

hmmm I can see where having little "downtime" gives less time to get in trouble or argue....

maybe *I* need to get up at the aforementioned 6:15-30 and then get HIM up at 6:45

(*I* like my coffee and quiet and not rushed. HE is probably fine with get dressed, eat, brush teeth, comb hair, leave)

That is what I did this year. I got up at 6am to have my coffee; if ds was not up by 6:30 I would have dh wake him. We needed to leave by 7:30 to drive to school--so ds needs an hour. I make his lunch.

This year dh will drive him to (a different) school, and earlier, so I will get him ready first and then have my coffee.

[sewchris2642]

Dylan wen to bed at 8 pm for grades 1-3, 9 pm for grades 4-5, and 10 pm for grade 6. He has to get up by 7 am. We leave for school at 7:30. If he cant get up, get ready for school, and eat breakfast by 7:30 (he can eat the breakfast in the car starting with 6th grade as we have to drive, before that we walked), he has to be in bed earlier. So far, it's working.

I get up at least 30 minutes before Dylan does so I can wake up and have my coffee in peace. I hate being talked to in the morning and talking is Dylan's preferred way to wake up.

[peaceful_mama]

LOL Chris you sound like me!

I think *I* am going to get up at the aforementioned 6:30 and get DS up by maybe 7 or ten till.

I am also not someone that wants to be yapped at right away.

I also like the idea of starting out with a later bedtime (for us that might be 8) and moving it back if they can't get up.