Alarm clocks for 2 1/2 yr old?

[EliSnave78TX]

I was discussing with my mother this morning my plans for my 4 hour car trip to her house this weekend for Thanksgiving week.  She asked when I was leaving and I told her I wasn't sure, hopefully sometime before noon.  Told her I would have to wait for DD to wake up and then run through our morning routine and get out the door.  She said, "Just wake her up early and get in the car and let's go."  I tried to explain to her that my DD will have plenty of years ahead of her of being forced to wake before her body tells her it's ready and I'm in no hurry to rush that.  My mother regarded this as the waste of a male bovine.  

So, I began to wonder, do others wake their toddlers? I came to the one place I was likely to find like-minded mommas who could give me different perspectives with the same general beliefs.  

[tarasattva]

We don't use an alarm clock, but we do need to wake our toddler some mornings in order to get her to my mum's so DH and I can get to work.

We try to be as gentle as possible - turn on dim light, quietly say good morning, sing a song, read a book, sit and hold hands, etc.  Some mornings she jumps out of bed happy to greet the day and some mornings it's a half hour before she's awake and ready to get up and get dressed.

Some mornings she never makes it out of PJs (she and blankie get tucked into her carseat for the short trip to mum's).

I'm not in love with the idea of waking her up, but it's the reality of our lives right now.

ETA - if we have a choice about waking her w/o a major impact to everyone else's lives (as it sounds like the case is for you for holiday travel), we would let her sleep - holidays are a lot of excitement for a toddler, I personally want to go into these events with as many things going for me as I can, and a well rested toddler is at the top of that list!)

Edited by tarasattva - 11/19/10 at 3:57pm

[Michelle Renee]

We have this:

http://www.amazon.com/American-Innovative-Teach-Talking-Nightlight/dp/B003D7KV0Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290268401&sr=8-1

My oldest, who is 4, starts school at 8:00 am.  She adores this clock.  She can push the foot and it announces the time.  It also turns from red to yellow to green as well for wake times.   It is very weird to have an alarm wake such small children but it was user friendly for them and serves the purpose.

[EliSnave78TX]

I agree about letting them get the rest if the reason to wake them is not detrimental.  My mom and I are very different when it comes to stuff like that.  She likes to get up early and go, go, go until she drops at night.  I can't do that, it drives me crazy.  Especially not with a 2 yr old who likes to take the time to absorb things; as I like to take the time to watch her enjoy them.  So, no, I was not a fan of the idea of her waking early just to get in a car for a road trip.  lol
 

Originally Posted by tarasattva 

We don't use an alarm clock, but we do need to wake our toddler some mornings in order to get her to my mum's so DH and I can get to work.

We try to be as gentle as possible - turn on dim light, quietly say good morning, sing a song, read a book, sit and hold hands, etc.  Some mornings she jumps out of bed happy to greet the day and some mornings it's a half hour before she's awake and ready to get up and get dressed.

Some mornings she never makes it out of PJs (she and blankie get tucked into her carseat for the short trip to mum's).

I'm not in love with the idea of waking her up, but it's the reality of our lives right now.

ETA - if we have a choice about waking her w/o a major impact to everyone else's lives (as it sounds like the case is for you for holiday travel), we would let her sleep - holidays are a lot of excitement for a toddler, I personally want to go into these events with as many things going for me as I can, and a well rested toddler is at the top of that list!)

[alegna]

Dd (1st kid) got to sleep in most of the time as a toddler.  Ds (2nd kid) not so much  lol   We have places to go and things to do and while we are not a crack-of-dawn family by any stretch, there are definitely PLENTY of mornings that I wake him up.

-Angela

[isabchi]

Most of the time not. My youngest wakes up early anyway. If we need to do something important to do very early, work or travel, they usually get in the car in PJs. We homeshool my oldest so most of the time they wake up when they want to.

[Areia]

Originally Posted by isabchi 

Most of the time not. My youngest wakes up early anyway. If we need to do something important to do very early, work or travel, they usually get in the car in PJs. We homeshool my oldest so most of the time they wake up when they want to.

My DD is similar.  She' s usually up by 630am, but if not, we can just bundle her into the car without her waking.  If I have to leave early, I'll dress her the night before in yoga pants or sweats.  Something that's comfy to sleep, but so she's still dressed for the day.

[SomethingAnonymous]

My mom is bugging me about leaving on thanksgiving early too.  Last year I left our place around noon, and got there around 3pm, and she was very displeased.  Honestly I don't care...  , I know what is best for my kids and I am sure you know what is best for your daughter.  If you think your daughter would be cranky if woken up, I wouldn't wake her.  Thanksgiving shouldn't be a stressful day in my opinion.  I definitely will be letting my kids sleep, and if we don't leave until noon again, oh well.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Will she sleep in the car?  I would wake her up and go, but then I usually make my travel plans for the morning to get it the heck over with (I hate travelling later in the day - too stressful), and I've woken my ds up many many times to catch an early train, or an early flight.  He does fine, and if we were driving he would just sleep in the car.  (I'm not as AP as other parents on here though, so YMMV)

[Daffodil]

I normally let my toddlers wake up whenever they wanted to (and I still do now that they're not toddlers.)  But I would sometimes do just what your mom suggested - wake them up early and put them in the car so we could get started for a long trip.  Then they could go right back to sleep if they wanted, and the trip would be easier on both of us than if they were awake and bored the whole time.  I'm a big fan of waking when your body is ready, but I don't see any harm in occasionally waking a child early, assuming the child isn't likely to be too upset about it.  Especially when they'll have a chance to sleep some more if they need to.

[blizzard_babe]

Huh, I'd wake DS up, but he's a big car sleeper so it's not like I'd be depriving him of sleep, and I like to get an early start as a general rule. Then again, DS is an early waker naturally, so it's rarely an issue, even on the days when both DH and I work in the morning. I'd also put him to bed earlier the night before.

[treeoflife3]

I only wake kiddo up when I NEED to.  I also prefer to let her sleep until her body says she is done.  However, for trips, depending on the length and so forth I might wake her up extra early knowing she'll fall back to sleep in the car and sleep for a good chunk of the trip.  I'd wake her up when evertyhing is ready to go though and just toss her in the car... I also know though that MY kid doesn't travel well so having part of the road trip be sleep time is best on her (this is also why we left at nap time this year :D)

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by treeoflife3 

I only wake kiddo up when I NEED to.  I also prefer to let her sleep until her body says she is done.  However, for trips, depending on the length and so forth I might wake her up extra early knowing she'll fall back to sleep in the car and sleep for a good chunk of the trip.  I'd wake her up when evertyhing is ready to go though and just toss her in the car... I also know though that MY kid doesn't travel well so having part of the road trip be sleep time is best on her (this is also why we left at nap time this year :D)

Yup, I try to either leave ridiculously early in the morning so he sleeps the entire time, or at bedtime so he sleeps the entire time, or at naptime (well, traditional naptime... DS rarely naps these days) so he sleeps almost the entire time. Some of my most pleasant/restful trips have involved 5am departure times. DS arrives at our destination well-rested (since he sleeps better/longer in the car than in bed) and ready to party down. :D

Then again, I'm a morning person, so I'm probably biased.

[Marissamom]

I prefer to let DD wake by herself and go through our regular morning routine, but sometimes I wake her or skip parts of the routine if we need to get out the door for some reason. but if there's no reason to leave at a particular time I don't see any reason to wake her early if you don't want to. 

[cyclamen]

We wake her if we'll be driving/traveling because we know she will sleep in the car & probably later than she would have at home. Then she arrives well rested instead of cranky from being stuck in the car.  If she's in a strange place she may not nap, so I'd rather her sleep as much as possible before we arrive.  YMMV.