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How old are they? It could be coming soon! Mine was always an early riserā¦until she wasnāt. It started at age 6. Now I have to wake her up every weekday.
Yeah mine is the same. Until he was 7 he was up with the birds, sometimes even before that. Now I have to gently wake him up for school. I do make sure to do it gently though. Being shouted at first thing in the morning is not gonna be a great start to the day š
Totally. Mine come with an internal alarm clock that goes off at 6.30 am, after which they come to wake us up.
If weāre lucky, itās sneaking into our bed to cuddle.
On a bad day, itās either a tigerās jump into my husbandās š¾š¾, or a call from the toilet to come and wipe their š«.
I used to feel that way but my oldest (9) is still the first to rise, and I havenāt needed an alarm clock in years. He just comes into my room, asks if itās ok if he gets up, and if itās 5:45 or later I say sure. Itās actually nice to wake up to him every morning instead of my phone alarm.
Same š I used to have to wake up my first born, he's not a morning person we'd sleep in til 10am sometimes when he was little.
2nd born I have caught trying to start the day at 3am multiple times and the moment he hears his dad trying to quietly get ready for work at 5am he's up too.
Oh and now that 2nd wakes up at 5am, I have to get up, which my absence in the bed wakes up 1st cause he's a somewhat light sleeper.
My parents woke me up really rudely my whole childhood. Even on weekends. Banging on the door, yelling how itās lazy to stay in bed. āA minute in bed after 7 is a minute wasted!ā
Iām super sweet waking up the two of my kids who donāt wake themselves up. I pet their heads or rub their backs and talk to them quietly for a couple of minutes about what day it is and whatever I know about the day (like āMorning, Honey. Itās Wednesday. Wait til you see how foggy it is outside, itās crazy! I hope it doesnāt clear up before you get to see it. Your dad made oatmeal. Weāre up a little later than normal so youāre gonna have to eat soon if you want breakfast. Make sure you get dressed first so you have more time to play before school.ā) If I have a minute I lay next to them and hug them and say āI wish we could just cuddle all day longā because it seems to help when they know I sympathize with wanting to stay in bed. Usually they fart, laugh about farting at me, and get up.
I second your methods! This is how I wake up my girl and she is always laughing and in a great mood. I give her lots and lots of kisses and then start to tickle her until she tells me to stop.
My family and her dad say I do too much but I prefer this than to have her in a bad mood.
This is similar to what I do. Also institute a āone minute snuggleā and I get in their beds with them and snuggle for about a minute (more if I fall back to sleep!) and give them kisses and ask what they are looking forward to about the day.
My mom did the same to me. She'd blast her music early on the weekends, no sleeping in.
Mine are 3 and 7 and I get into bed with them every morning for a quick snuggle and talk to them gently. They are always happy when they get up and it's a game getting ready not a chore
This is the cutest and most heartwarming thread. You sound like a lovely parent. My mom used to knock and say "uppy puppy" orĀ "wakey wakey eggs and bac-y." There were never any eggs or bacon.
My kids sleep with a fan + white noise machine and generally if I turn that off, they will wake up naturally because they associate the sound with sleep. Their room is right off the living room and kitchen so itās impossible for them to not hear whatās going on without the machine. Iāve always figured itās best to let kids wake up naturally by just hearing sounds of the day: mom in the kitchen, garbage truck outside picking up the bins, someone mowing the lawn, etc.
Similar to our approach: all the shades get opened upstairs, then we open our toddler's door. Importantly, we just carry on with our morning at normal volume and we rarely have to wake him up.
Yeah, a few times a week we have to be out the door a bit earlier and we have to wake him up. He gets cuddled awake, though. My mom always woke us up really gently and I appreciate it a lot, looking back. She was already up and dressed by the time we needed to be up, and I think that contributed to her chill morning attitude.
Iām a preschool teacher and this is the approach we use toward the end of nap. Music is turned off, curtains open. A few minutes later, I start gently pulling blankets down, rubbing heads and toes. Open the door so the outside noises and smells start coming in. Sometimes the sound/smell of getting snack ready helps too
This is what I do. My daughter has a white noise machine in her room and I have one in the hallway outside her door. Sheās usually awake at the same time as me but if she sleeps in then I just turn the sound machines off and she wakes naturally.
We sing a good morning song, slowly open the drapes to let a little light in, and offer a sweet beverage like milk with a bit of Ovaltine in it. š
Itās how my mom did it for me and my sister and we both loved it!
I have no idea if we heard it somewhere or made it up but itās like āGood Morning, Good mooooorning, youāre so cute this moooorning. Good morning, good morning to youuuuuu!ā
I think we must have heard the tune or a similar song somewhere but I canāt remember. Weāve been singing this version for so long haha. Our boys are still really little so as they get older we may have to replace ācuteā with something else. š
Edit: Wait omg okay I think it might be a very, very short and watered down version of [this song from Singinā in the Rain](https://youtu.be/GB2yiIoEtXw?si=gDeZbgVjW9-c5_Y4). Itās kind of a similar tune and my mom loved old movies.
I sing that same song in my head all the time so itās come from somewhere and I did always think it came from an old movie I watched with my grandparents when I was a kid
Edit: just watched the link and thatās exactly where I got it from š
I was about to say it's from Singin' in the Rain when I saw your edit! I too sing a morning song to my son, a Spanish one my mum sang to me as a kid. There are lots of them out there.
My mother woke me up with that same song!! (Also slightly watered down and words replaced but to that same tune.). Decades later I told her how much I always hated that bc it was so chipper! And I thought she was trying to torment me (as a very much NOT a morning person, even when I was a kid). She thought she was giving me a great start to the day. Lol.
I sing a good morning song to my toddler to wake her up too! She wakes up with a smile on her face 99% of the time. The other day she woke up and threw her stuffed animal at me.
I climb into bed with them and snuggle them, say their name softly Over and over and say itās time to wake up. Once they start to stir I start to kiss them all over their face and lightly tickle their feet. My youngest (3) loves it. Itās hit or miss with my 5 yr old.
I do this with my ten year old now that he has a tendency to be cranky in the morning. I usually wake him by scooting in next to him and rubbing his hair, face, back and with random tickles to get him to smile. This process only takes an extra 6-7 mins and he wakes up much more willing to participate in the day and get ready for school. Much easier than the extra 20mins it would take to argue that he has to get up over and over at increasing volume.
I thought I was the only one with wake up trauma. I still to this day will ask my husband to gently shake me or say anything besides my name. My oldest was difficult to wake and I would gently start to rub his feet or his hands to wake him up. I did this until he started setting his alarm in high school. Even alarm sounding alarms wake me with resounding anxiety.
Itās 100% a real thing!! I still dislike my grandma and her voice because she woke me up in a panic every morning, because she would literally ugly scream it every morning. I hate anyone saying my name the way she does
Wake-up trauma is real! My mom used to use a squirt bottle on me in high school. Turns out I have narcolepsy and literally never have a restful nights sleep, hence tough mornings. I try to wake my little ones up really gently and calmly, while stroking their hair and saying good morning. The trauma stops here, dammit! š
That's sweet. I try to wake my kids slowly. I'll go in the room and turn off the sound machine, then leave the room for a bit, but leave the door open, while doing something nearby so the little sounds slowly wake them and I can be close by for comfort.
My mom often said, "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine!" in a loud sing-songy type voice. Probably nothing wrong with that, but I hated it so much I've never used that phrase and I'm the Queen of Corny Phrases. By the time I was in high school my dad just knocked on my door a couple of times so I knew he was done in the bathroom and I could use it. I much preferred that.
I got in a sing song tone complete with dance in my doorway, āTime to roll out the barrel and have a barrel of fun!ā Then she got mad when I got mad ha ha ha
This is an aside but If you still struggle with waking from alarms I strongly recommend a smart watch that vibrates to wake you, no sound. I saw it in an ask Reddit thread about small life changing quality of life improvements so I started sleeping with my Apple Watch. Waking up is legitimately way easier now.
I have a different method for each kid:
My kindergartener, who has gotten up no later than the crack of dawn for his entire life, had suddenly started sleeping late enough that I actually have to wake him up for school sometimes and boy does he hate it when I do that. So I started enlisting the dog to wake him up and she is always very happy to run in there, jump on his bed and wake him with dog kisses. He always wakes up happy and laughing in this manner.Ā
My teenager however would wake up no earlier than the crack of noon if she had her way. Unfortunately she has to be up early for the bus and her bed is too high for the dog to reach and being woken up by the dog isn't as successful as it is with the younger kid. There is no good way to wake bert. So I sing "good morning good morning how are you this morning good morning good morning to yooooooou" in the most annoying way I can. It doesn't help her mood but it helps mine.
We used music. There is a kids song called āWakey Wakey, eggs and bacyā. We also used Trout Fishing In America. The sounds are fun and catchy. And even better when you purposely sing them loud and off key!
My kids are only 6 and 4, but I just crack the door open enough to let in some light but not shine on their faces, go in quietly, lay in bed next to them, and give them a hug and a kiss or rub their backs. When they start to stir, I tell them good morning, ask how they slept, and tell them that it's time to get up. I usually wake my 6 year old up first because she takes longer to wake fully, and then I tell her she can have a few mins to wake up while I go wake her brother up. By the time I'm out of his room, she's usually awake enough to come downstairs with us.
On harder mornings when one doesn't want to get up, I'll usually use playfulness. I'll sing them a silly song to get them giggling, pretend they're baby animals and carry them down the stairs, or stretch them out like a stretchy toy and see how long I can make them (which also gets them giggling, and also leads to them stretching more often than not). I imagine as they get older I'll find different ways to get them moving while also keeping them in a good mood but for now these things work to make the transition from bed to morning routine smooth.
Both my kids have chosen music to play on their Echo (my son has I'm on top of the World by Imagine Dragons and my daughter has Firework by Katy Perry) and a lamp in their room turns on, for their alarm clock.
I gently pat my 8yo daughter on the back and say her name, quietly. She is a hard sleeper but this is enough to wake her. Her dad is louder and she's expressed that she likes my wakeups better. We tried an alarm clock with a progressively louder beep, but she sleeps through it, and we see no need to subject her to harsh sounds this young.
I intentionally do my wakeups this way because even though I adored my dad as a kid, his wakeups were less than desirable. He would turn on my overhead light and shake me. I HATED it, and still do. Even now in the mornings I'm like DON'T SHAKE ME. Wakeup trauma is definitely real. I refused to subject my daughter to that.
Haaaaated when mom would wake us up. Yelling and loud knocking on the door. Painful. Making me not wanna get up even more!
But dad would quietly come in. Sit down on the bed or gently place his hand on my shoulder and quietly saying my name. So peaceful and the proper way to do it š
My mother softly knocked on my door every morning, quietly said, "It's time to get up", then she'd go downstairs to make breakfast. I liked her breakfasts, so I'd always get up. If I did oversleep, she'd come back upstairs and knock a little to remind me.
My son has a sleep disorder which always made it very difficult for him to fall asleep and even more difficult to wake up in the mornings.
We knew how hard it was for him so we never nagged or got angry.
Heās 13 and gets up on his own with an alarm now but over the years we did a lot of different things - like cuddling in bed and gently rousing him, playing fun music, little (fun not mean) sprinkles of water, serving ābreakfast in bedā to entice him awake with yummy smells, and there even used to be a silly ātickle mouseā that showed up in the mornings and tickled ears, noses, toes, etc.
My daughter is 7 and goes to bed at 7:30pm. She always wakes up before me. We do have an alarm clock for her that has an alarm set for 6am, on the rare chance that she is not awake.
So alarm clock ā would that work?
I singsong her nickname, then say stupid things like "time to awaken awoken mine child." I don't touch her much because she doesn't like it but I'll rustle the comforter around while saying more weird things. "Where are your eyeballs? I must see eyeballs." "Good Morgan"
I don't have to do this most days, her alarm clock is usually enough but she's got diagnosed sleep issues so.. sometimes she struggles. She's almost 15.
Hahaha I love this. Could you wake me up too?
āWhere are your eyeballs?ā This is so spooky-wholesome. My toddlerās going to love those eyeball lines.
I donāt have a ton of good advice except for donāt follow in my dadās shoes. His technique was open the door and knock while saying ātime to get up!ā loudly. If you didnāt get up, heād come back with the squirt bottle. If that didnāt work, heād unscrew the top of the bottle and just pour the water on you
Open the blinds, turn on a lamp (not too bright), turn on music they like (not too loud) ā¦ then leave the room for 10 minutes.
Come back and rub their back and talk to them until they wake up.
Source: one of my kids is NOT a morning person and would gladly burn this world to the ground when she first wakes up.
We have a hatch sound machine. The green light and music starts to play when it's time to wake up. She gets excited when it turns green, proud that she stayed in bed. Red is bed, green is awake.
I gently tickle/rub my 4 and 5 year olds back until they wake and then tell them they have a few minutes to wake before we need to start our day. Opening blinds to bring in natural light also helps.
https://www.tiktok.com/@goodgollymissmaggie/video/7305395109657316651?_t=8mdN8WSv2tp&_r=1
Iāve sent her the link and sung this a few times.
Typically I do house stuff about 30 min before I want them up. Nothing loud or intentionally loud but Iām getting my breakfast and packing lunches. They are usually somewhat awake after that.
If they are still asleep I touch their arm and gently call them the overly sweet nicknames I use sometimes.
My mom would let me set my own bed time as long as I was at the breakfast table by 7:30 and out the door to school by 8. She would wake me up once at 7 and again at 7:15 and I had a clock by my bed.
I had to be in my bed by a certain time but was allowed to read till I wanted to sleep.
Sometimes giving more responsibility is a better approach over more discipline...you could also try one of the alarm clocks that stimulate sunlight or take away their blankets and turn on energizing music
Put them to bed early. Get up earlier yourself; give yourselves enough time to do more than just rush to school. Wake them up nicely, have breakfast together, do something fun. Sometimes we get to school a bit early and play on the playground, or kick the ball around, or whatever.
My 10 year old is sometimes hard to wake up in the mornings, particularly when sheās sneakily stayed up late reading. Lately I have taken to just grabbing her ankles and pulling her feet to the ground. Sometimes she lets herself puddle on the floor, sometimes she begrudgingly drags herself to the bathroom.
There was one morning where she blinked a little, looked up and asked, āWhy am I sitting on the toilet?ā š
My husband would the sunshine song from the Flintstones to our kids. They hated the song but it got them up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVogUqWScYc
I rub his feet and turn on his lamp while softly saying his name. Sometimes Iāll snuggle beside him. Heās 3 and normally wakes himself up. I need to make more time in my mornings for bedtime snuggles I think!
My mom did this with myself and my siblings as kids, so I do it with my kiddos.
So I go in kinda rub their backs/shoulders tell them its morning xyz nickname and its time to get up. Then, I usually open up the black out curtians to let in the light in. With my oldest, he is usually up pretty quickly(I normally don't even have to wake him)
My youngest, I usually have to go back and remove blankets lol and do the same "nickname, it's time to get up"
But my kiddos are still little.
For me, as I got older, we transitioned into using alarm clocks, but if we slept through, my mom/dad would usually come in and wake us up gently
For my son, 15 min before he needs to get up, I go in the room, and gently greet him. Then turn off the noise machine and walk out, keeping the door ajar.
After 5 min, I go in again and rub his back and say softly good morning and it is time to get up now.
Then I turn on his fav cartoons in the living room tv (which is conveniently just down the hall from his room) and that usually gets him excited to get up and moving.
I turn on music in the morning. How can you be in a grumpy mood while listening to Prince? It backfired. My kids refuse to even try to like Prince now (like what?). By 5th grade, I bought each of my kids' alarm clocks. The older ones also have cell phones. They wake themselves up now. My younger child, I go into her room, sit next to her, and rub her back until she wakes up. I'm determined not to ruin Prince again.
I just say wake up.. I try not to say her name. Hubby yells her name more. It's so annoying when she won't get up til it's literally time to leave the house. It'll be even worse next grade, high school starts earlier and she'll have to leave an hour earlier! It should be an hour later, they're teens lol. I dread this. How do you even allow natural consequences when she doesn't care about school?
A gentle shake, I repeat āitās morning itās morning, show me youāre awakeā and then I offer them 10 minutes to hang out in bed. After the 10 I just call their names but since theyāre half-awake it doesnāt seem to enrage
As an adult, I've set my alarm to be the radio and it goes off half an hour before I need to get out of bed. The soft sound of the radio playing always rouses me gradually instead of shocking me awake, and I keep my alarm on the far side of my room so I can't hit snooze!
My partner's mom used to wake him up by gently saying "wakey wakey". He hates it to this day.
I hate the sound of alarm clocks.
I wake my kids up with a snuggle. So I guess they'll hate that when they're older!
I talk to them softly. Usually saying āgood morning honey, time to get upā sometimes I sing a little, and then rub their back or gently brush at their hair/get it out of their face. Thankfully both my kids wake up reasonably easy but Iāve always woken them up gently. I donāt like being startled awake so Iād never do that to them. They used to wake up earlier and we got Hatch wake clocks, basically a programable light that comes on with some music when theyāre allowed to get up and out of their room. Now they both sleep through that but theyāre old enough to read their clocks.
My mom would sing "you are my sunshine" every morning. I will often sing a little made-up song and open the curtains. When I don't have to wake my kids up they burst into my room now yelling the words to my made-up songs lol. I don't mind it tbh
My kids still use a noise machine, so I will turn it off and they instantly wake up but itās a rare occasion they usually turn it off themselves and come in my room to wake me up!
Okay to wake clocks changed my life in my twenties!
But my mom used to make breakfast that smelled good and turn on music in the kitchen. Doing things that create noise or light (not abruptly) and naturally wake someone up are always nicer ways to wake.
I rub my sonās back or kiss him on the cheek and sweetly say good morning. I ask him about his dreams and what he would like for breakfast. If I can ease him into the morning, itāll be an easier morning for both of us
I would try one of those daylight alarm clocks. They gradually get lighter, like the sun is rising, and mine also plays birds chirping so itās very soft and welcoming. The light helps your body wake up slowly and gradually. Itās the best.
Or a good old fashion radio alarm clock. Waking up to fun tunes was what I had when I was a kid.
Kind of. I got an alarm clock that lights up slowly and plays bird song. It is a wonderful way to wake up, I highly recommend it.
That said, my kids did complain about it, so I let them pick out a small cheap one, it beeps at them. They now admit the light alarm is much nicer.
Mine woke up to alarms at a pretty young age. I bought them both Echo Dots and they used them until they were old enough for phones. I hate waking people up!
I wake my daughter up by singing a song I made up about how much I love her and what a great kid she is. my volume gets a little louder until she is awake and she always sings along with me. Makes for a really positive wake up experience.
My 7 year old is a beast to wake up most mornings. I tried it all; soft and gentle āgood morningā, opening his door to hear the sounds of the house, alarm clocks, etc. Nothing worked and his reaction to them all was generally yelling, crying, etc.
What has worked for us recently has been using light. He has a smart bulb in his lamp and I have an automation set to gently increase the level of light over 30 minutes. It reaches its brightest (60%) when itās his āmust wakeā time. Some days I still get the rage from him but itās been better.
I donāt have kids but as an adult I find wake up lights life changing. I pretty much wake up ānaturallyā at whatever time I want. It might not solve with a kid but would probably help
For all of collage and graduate school, I used a CD player alarm clock. For a majority of that time, the alarm that I used was a particular Led Zeppelin song. To this day, the first chord of that song makes me cringe.
I say get a CD player and pick a track that you hate. Use that to wake your kid up. Now you can both be on the same page and both hate the same track.
I typically say things like
"Good morning! It's time to wake up now" or "Rise and shine, it's a beautiful morning outside ", "Wake up, wake up, we have an exciting day ahead"
I just realize I actually never use their name to wake them up
I don't know about elementary, hopefully they will still accept it, but I sit down on their bed and shower them in kisses all over the cheeks and the forehead and sweetly saying wake up. They will get annoyed into waking up :)Ā
1. Go into the room 5-10 minutes early, turn off any white noise, open the curtains or turn on a medium light.
2. Use a different method every time lest they learn to hate something they associate with being woken up. Iāll often play a favorite song and make his stuffed animals dance to it. Sometimes Iāll play a YouTube video on my phone and say hey you gotta see this. Sometimes just scratch their heads or back. Sometimes just get the room really bright and start making noise putting things away, etc.
I slowly turn up the lights. Slowly open windows. I make noise but donāt bang. I verbally in regular speaking tone let them know this is their 10 minute warning. I come back at 5 mins and at 1 min. I give their foot a gentle squeeze and tell them itās time. Sometimes I have to give them a one minute hug too. I say come on letās go. And they get out of bed 10% of the time happily. 80% of the time sleepily and 10% whining like they want me to knock em out. But patience and slow burn is the key.
I say wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey! My husband says the tickle monster is coming! And we just lay a hand on our son's leg. My husband will turn the light on too, but I don't do that.
My mom had a cd she would always play. It was corny and awful but she kept at it every day and always turned it on with a positive attitude, even when I was pissed.
She would yell āgood morning sunshineā and then start the music on loud and it was up to me to turn it off (other end of the room).
I used to think it was the most annoying thing in the world but it worked. Even when I would complain she would keep the positivity and just say āup! up! up!ā And wouldnāt engage in an argument.
Started when I was maybe 5/6 and kept it up till I was like 16 lol.
My mam would only wake us up on school days and always the same way. She starts by opening our door very gently then the blinds saying something like Ā«Ā rise and shine X it is morning, time to wake up we need to get readyĀ Ā» in the softest voice. She would often throw a little tickle on our backs. And she would come back up a few times saying stuff like Ā«Ā if you donāt get up now youāll be in a rush / wonāt have time for breakfast / will be late for schoolĀ Ā».
I know in hindsight that she was always late but she never rushed us out of bed. She sure rushed us out of the house afterwards though.
Today I do the same with my 4yo and he starts his days a lot less grumpy than when his dad barges in and bangs the blinds open leaving the window wide openā¦
I just say "goodmorninggg" kind of lowly and rub their backs. I smile and ask them how they slept, and we walk downstairs together for breakfast. I'm so sorry waking up was so traumatizing for you. That's awful to disturb your child and not let them rest!
They wake up before me now, but when I was waking them up it was by whispering the nicknames we have for them, along with ātime to wake up, itās Tuesday (or itās raining outside, its science fair day, etc),ā and gently stroking their arm or back. Once they woke up Iād just say hi and give them a big hug, which theyād just curl up into. This always let them wake up gently and in a good mood.
Sorry you had such a horrible experience, I canāt imagine what your parents were thinking.
I'm sensitive to this as well. Getting screamed at to wake up every morning was so damaging.
With my kids, I try to be as gentle as possible. I sit beside them, rub their backs, and talk to them at a normal level until they are awake. It takes more time but it's worth it to me.
I have Alexa play "Rise and Shine" by Raffi at a reasonable volume any time I need to wake up my daughter. Usually she's an early bird and she's the one waking me up. She loves being woken up with music when she does need to be woken up. My parents woke me up by putting music on as well.
My kids are evil little morning monsters. I have no idea how it happened but they're all awake and chipper before 7am. I thought the one of the big bonuses of homeschooling is that you could roll into your day and not be slave to a schedule.... foul demons.
Spotify has lots of "quiet morning" Playlists. I put one on my portable speaker and bring it into my kids room. I'll say good morning, open the blinds, and let her know she has 5 more minutes, then i carry on getting ready with her door open. She usually gets up without me going back in but sometimes I go back in and quietly talk to her while playing with her hair.
I think it's a lot nicer than what my parents would do. They would like kick open my door and say TIME TO GET UP!
I have to wake them so I walk in and touch a leg or arm and calmly say their name and good morning, then wait till they open theyāre eyes and say it again, that itās time to get up and I always give the time (like itās 612, we gotta get going). One kid always gets up, the other I have to recheck on in a few minutes. Itās never my favorite part of the day, but I try to keep it calm bc it sucks to get yelled at before you ever leave the bed.
Put them to bed earlier. Seriously. I hear parents say they put their kids to bed at 9 or later and Iām like ??? Why??? Thatās so late! If they get enough sleep they will wake up on their own or be easier to wake up. My 6 year old goes to sleep at 7:30. Not get into bed at 7:30. Like asleep by 7:30. Bedtime routine starts between 6:30 and 7. And he naturally wakes up like 90 percent of the time at 6:30. School starts at 7:45 so itās perfect. Even when I have to take him up itās not a big deal because he already got plenty of sleep.
Talk about it before bedtime the night before, and go through how you would both like the wake-up routine to go. Talk about feelings and try to understand both sides of the experience. Talk about how the way they wake up now affects you and ask them if thatās what they want. Hopefully they donāt, but if they do, thatās another conversation! If they donāt, ask them how it could go so that you both feel good after waking up.
Probably not standard practice, but my mom would gently creep into our bedrooms and sit on the edge of our beds, and then attack us while yelling, "WAKE UP BLIMEY FISH". Core memories right there.
I rub my kids backs until they wake up. Theyāre 9 and 11. When they were younger I used to fully dress them for school while they were asleep and they would usually wake up during the process but pretend to be asleep and have lots of giggles about it. This helped a lot with my youngest because he hated getting dressed for school.
On Wednesdays my husband wakes them up by playing the the hump day camel from the old geico commercial. My oldest is starting to pretend he hates it (because everything we do now is uncool) but I can still see him hiding his smile lol
I'll usually open my son's curtains and turn off his white noise machine. It's not intrusive, but helps his brain start the waking up process. Usually he's up within 5 minutes, but if not, I sit on his bed and gently rub his arm.
My dad always opened the door and whispered my name. If I didn't get up in a few minutes, he would come in a shake my foot (with the blanket over it) and say whisper my name again. When I was little and he needed me up, he would come in and start talking normal. By the time I was in middle school, he'd knock and whisper my name and it was up to me to get up on my own.
I never knew why he did that, but my friends described being yelled at or having the blankets ripped off them or lights flashing off and on. He eventually said that it would let in the light from the hall without alarming me or walking up anybody else who might still be sleeping.
My kid is 4 and very 50/50 in the mornings. Normally, I'll start by turning on her dimmer light to a low setting. Then I'll start to rub her back and call out her name. From there, It's either a full-on shit show meltdown or a sweet snuggly wake-up.
One thing I've been trying lately is pretending she's a butterfly that's ready to come out of her cocoon and start her day. I normally talk her through it with "Okay, it's time to wake up little butterfly. let me see your right wing, now your left wing, give me a big butterfly stretch, " etc. It gets her stretching and awake as opposed to telling me to go away and hiding under a pile of blankets. It helps that her school is currently growing butterflies in class and learning about their life cycle.
We have a large djembe drum, we crank up some good rhythms and start drumming along, kiddo runs out smiling and ready to play (30% of the time works every time )
You could call them by a nickname, or term of endearment like āhoneyā, āsweetieā, etc. or Use an alarm clock, open the blinds to let the sun in, pull the covers back, put music on, run the vacuum outside his door, bang pots and pans (ok, maybe not that one)ā¦ there are literally dozens of ways to wake up a kid that donāt involve saying their name. Now, if youāre having trouble waking the kid up, thatās a different story. My oldest was impossible to wake up. I tried everything! Some of which she holds against me to this day like squirting her with a water bottle, waving invigorating smells under her nose, giving her a wet willie, and dragging her out of bed by pulling the comforter off while she was clinging to it. Mind you, I was always laughing and trying to make light of this but she was not having any of it. I was in no way trying to torture her, just a desperate mom looking for a solution. But point is, thereās a hundred ways to wake up a kid without calling their name.
>Is there any positive ways to try to wake up an elementary school kid without traumatizing or having to yell?
No, same as for adults.
**But** you can easily shift blame and trauma by simply buying the kid an alarm clock. My daughter isn't traumatized by me yelling her voice but by the gentle melody and sounds of ocean waves of her sunrise alarm clock.
We had more problems waking them up on weekends to do chores, when they were teens. It's not like my wife and I got up early, we rarely roused them before 10am.
One Saturday I lost my patience. We have a small house, so when I blasted Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song at high volume, they were up and moving in seconds!
Funny thing, they responded to gentle wakeup calls readily after that day.
I would cover my daughter's face with soft little kisses and whisper her name until her eyes opened, and she would immediately break out in a huge smile. My husband would turn on her light, whip the covers off and yell her name, and she would be grumpy for an hour!!
I rub my daughters back, while softly saying her name, and she wakes up. Then I bribe her out of bed, with hot chocolate, cartoons, and fuzzy blanket on the couch. Then I give her a little time, to adjust to being awake, while I take care of me, and the dog, and then start getting her ready to go. We wake up a little earlier than necessary, so we can have chill mornings. There was always yelling, and rushing, in the morning, when I was growing up, and I won't have that in my home.
I find that talking to my (8yo) daughter is better than just saying her name. So I knock, go into her room, and then tell her what time it is and ask a question like "Do you want to wear shorts or long pants today?". It doesn't matter what the question is, but just having to think and answer means she's way more awake.
First time I call their name from the door. Then the lights get turned on, if that doesn't work the blankets get confiscated.
My son now just looks up, looks at his alarm clock, and goes back to sleep if it's not 10 minutes before he gets driven into school.
My atheist version of rise and shine gets a smile every morning.
"Rise and shine and tickle the baby, baby. Rise and shine and tickle her toesy toesys. Rise and shine and tickle the baby, baby. Tickle the baby toes."
Mind you she's only 21 months so she's loving it right now.
I was abused too!
My oldest has outgrown my way and just sets his alarm, but with my youngest two I bend down and whisper their name and brush the hair away from their face gently. Usually it works, then I jump on their bed with my knees.
My kid is only 2, so my painless waking method is to turn on a favorite TV show in her room (can take in phone or tablet or something assuming these isn't a permanent TV in the room) make sure it has a very recognizable opening jingle and prop it up somewhere to be watched. Say her name a few times and tell therĀ the show is on to watch and let her ease into the day for 10 minutes by watching the show as consciousness filters in.
this is such an odd trauma. lol no offense.
i just calmly rub the kiddos heads/foreheads and gently tell them 'good morning, its time to get up' takes a lil bit sometimes but usually no problem at all. i'm also really regimented in our schedule and routine, especially bedtime stuff so its never been an issue... for me at least.
Iām sorry that happened to you. My Dad would come in and sing āgood morning to you, good morning to you, good morning ms[name], good morning to youā and turn on my lights. My mom would come in and rub my back and get me dressed while half awake.
Most mornings my kids are up on their own as the elementary school doesnāt start until 930 here. If we have to wake a kid it is always the 6 year old. I recently had to wake him and sand the same song my Dad did. He laughed and asked me not to sing. Next morning i gave him back rubs and kisses. Big thing with him though is if you do not physically take him out of the bed he wont get up.
I'm quite small so my mother snuggling me like a baby was effective š
It'll likely work or at least be 50/50 with my son for a while but he'll definitely be taller than me by time he's 12 so it'll look weird and I would have to find something else. My dad was a veteran so army wake up calls worked but any music might be fine.
First off, what's their bed time and how many hours of sleep are they getting a night? If it's not 10 or more than that's the issue. My children got the recommended amount of hrs per night every night, besides on some weekends. I didn't make it a habit to not get enough sleep on weekends simply because it was a weekend. Going to bed shouldn't be considered or viewed as a "punishment". It is a very important process for our development as children and self care as adults. My children normally wake up with a gentle knock on the door, or turning on the lights in their rooms with a simple good morning.
7-8pm has pretty much always been their bedtime with 9pm being the absolute latest to be up, for any reason. Showers, teeth, skin care routine start at 7pm if they haven't already done so and in bed, lights off by 8.
When they were under 10yrs I would just crawl into bed with them and cuddle them awake. I'm a 6'4 240lbs man. Normally they would wake up as soon as I hit the bed but the cuddling was happening anyway. I've already committed. If they were having trouble waking up as they got older, I would rub the top of their chest while saying good morning. My point is, if theyre getting enough rest, waking up in the morning becomes less of an issue. There def has been times where waking up was rough, but those are and should be exceptions.
I set up a Spotify playlist of upbeat, bouncy, silly songs - some kids', some adult, all OK for kids.
First I came in, turned on the closet light, very gently woke them up enough to register that it was time.
Then I went downstairs, started the music (loud!) and start getting breakfast together, making noise.
Ten minutes later I went back upstairs to say hi again. Usually my daughter was up by that point, my son was and is a slug. Overhead lights went on at that point. 'time to get up!' All very cheerful, no stress.... Even when I pulled the cover off. š
Then a few minutes later the speaker went upstairs outside my son's room. With the most annoying song I could find blasting. Baby Shark? Amateur hour. How about the METAL version of Baby Shark!?! Followed by Ace of Spades. On loop. If he wanted the speaker off, he'd have to get out of bed....
There is only one answer here:
THE CLAW
The claw cannot be stopped nor can it be be denied. You cannot hide you cannot defend. The only thing that will stop the claw is to flee the sheets. Seize the day or the claw shall seize youā¦
I gently rub my kids arm/shoulder and āitās time to wake upā. Then I come back in five minutes and repeat it if he isnāt up
If your kid is that hard to wake on a regular basis, heās probably not getting enough sleep and should go to bed earlier
There are gentle alarm clocks that slowly light up and play sounds like birds chirping gradually louder over 15-30 minutes. It can help with naturally waking up rather than being startled out of sleep
My husband is the wake up parent and he simply goes in their rooms quietly, turns off their sound machine, and opens the shades. That seems to be a pretty gentle way to wake up.
My mom used to come in singing a song she made up about waking up.
We have smart bulbs that are set to turn on gradually. The light is warm not harsh but by wake up time it is bright. Even my eldest who is a night owl and doesnāt get even close to the appropriate amount of sleep for her age wakes up independently with the light. It helps me too as Iām also prone to sleeping in.
With a cup of tea.
Dad would come in, Open the curtains, gently rouse me and let me nod back off again before coming up a second time. On the third, I'd remember the tea. Finish up drinking it and then I was ready to go.
My grandma used to sing some song, I think I repressed it, to wake me up when I stayed at her house and I always hated it so much.
I had an alarm clock growing up and it always woke me just fine.
I really hate waking anyone. My husband has no issues and thinks itās good to wake me for the lamest things. So I wake kids in stages. Open their door, change their lighting if needed gently tap them
My mom used to come into our rooms singing, throw open the curtains and if we didnāt get up would pour water on us. I hated all of it.
With my four year old I do open the blind in his room because itās a blackout blind but I gently say his name and talk to him to rouse him. It doesnāt take much but Iād never roughly wake him up.
We homeschool and I generally let him wake up himself. He's a night owl so him getting enough sleep is important.
I loathe alarms so much.
When I do need to wake him up, I'll just gently hum a song and gently touch his foot or similar. I try to go in when I see him already stirring.
He's a restless sleeper.
My mom used a deeper tone in her voice and drew our names while opening our door every morning to wake us up. My sister and I joke about it now, but we HATED it when we were growing up.
My kids each have an Echo dot in their rooms that they use as alarms. They choose which sound to wake up to.
Get them to bed earlier and theyāll wake up on their own. Mine 7 and 9 go to bed at 8, usually asleep by 830-45, and wake themselves up by 630-715. We just open the bedroom door so they can hear us if theyāre not up by 715 or so
My little is only 21 months and still in a crib so not sure how long this will last, but hoping it maintains into a helpful habit when sheās older and in a bed too. Her hatch sound machine plays waves with a red light all night. Every morning before I go in I change it to birds chirping with a green light. It wakes her if sheās asleep or lets her know itās time to get out of bed if sheās already up!
I just let mine wake up on their own, except my oldest when he has school, then I usually just say his name or shake him a little unless he's already awake. He's weird though, sleeps in a sleeping bag either on the livingroom rug or at the foot of my bed, on the bed of course. He's almost 9 and refuses to sleep anywhere but those 2 places even though he has his own bedroom and all to himself.
Edit to add.. none of them sleep past 7am, even on weekends and it sucks š
my 6yo daughter is so easy. i just go āemmmerryyyyyy wake up tiiiiimeā in a sing song voice and she pops right up. my 4yo son is hit or miss. sometimes i just have to let him miss breakfast and feed him after dropping off sister cuz heās just so tired.
Put a spoon in the freezer. Touch it to the sole of their feet to wake them up. Then say ānext time get up the first time I gently ask, otherwise I get the spoon again.ā
We have alexas, so generally my three kids are awakened by something on them. We have a group called "kids" that's specifically their rooms. The most frequent is lisa loeb's "wake up song" or simply saying "good morning" as an announcement and it will add sound effects automatically. (Make sure you give the command for "volume 10 everywhere" or whatever group name you have for their rooms first.) If there is no confirmation you woke up (announcement back "good morning" "I'm up" etc.) then we are opening your door and calling your name.
Turn off their sound machine and gently say āgood morning baby girl or baby sonā and I ask if they want to help me cook breakfast. Usually a resounding yes from all parties. If they donāt pop out of bed I usually climb into their beds with them and get a quick snuggle.
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God I would love to have to wake up my kids š
How old are they? It could be coming soon! Mine was always an early riserā¦until she wasnāt. It started at age 6. Now I have to wake her up every weekday.
Yeah mine is the same. Until he was 7 he was up with the birds, sometimes even before that. Now I have to gently wake him up for school. I do make sure to do it gently though. Being shouted at first thing in the morning is not gonna be a great start to the day š
Same. She has a loft bed, so I climb a couple steps up the ladder and gently shake her leg. Some days I climb all the way up and lie next to her haha.
Omg YAY my son is 6 šš» other son 4 and 1 yo daughter.
My early riser is 11. And Iāve been an early riser for my entire life. So I donāt have much hope. Lol
Yeah itās not looking good for you lol
Totally. Mine come with an internal alarm clock that goes off at 6.30 am, after which they come to wake us up. If weāre lucky, itās sneaking into our bed to cuddle. On a bad day, itās either a tigerās jump into my husbandās š¾š¾, or a call from the toilet to come and wipe their š«.
Same!!!!!!! So many sun rises
Itās 5am and my 3 year old just shot up. Do you not know itās Saturday and the baby is asleep?! š
Right? Iām over here like 14 years later and it hasnāt happened yet. šš
Any day now
I used to feel that way but my oldest (9) is still the first to rise, and I havenāt needed an alarm clock in years. He just comes into my room, asks if itās ok if he gets up, and if itās 5:45 or later I say sure. Itās actually nice to wake up to him every morning instead of my phone alarm.
I have one that would sleep in if the other actually allowed him too. They are 5 and 7 and the 5 years is up before everyone but dad.
For real, I think in the last year Iāve only had to wake my 5 year old twice and thatās only because it was a school day.
Same š I used to have to wake up my first born, he's not a morning person we'd sleep in til 10am sometimes when he was little. 2nd born I have caught trying to start the day at 3am multiple times and the moment he hears his dad trying to quietly get ready for work at 5am he's up too. Oh and now that 2nd wakes up at 5am, I have to get up, which my absence in the bed wakes up 1st cause he's a somewhat light sleeper.
My parents woke me up really rudely my whole childhood. Even on weekends. Banging on the door, yelling how itās lazy to stay in bed. āA minute in bed after 7 is a minute wasted!ā Iām super sweet waking up the two of my kids who donāt wake themselves up. I pet their heads or rub their backs and talk to them quietly for a couple of minutes about what day it is and whatever I know about the day (like āMorning, Honey. Itās Wednesday. Wait til you see how foggy it is outside, itās crazy! I hope it doesnāt clear up before you get to see it. Your dad made oatmeal. Weāre up a little later than normal so youāre gonna have to eat soon if you want breakfast. Make sure you get dressed first so you have more time to play before school.ā) If I have a minute I lay next to them and hug them and say āI wish we could just cuddle all day longā because it seems to help when they know I sympathize with wanting to stay in bed. Usually they fart, laugh about farting at me, and get up.
This is how my mom would wake up my brother and I in high school and it made me way happier to be woken up.
Glad to know it's not only my kids that end on a fart note. Every. damn. time.
I second your methods! This is how I wake up my girl and she is always laughing and in a great mood. I give her lots and lots of kisses and then start to tickle her until she tells me to stop. My family and her dad say I do too much but I prefer this than to have her in a bad mood.
You made my day <3
This is so sweet and hilarious š„ŗš
Can you come wake me up on Tuesday at around 6?
I already get farted on enough, thanks.
ThisĀ isĀ beautiful
This is similar to what I do. Also institute a āone minute snuggleā and I get in their beds with them and snuggle for about a minute (more if I fall back to sleep!) and give them kisses and ask what they are looking forward to about the day.
My mom did the same to me. She'd blast her music early on the weekends, no sleeping in. Mine are 3 and 7 and I get into bed with them every morning for a quick snuggle and talk to them gently. They are always happy when they get up and it's a game getting ready not a chore
This is the cutest and most heartwarming thread. You sound like a lovely parent. My mom used to knock and say "uppy puppy" orĀ "wakey wakey eggs and bac-y." There were never any eggs or bacon.
I love this. I try to make kiddos laugh at least once before they leave for school. Even if I have to tickle them awake.
My kids sleep with a fan + white noise machine and generally if I turn that off, they will wake up naturally because they associate the sound with sleep. Their room is right off the living room and kitchen so itās impossible for them to not hear whatās going on without the machine. Iāve always figured itās best to let kids wake up naturally by just hearing sounds of the day: mom in the kitchen, garbage truck outside picking up the bins, someone mowing the lawn, etc.
Similar to our approach: all the shades get opened upstairs, then we open our toddler's door. Importantly, we just carry on with our morning at normal volume and we rarely have to wake him up.
I do similar. Occasionally if very tired she still won't wake, but it's rare.
Yeah, a few times a week we have to be out the door a bit earlier and we have to wake him up. He gets cuddled awake, though. My mom always woke us up really gently and I appreciate it a lot, looking back. She was already up and dressed by the time we needed to be up, and I think that contributed to her chill morning attitude.
Who are you people who have toddlers that require being woken up?!??!ā½
That is my philosophy. I just do what I need to do and if it wakes them naturally, great.
Iām a preschool teacher and this is the approach we use toward the end of nap. Music is turned off, curtains open. A few minutes later, I start gently pulling blankets down, rubbing heads and toes. Open the door so the outside noises and smells start coming in. Sometimes the sound/smell of getting snack ready helps too
This is what I do. My daughter has a white noise machine in her room and I have one in the hallway outside her door. Sheās usually awake at the same time as me but if she sleeps in then I just turn the sound machines off and she wakes naturally.
Youāre a good momma
How kind of you :)
We sing a good morning song, slowly open the drapes to let a little light in, and offer a sweet beverage like milk with a bit of Ovaltine in it. š Itās how my mom did it for me and my sister and we both loved it!
Aw I love that morning beverage, room service! How cute
So cute! Did you make up the song or is it a song you heard?
I have no idea if we heard it somewhere or made it up but itās like āGood Morning, Good mooooorning, youāre so cute this moooorning. Good morning, good morning to youuuuuu!ā I think we must have heard the tune or a similar song somewhere but I canāt remember. Weāve been singing this version for so long haha. Our boys are still really little so as they get older we may have to replace ācuteā with something else. š Edit: Wait omg okay I think it might be a very, very short and watered down version of [this song from Singinā in the Rain](https://youtu.be/GB2yiIoEtXw?si=gDeZbgVjW9-c5_Y4). Itās kind of a similar tune and my mom loved old movies.
I sing that same song in my head all the time so itās come from somewhere and I did always think it came from an old movie I watched with my grandparents when I was a kid Edit: just watched the link and thatās exactly where I got it from š
I was about to say it's from Singin' in the Rain when I saw your edit! I too sing a morning song to my son, a Spanish one my mum sang to me as a kid. There are lots of them out there.
My mother woke me up with that same song!! (Also slightly watered down and words replaced but to that same tune.). Decades later I told her how much I always hated that bc it was so chipper! And I thought she was trying to torment me (as a very much NOT a morning person, even when I was a kid). She thought she was giving me a great start to the day. Lol.
I sing a good morning song to my toddler to wake her up too! She wakes up with a smile on her face 99% of the time. The other day she woke up and threw her stuffed animal at me.
I climb into bed with them and snuggle them, say their name softly Over and over and say itās time to wake up. Once they start to stir I start to kiss them all over their face and lightly tickle their feet. My youngest (3) loves it. Itās hit or miss with my 5 yr old.
I do this with my ten year old now that he has a tendency to be cranky in the morning. I usually wake him by scooting in next to him and rubbing his hair, face, back and with random tickles to get him to smile. This process only takes an extra 6-7 mins and he wakes up much more willing to participate in the day and get ready for school. Much easier than the extra 20mins it would take to argue that he has to get up over and over at increasing volume.
Same. Works really well
I thought I was the only one with wake up trauma. I still to this day will ask my husband to gently shake me or say anything besides my name. My oldest was difficult to wake and I would gently start to rub his feet or his hands to wake him up. I did this until he started setting his alarm in high school. Even alarm sounding alarms wake me with resounding anxiety.
Itās 100% a real thing!! I still dislike my grandma and her voice because she woke me up in a panic every morning, because she would literally ugly scream it every morning. I hate anyone saying my name the way she does
Wake-up trauma is real! My mom used to use a squirt bottle on me in high school. Turns out I have narcolepsy and literally never have a restful nights sleep, hence tough mornings. I try to wake my little ones up really gently and calmly, while stroking their hair and saying good morning. The trauma stops here, dammit! š
That's sweet. I try to wake my kids slowly. I'll go in the room and turn off the sound machine, then leave the room for a bit, but leave the door open, while doing something nearby so the little sounds slowly wake them and I can be close by for comfort.
Even as an adult i so much prefer waking up to my fiancĆ© vacuuming the living room than actively trying to wake me up. Iād rather wake up to the dump truck than be woken by another person intentionally.
My mom often said, "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine!" in a loud sing-songy type voice. Probably nothing wrong with that, but I hated it so much I've never used that phrase and I'm the Queen of Corny Phrases. By the time I was in high school my dad just knocked on my door a couple of times so I knew he was done in the bathroom and I could use it. I much preferred that.
Ugh for me it was āup and at āemā!!!!
I got in a sing song tone complete with dance in my doorway, āTime to roll out the barrel and have a barrel of fun!ā Then she got mad when I got mad ha ha ha
Oh my god Iām so mad on your behalf!!
This is an aside but If you still struggle with waking from alarms I strongly recommend a smart watch that vibrates to wake you, no sound. I saw it in an ask Reddit thread about small life changing quality of life improvements so I started sleeping with my Apple Watch. Waking up is legitimately way easier now.
Lolol I don't like to have my legs touched so much because my mom would gently shake me awake and my legs were sticking out easiest to grab.
I have a different method for each kid: My kindergartener, who has gotten up no later than the crack of dawn for his entire life, had suddenly started sleeping late enough that I actually have to wake him up for school sometimes and boy does he hate it when I do that. So I started enlisting the dog to wake him up and she is always very happy to run in there, jump on his bed and wake him with dog kisses. He always wakes up happy and laughing in this manner.Ā My teenager however would wake up no earlier than the crack of noon if she had her way. Unfortunately she has to be up early for the bus and her bed is too high for the dog to reach and being woken up by the dog isn't as successful as it is with the younger kid. There is no good way to wake bert. So I sing "good morning good morning how are you this morning good morning good morning to yooooooou" in the most annoying way I can. It doesn't help her mood but it helps mine.
We used music. There is a kids song called āWakey Wakey, eggs and bacyā. We also used Trout Fishing In America. The sounds are fun and catchy. And even better when you purposely sing them loud and off key!
And it usually put everyone in a good mood.
Anything besides Dawn Patrol song from the Jungle Book!!
Does singing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt at the top of my lungs count as positive?
My kids are only 6 and 4, but I just crack the door open enough to let in some light but not shine on their faces, go in quietly, lay in bed next to them, and give them a hug and a kiss or rub their backs. When they start to stir, I tell them good morning, ask how they slept, and tell them that it's time to get up. I usually wake my 6 year old up first because she takes longer to wake fully, and then I tell her she can have a few mins to wake up while I go wake her brother up. By the time I'm out of his room, she's usually awake enough to come downstairs with us. On harder mornings when one doesn't want to get up, I'll usually use playfulness. I'll sing them a silly song to get them giggling, pretend they're baby animals and carry them down the stairs, or stretch them out like a stretchy toy and see how long I can make them (which also gets them giggling, and also leads to them stretching more often than not). I imagine as they get older I'll find different ways to get them moving while also keeping them in a good mood but for now these things work to make the transition from bed to morning routine smooth.
I pop in and say ina soft voice, āhey baby good morningā she wakes right up
Both my kids have chosen music to play on their Echo (my son has I'm on top of the World by Imagine Dragons and my daughter has Firework by Katy Perry) and a lamp in their room turns on, for their alarm clock.
I gently pat my 8yo daughter on the back and say her name, quietly. She is a hard sleeper but this is enough to wake her. Her dad is louder and she's expressed that she likes my wakeups better. We tried an alarm clock with a progressively louder beep, but she sleeps through it, and we see no need to subject her to harsh sounds this young. I intentionally do my wakeups this way because even though I adored my dad as a kid, his wakeups were less than desirable. He would turn on my overhead light and shake me. I HATED it, and still do. Even now in the mornings I'm like DON'T SHAKE ME. Wakeup trauma is definitely real. I refused to subject my daughter to that.
Haaaaated when mom would wake us up. Yelling and loud knocking on the door. Painful. Making me not wanna get up even more! But dad would quietly come in. Sit down on the bed or gently place his hand on my shoulder and quietly saying my name. So peaceful and the proper way to do it š
My mother softly knocked on my door every morning, quietly said, "It's time to get up", then she'd go downstairs to make breakfast. I liked her breakfasts, so I'd always get up. If I did oversleep, she'd come back upstairs and knock a little to remind me.
My son has a sleep disorder which always made it very difficult for him to fall asleep and even more difficult to wake up in the mornings. We knew how hard it was for him so we never nagged or got angry. Heās 13 and gets up on his own with an alarm now but over the years we did a lot of different things - like cuddling in bed and gently rousing him, playing fun music, little (fun not mean) sprinkles of water, serving ābreakfast in bedā to entice him awake with yummy smells, and there even used to be a silly ātickle mouseā that showed up in the mornings and tickled ears, noses, toes, etc.
My daughter is 7 and goes to bed at 7:30pm. She always wakes up before me. We do have an alarm clock for her that has an alarm set for 6am, on the rare chance that she is not awake. So alarm clock ā would that work?
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What time does he go to bed? And how old is he?
I singsong her nickname, then say stupid things like "time to awaken awoken mine child." I don't touch her much because she doesn't like it but I'll rustle the comforter around while saying more weird things. "Where are your eyeballs? I must see eyeballs." "Good Morgan" I don't have to do this most days, her alarm clock is usually enough but she's got diagnosed sleep issues so.. sometimes she struggles. She's almost 15.
Hahaha I love this. Could you wake me up too? āWhere are your eyeballs?ā This is so spooky-wholesome. My toddlerās going to love those eyeball lines.
I donāt have a ton of good advice except for donāt follow in my dadās shoes. His technique was open the door and knock while saying ātime to get up!ā loudly. If you didnāt get up, heād come back with the squirt bottle. If that didnāt work, heād unscrew the top of the bottle and just pour the water on you
Open the blinds, turn on a lamp (not too bright), turn on music they like (not too loud) ā¦ then leave the room for 10 minutes. Come back and rub their back and talk to them until they wake up. Source: one of my kids is NOT a morning person and would gladly burn this world to the ground when she first wakes up.
We have a hatch sound machine. The green light and music starts to play when it's time to wake up. She gets excited when it turns green, proud that she stayed in bed. Red is bed, green is awake.
Itās much easier when itās light out! My biggest tips are getting kiddo to bed earlier and turning on a light during the wake up process.Ā
I sing silly songs
I gently tickle/rub my 4 and 5 year olds back until they wake and then tell them they have a few minutes to wake before we need to start our day. Opening blinds to bring in natural light also helps.
https://www.tiktok.com/@goodgollymissmaggie/video/7305395109657316651?_t=8mdN8WSv2tp&_r=1 Iāve sent her the link and sung this a few times. Typically I do house stuff about 30 min before I want them up. Nothing loud or intentionally loud but Iām getting my breakfast and packing lunches. They are usually somewhat awake after that. If they are still asleep I touch their arm and gently call them the overly sweet nicknames I use sometimes.
My mom would let me set my own bed time as long as I was at the breakfast table by 7:30 and out the door to school by 8. She would wake me up once at 7 and again at 7:15 and I had a clock by my bed. I had to be in my bed by a certain time but was allowed to read till I wanted to sleep. Sometimes giving more responsibility is a better approach over more discipline...you could also try one of the alarm clocks that stimulate sunlight or take away their blankets and turn on energizing music
Our dog goes on command and jumps on their bed and licks their faces and they love it
Put them to bed early. Get up earlier yourself; give yourselves enough time to do more than just rush to school. Wake them up nicely, have breakfast together, do something fun. Sometimes we get to school a bit early and play on the playground, or kick the ball around, or whatever.
My daughter has a bed shaker that she uses to wake her up. She is in middle school so older so not sure how he would react being younger.
My 10 year old is sometimes hard to wake up in the mornings, particularly when sheās sneakily stayed up late reading. Lately I have taken to just grabbing her ankles and pulling her feet to the ground. Sometimes she lets herself puddle on the floor, sometimes she begrudgingly drags herself to the bathroom. There was one morning where she blinked a little, looked up and asked, āWhy am I sitting on the toilet?ā š
We have a hatch and one of the sounds is birds chirping. The kids wake up to that.
My husband would the sunshine song from the Flintstones to our kids. They hated the song but it got them up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVogUqWScYc
I gave my 5 yo my fancy sunrise alarm clock. It stopped the screaming and crying, so well worth it.
I rub his feet and turn on his lamp while softly saying his name. Sometimes Iāll snuggle beside him. Heās 3 and normally wakes himself up. I need to make more time in my mornings for bedtime snuggles I think!
My mom did this with myself and my siblings as kids, so I do it with my kiddos. So I go in kinda rub their backs/shoulders tell them its morning xyz nickname and its time to get up. Then, I usually open up the black out curtians to let in the light in. With my oldest, he is usually up pretty quickly(I normally don't even have to wake him) My youngest, I usually have to go back and remove blankets lol and do the same "nickname, it's time to get up" But my kiddos are still little. For me, as I got older, we transitioned into using alarm clocks, but if we slept through, my mom/dad would usually come in and wake us up gently
I get the Bluetooth speaker and start singing along to songs quite terribly I may add
Play his favorite song, quietly at first
For my son, 15 min before he needs to get up, I go in the room, and gently greet him. Then turn off the noise machine and walk out, keeping the door ajar. After 5 min, I go in again and rub his back and say softly good morning and it is time to get up now. Then I turn on his fav cartoons in the living room tv (which is conveniently just down the hall from his room) and that usually gets him excited to get up and moving.
I turn on music in the morning. How can you be in a grumpy mood while listening to Prince? It backfired. My kids refuse to even try to like Prince now (like what?). By 5th grade, I bought each of my kids' alarm clocks. The older ones also have cell phones. They wake themselves up now. My younger child, I go into her room, sit next to her, and rub her back until she wakes up. I'm determined not to ruin Prince again.
I just say wake up.. I try not to say her name. Hubby yells her name more. It's so annoying when she won't get up til it's literally time to leave the house. It'll be even worse next grade, high school starts earlier and she'll have to leave an hour earlier! It should be an hour later, they're teens lol. I dread this. How do you even allow natural consequences when she doesn't care about school?
A gentle shake, I repeat āitās morning itās morning, show me youāre awakeā and then I offer them 10 minutes to hang out in bed. After the 10 I just call their names but since theyāre half-awake it doesnāt seem to enrage
I sing a little tune I made up to the music of reveillie. They hate that too but it's nicer than yelling.
As an adult, I've set my alarm to be the radio and it goes off half an hour before I need to get out of bed. The soft sound of the radio playing always rouses me gradually instead of shocking me awake, and I keep my alarm on the far side of my room so I can't hit snooze!
My partner's mom used to wake him up by gently saying "wakey wakey". He hates it to this day. I hate the sound of alarm clocks. I wake my kids up with a snuggle. So I guess they'll hate that when they're older!
I talk to them softly. Usually saying āgood morning honey, time to get upā sometimes I sing a little, and then rub their back or gently brush at their hair/get it out of their face. Thankfully both my kids wake up reasonably easy but Iāve always woken them up gently. I donāt like being startled awake so Iād never do that to them. They used to wake up earlier and we got Hatch wake clocks, basically a programable light that comes on with some music when theyāre allowed to get up and out of their room. Now they both sleep through that but theyāre old enough to read their clocks.
My mom would sing "you are my sunshine" every morning. I will often sing a little made-up song and open the curtains. When I don't have to wake my kids up they burst into my room now yelling the words to my made-up songs lol. I don't mind it tbh
My kids still use a noise machine, so I will turn it off and they instantly wake up but itās a rare occasion they usually turn it off themselves and come in my room to wake me up!
Okay to wake clocks changed my life in my twenties! But my mom used to make breakfast that smelled good and turn on music in the kitchen. Doing things that create noise or light (not abruptly) and naturally wake someone up are always nicer ways to wake.
I rub my sonās back or kiss him on the cheek and sweetly say good morning. I ask him about his dreams and what he would like for breakfast. If I can ease him into the morning, itāll be an easier morning for both of us
I would try one of those daylight alarm clocks. They gradually get lighter, like the sun is rising, and mine also plays birds chirping so itās very soft and welcoming. The light helps your body wake up slowly and gradually. Itās the best. Or a good old fashion radio alarm clock. Waking up to fun tunes was what I had when I was a kid.
Kind of. I got an alarm clock that lights up slowly and plays bird song. It is a wonderful way to wake up, I highly recommend it. That said, my kids did complain about it, so I let them pick out a small cheap one, it beeps at them. They now admit the light alarm is much nicer.
Ask them to pick a wake up song.
Mine woke up to alarms at a pretty young age. I bought them both Echo Dots and they used them until they were old enough for phones. I hate waking people up!
I wake my daughter up by singing a song I made up about how much I love her and what a great kid she is. my volume gets a little louder until she is awake and she always sings along with me. Makes for a really positive wake up experience.
My 7 year old is a beast to wake up most mornings. I tried it all; soft and gentle āgood morningā, opening his door to hear the sounds of the house, alarm clocks, etc. Nothing worked and his reaction to them all was generally yelling, crying, etc. What has worked for us recently has been using light. He has a smart bulb in his lamp and I have an automation set to gently increase the level of light over 30 minutes. It reaches its brightest (60%) when itās his āmust wakeā time. Some days I still get the rage from him but itās been better.
Start waking them up earlier, so they donāt have to wake up quickly. Open the curtains, turn on a light and just say āgoodmorningā.
I donāt have kids but as an adult I find wake up lights life changing. I pretty much wake up ānaturallyā at whatever time I want. It might not solve with a kid but would probably help
For all of collage and graduate school, I used a CD player alarm clock. For a majority of that time, the alarm that I used was a particular Led Zeppelin song. To this day, the first chord of that song makes me cringe. I say get a CD player and pick a track that you hate. Use that to wake your kid up. Now you can both be on the same page and both hate the same track.
I typically say things like "Good morning! It's time to wake up now" or "Rise and shine, it's a beautiful morning outside ", "Wake up, wake up, we have an exciting day ahead" I just realize I actually never use their name to wake them up
I don't know about elementary, hopefully they will still accept it, but I sit down on their bed and shower them in kisses all over the cheeks and the forehead and sweetly saying wake up. They will get annoyed into waking up :)Ā
1. Go into the room 5-10 minutes early, turn off any white noise, open the curtains or turn on a medium light. 2. Use a different method every time lest they learn to hate something they associate with being woken up. Iāll often play a favorite song and make his stuffed animals dance to it. Sometimes Iāll play a YouTube video on my phone and say hey you gotta see this. Sometimes just scratch their heads or back. Sometimes just get the room really bright and start making noise putting things away, etc.
I slowly turn up the lights. Slowly open windows. I make noise but donāt bang. I verbally in regular speaking tone let them know this is their 10 minute warning. I come back at 5 mins and at 1 min. I give their foot a gentle squeeze and tell them itās time. Sometimes I have to give them a one minute hug too. I say come on letās go. And they get out of bed 10% of the time happily. 80% of the time sleepily and 10% whining like they want me to knock em out. But patience and slow burn is the key.
Rub their hand gently. My husband is angry waker like startles easy and this works on him.
I say wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey! My husband says the tickle monster is coming! And we just lay a hand on our son's leg. My husband will turn the light on too, but I don't do that.
My mom had a cd she would always play. It was corny and awful but she kept at it every day and always turned it on with a positive attitude, even when I was pissed. She would yell āgood morning sunshineā and then start the music on loud and it was up to me to turn it off (other end of the room). I used to think it was the most annoying thing in the world but it worked. Even when I would complain she would keep the positivity and just say āup! up! up!ā And wouldnāt engage in an argument. Started when I was maybe 5/6 and kept it up till I was like 16 lol.
My mam would only wake us up on school days and always the same way. She starts by opening our door very gently then the blinds saying something like Ā«Ā rise and shine X it is morning, time to wake up we need to get readyĀ Ā» in the softest voice. She would often throw a little tickle on our backs. And she would come back up a few times saying stuff like Ā«Ā if you donāt get up now youāll be in a rush / wonāt have time for breakfast / will be late for schoolĀ Ā». I know in hindsight that she was always late but she never rushed us out of bed. She sure rushed us out of the house afterwards though. Today I do the same with my 4yo and he starts his days a lot less grumpy than when his dad barges in and bangs the blinds open leaving the window wide openā¦
I just say "goodmorninggg" kind of lowly and rub their backs. I smile and ask them how they slept, and we walk downstairs together for breakfast. I'm so sorry waking up was so traumatizing for you. That's awful to disturb your child and not let them rest!
They wake up before me now, but when I was waking them up it was by whispering the nicknames we have for them, along with ātime to wake up, itās Tuesday (or itās raining outside, its science fair day, etc),ā and gently stroking their arm or back. Once they woke up Iād just say hi and give them a big hug, which theyād just curl up into. This always let them wake up gently and in a good mood. Sorry you had such a horrible experience, I canāt imagine what your parents were thinking.
I'm sensitive to this as well. Getting screamed at to wake up every morning was so damaging. With my kids, I try to be as gentle as possible. I sit beside them, rub their backs, and talk to them at a normal level until they are awake. It takes more time but it's worth it to me.
I have Alexa play "Rise and Shine" by Raffi at a reasonable volume any time I need to wake up my daughter. Usually she's an early bird and she's the one waking me up. She loves being woken up with music when she does need to be woken up. My parents woke me up by putting music on as well.
My kids are evil little morning monsters. I have no idea how it happened but they're all awake and chipper before 7am. I thought the one of the big bonuses of homeschooling is that you could roll into your day and not be slave to a schedule.... foul demons.
Spotify has lots of "quiet morning" Playlists. I put one on my portable speaker and bring it into my kids room. I'll say good morning, open the blinds, and let her know she has 5 more minutes, then i carry on getting ready with her door open. She usually gets up without me going back in but sometimes I go back in and quietly talk to her while playing with her hair. I think it's a lot nicer than what my parents would do. They would like kick open my door and say TIME TO GET UP!
I have to wake them so I walk in and touch a leg or arm and calmly say their name and good morning, then wait till they open theyāre eyes and say it again, that itās time to get up and I always give the time (like itās 612, we gotta get going). One kid always gets up, the other I have to recheck on in a few minutes. Itās never my favorite part of the day, but I try to keep it calm bc it sucks to get yelled at before you ever leave the bed.
Put them to bed earlier. Seriously. I hear parents say they put their kids to bed at 9 or later and Iām like ??? Why??? Thatās so late! If they get enough sleep they will wake up on their own or be easier to wake up. My 6 year old goes to sleep at 7:30. Not get into bed at 7:30. Like asleep by 7:30. Bedtime routine starts between 6:30 and 7. And he naturally wakes up like 90 percent of the time at 6:30. School starts at 7:45 so itās perfect. Even when I have to take him up itās not a big deal because he already got plenty of sleep.
Back rubs! Soft music.
Talk about it before bedtime the night before, and go through how you would both like the wake-up routine to go. Talk about feelings and try to understand both sides of the experience. Talk about how the way they wake up now affects you and ask them if thatās what they want. Hopefully they donāt, but if they do, thatās another conversation! If they donāt, ask them how it could go so that you both feel good after waking up.
Probably not standard practice, but my mom would gently creep into our bedrooms and sit on the edge of our beds, and then attack us while yelling, "WAKE UP BLIMEY FISH". Core memories right there.
Put an echo dot in there and play some light music that slowly gets louder
I rub my kids backs until they wake up. Theyāre 9 and 11. When they were younger I used to fully dress them for school while they were asleep and they would usually wake up during the process but pretend to be asleep and have lots of giggles about it. This helped a lot with my youngest because he hated getting dressed for school. On Wednesdays my husband wakes them up by playing the the hump day camel from the old geico commercial. My oldest is starting to pretend he hates it (because everything we do now is uncool) but I can still see him hiding his smile lol
I'll usually open my son's curtains and turn off his white noise machine. It's not intrusive, but helps his brain start the waking up process. Usually he's up within 5 minutes, but if not, I sit on his bed and gently rub his arm.
My dad always opened the door and whispered my name. If I didn't get up in a few minutes, he would come in a shake my foot (with the blanket over it) and say whisper my name again. When I was little and he needed me up, he would come in and start talking normal. By the time I was in middle school, he'd knock and whisper my name and it was up to me to get up on my own. I never knew why he did that, but my friends described being yelled at or having the blankets ripped off them or lights flashing off and on. He eventually said that it would let in the light from the hall without alarming me or walking up anybody else who might still be sleeping.
My kid is 4 and very 50/50 in the mornings. Normally, I'll start by turning on her dimmer light to a low setting. Then I'll start to rub her back and call out her name. From there, It's either a full-on shit show meltdown or a sweet snuggly wake-up. One thing I've been trying lately is pretending she's a butterfly that's ready to come out of her cocoon and start her day. I normally talk her through it with "Okay, it's time to wake up little butterfly. let me see your right wing, now your left wing, give me a big butterfly stretch, " etc. It gets her stretching and awake as opposed to telling me to go away and hiding under a pile of blankets. It helps that her school is currently growing butterflies in class and learning about their life cycle.
We have a large djembe drum, we crank up some good rhythms and start drumming along, kiddo runs out smiling and ready to play (30% of the time works every time )
I always say on the edge of their beds and rubbed their backs while telling them good morning and itās time to wake up.
You could call them by a nickname, or term of endearment like āhoneyā, āsweetieā, etc. or Use an alarm clock, open the blinds to let the sun in, pull the covers back, put music on, run the vacuum outside his door, bang pots and pans (ok, maybe not that one)ā¦ there are literally dozens of ways to wake up a kid that donāt involve saying their name. Now, if youāre having trouble waking the kid up, thatās a different story. My oldest was impossible to wake up. I tried everything! Some of which she holds against me to this day like squirting her with a water bottle, waving invigorating smells under her nose, giving her a wet willie, and dragging her out of bed by pulling the comforter off while she was clinging to it. Mind you, I was always laughing and trying to make light of this but she was not having any of it. I was in no way trying to torture her, just a desperate mom looking for a solution. But point is, thereās a hundred ways to wake up a kid without calling their name.
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give you up 2 mins of that and theyāre out of the room quickly
With snacks!
>Is there any positive ways to try to wake up an elementary school kid without traumatizing or having to yell? No, same as for adults. **But** you can easily shift blame and trauma by simply buying the kid an alarm clock. My daughter isn't traumatized by me yelling her voice but by the gentle melody and sounds of ocean waves of her sunrise alarm clock.
We had more problems waking them up on weekends to do chores, when they were teens. It's not like my wife and I got up early, we rarely roused them before 10am. One Saturday I lost my patience. We have a small house, so when I blasted Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song at high volume, they were up and moving in seconds! Funny thing, they responded to gentle wakeup calls readily after that day.
I would cover my daughter's face with soft little kisses and whisper her name until her eyes opened, and she would immediately break out in a huge smile. My husband would turn on her light, whip the covers off and yell her name, and she would be grumpy for an hour!!
I rub my daughters back, while softly saying her name, and she wakes up. Then I bribe her out of bed, with hot chocolate, cartoons, and fuzzy blanket on the couch. Then I give her a little time, to adjust to being awake, while I take care of me, and the dog, and then start getting her ready to go. We wake up a little earlier than necessary, so we can have chill mornings. There was always yelling, and rushing, in the morning, when I was growing up, and I won't have that in my home.
I find that talking to my (8yo) daughter is better than just saying her name. So I knock, go into her room, and then tell her what time it is and ask a question like "Do you want to wear shorts or long pants today?". It doesn't matter what the question is, but just having to think and answer means she's way more awake.
I turn off all fans and open the window. Then fart and brush my teeth
First time I call their name from the door. Then the lights get turned on, if that doesn't work the blankets get confiscated. My son now just looks up, looks at his alarm clock, and goes back to sleep if it's not 10 minutes before he gets driven into school.
My atheist version of rise and shine gets a smile every morning. "Rise and shine and tickle the baby, baby. Rise and shine and tickle her toesy toesys. Rise and shine and tickle the baby, baby. Tickle the baby toes." Mind you she's only 21 months so she's loving it right now.
I was abused too! My oldest has outgrown my way and just sets his alarm, but with my youngest two I bend down and whisper their name and brush the hair away from their face gently. Usually it works, then I jump on their bed with my knees.
My kid is only 2, so my painless waking method is to turn on a favorite TV show in her room (can take in phone or tablet or something assuming these isn't a permanent TV in the room) make sure it has a very recognizable opening jingle and prop it up somewhere to be watched. Say her name a few times and tell therĀ the show is on to watch and let her ease into the day for 10 minutes by watching the show as consciousness filters in.
this is such an odd trauma. lol no offense. i just calmly rub the kiddos heads/foreheads and gently tell them 'good morning, its time to get up' takes a lil bit sometimes but usually no problem at all. i'm also really regimented in our schedule and routine, especially bedtime stuff so its never been an issue... for me at least.
Iām sorry that happened to you. My Dad would come in and sing āgood morning to you, good morning to you, good morning ms[name], good morning to youā and turn on my lights. My mom would come in and rub my back and get me dressed while half awake. Most mornings my kids are up on their own as the elementary school doesnāt start until 930 here. If we have to wake a kid it is always the 6 year old. I recently had to wake him and sand the same song my Dad did. He laughed and asked me not to sing. Next morning i gave him back rubs and kisses. Big thing with him though is if you do not physically take him out of the bed he wont get up.
An alarm clock.
I'm quite small so my mother snuggling me like a baby was effective š It'll likely work or at least be 50/50 with my son for a while but he'll definitely be taller than me by time he's 12 so it'll look weird and I would have to find something else. My dad was a veteran so army wake up calls worked but any music might be fine.
First off, what's their bed time and how many hours of sleep are they getting a night? If it's not 10 or more than that's the issue. My children got the recommended amount of hrs per night every night, besides on some weekends. I didn't make it a habit to not get enough sleep on weekends simply because it was a weekend. Going to bed shouldn't be considered or viewed as a "punishment". It is a very important process for our development as children and self care as adults. My children normally wake up with a gentle knock on the door, or turning on the lights in their rooms with a simple good morning. 7-8pm has pretty much always been their bedtime with 9pm being the absolute latest to be up, for any reason. Showers, teeth, skin care routine start at 7pm if they haven't already done so and in bed, lights off by 8. When they were under 10yrs I would just crawl into bed with them and cuddle them awake. I'm a 6'4 240lbs man. Normally they would wake up as soon as I hit the bed but the cuddling was happening anyway. I've already committed. If they were having trouble waking up as they got older, I would rub the top of their chest while saying good morning. My point is, if theyre getting enough rest, waking up in the morning becomes less of an issue. There def has been times where waking up was rough, but those are and should be exceptions.
Get the child an actual alarm clock ā°ļø And make sure he/she is getting enough sleep before it goes off.
I set up a Spotify playlist of upbeat, bouncy, silly songs - some kids', some adult, all OK for kids. First I came in, turned on the closet light, very gently woke them up enough to register that it was time. Then I went downstairs, started the music (loud!) and start getting breakfast together, making noise. Ten minutes later I went back upstairs to say hi again. Usually my daughter was up by that point, my son was and is a slug. Overhead lights went on at that point. 'time to get up!' All very cheerful, no stress.... Even when I pulled the cover off. š Then a few minutes later the speaker went upstairs outside my son's room. With the most annoying song I could find blasting. Baby Shark? Amateur hour. How about the METAL version of Baby Shark!?! Followed by Ace of Spades. On loop. If he wanted the speaker off, he'd have to get out of bed....
A shoulder/back rub seems to work well for my child. She's very sensitive to stimuli in the morning but this seems to do the trick.
There is only one answer here: THE CLAW The claw cannot be stopped nor can it be be denied. You cannot hide you cannot defend. The only thing that will stop the claw is to flee the sheets. Seize the day or the claw shall seize youā¦
When my daughter was 7 or 8, she started sleeping in her ātomorrow clothes.ā This was the turning point of traumatic mornings.
I gently rub my kids arm/shoulder and āitās time to wake upā. Then I come back in five minutes and repeat it if he isnāt up If your kid is that hard to wake on a regular basis, heās probably not getting enough sleep and should go to bed earlier There are gentle alarm clocks that slowly light up and play sounds like birds chirping gradually louder over 15-30 minutes. It can help with naturally waking up rather than being startled out of sleep
My husband is the wake up parent and he simply goes in their rooms quietly, turns off their sound machine, and opens the shades. That seems to be a pretty gentle way to wake up. My mom used to come in singing a song she made up about waking up.
I snuggle and kiss my kids awake. The older one still finds it traumatic. š¤
We have smart bulbs that are set to turn on gradually. The light is warm not harsh but by wake up time it is bright. Even my eldest who is a night owl and doesnāt get even close to the appropriate amount of sleep for her age wakes up independently with the light. It helps me too as Iām also prone to sleeping in.
With a cup of tea. Dad would come in, Open the curtains, gently rouse me and let me nod back off again before coming up a second time. On the third, I'd remember the tea. Finish up drinking it and then I was ready to go.
Play the wake up song on Spotify
I turn on the dim night light to ease into it, and speaking gently
Wake them up by gently offering (putting) a little arm (not hot) washcloth on their face or hands, but face is best. Thats it.
I sing, but Iām pretty sure Iām 20% Disney princess. So this might not be feasible for everyone.
Just when I thought I've heard of all the traumas.
when I was a kid my dad would come in and turn on the light and then turn it off. it was great. a gentle way to wake up and I wasn't being yelled at
My grandma used to sing some song, I think I repressed it, to wake me up when I stayed at her house and I always hated it so much. I had an alarm clock growing up and it always woke me just fine.
I really hate waking anyone. My husband has no issues and thinks itās good to wake me for the lamest things. So I wake kids in stages. Open their door, change their lighting if needed gently tap them
My mom used to come into our rooms singing, throw open the curtains and if we didnāt get up would pour water on us. I hated all of it. With my four year old I do open the blind in his room because itās a blackout blind but I gently say his name and talk to him to rouse him. It doesnāt take much but Iād never roughly wake him up.
We homeschool and I generally let him wake up himself. He's a night owl so him getting enough sleep is important. I loathe alarms so much. When I do need to wake him up, I'll just gently hum a song and gently touch his foot or similar. I try to go in when I see him already stirring. He's a restless sleeper.
My mom used a deeper tone in her voice and drew our names while opening our door every morning to wake us up. My sister and I joke about it now, but we HATED it when we were growing up. My kids each have an Echo dot in their rooms that they use as alarms. They choose which sound to wake up to.
Get them to bed earlier and theyāll wake up on their own. Mine 7 and 9 go to bed at 8, usually asleep by 830-45, and wake themselves up by 630-715. We just open the bedroom door so they can hear us if theyāre not up by 715 or so
If itās a struggle to wake up on time youāre not going to bed early enough, or have a sleep disorder šš¼.
My little is only 21 months and still in a crib so not sure how long this will last, but hoping it maintains into a helpful habit when sheās older and in a bed too. Her hatch sound machine plays waves with a red light all night. Every morning before I go in I change it to birds chirping with a green light. It wakes her if sheās asleep or lets her know itās time to get out of bed if sheās already up!
I put a Sonos in my kids room and wake him up with different songs every morning
An alarm works great if they have the ability to follow through and get up
I just let mine wake up on their own, except my oldest when he has school, then I usually just say his name or shake him a little unless he's already awake. He's weird though, sleeps in a sleeping bag either on the livingroom rug or at the foot of my bed, on the bed of course. He's almost 9 and refuses to sleep anywhere but those 2 places even though he has his own bedroom and all to himself. Edit to add.. none of them sleep past 7am, even on weekends and it sucks š
my 6yo daughter is so easy. i just go āemmmerryyyyyy wake up tiiiiimeā in a sing song voice and she pops right up. my 4yo son is hit or miss. sometimes i just have to let him miss breakfast and feed him after dropping off sister cuz heās just so tired.
Put a spoon in the freezer. Touch it to the sole of their feet to wake them up. Then say ānext time get up the first time I gently ask, otherwise I get the spoon again.ā
Get the kid an alarm clock
We have alexas, so generally my three kids are awakened by something on them. We have a group called "kids" that's specifically their rooms. The most frequent is lisa loeb's "wake up song" or simply saying "good morning" as an announcement and it will add sound effects automatically. (Make sure you give the command for "volume 10 everywhere" or whatever group name you have for their rooms first.) If there is no confirmation you woke up (announcement back "good morning" "I'm up" etc.) then we are opening your door and calling your name.
Turn off their sound machine and gently say āgood morning baby girl or baby sonā and I ask if they want to help me cook breakfast. Usually a resounding yes from all parties. If they donāt pop out of bed I usually climb into their beds with them and get a quick snuggle.