early riser

mishkanorman

I have 2 boys that share a bedroom, my eldest is 7 and always wakes up first - lately though its been around 5am and the whole house is suffering because of it,

our usual routine is the boys are allowed downstairs to watch tv and/or play with toys till im human enough to come get breakfast, my OH is up and around the house from 7am so if they get up at say half 6 they arent left to it for too long. With ds1 getting up so early though he is up and down the stairs collecting toys to play with, in and out the rooms to see the cats/go to the toilet/ get a drink etc etc and everyone is being woken up.

Bedtime is usually around 7pm but some nights stretches to 8pm, later nights dont seem to make a difference with what time he gets up.

We have tried to drum it into him that he doesnt come out of his room till 7am, they have an alarm clock so he knows what time it is. Ive now told him i will make a chart and if he is up before 7am he wont get ice cream for desert, and 3 strikes will be no Wii for the week (harsh i know but we are all walking zombies atm)

any (better) ideas ? his younger brother follows him downstairs as he doesnt like to be left on his own so some mornings they keep coming into us to whinge about petty arguments, if it was just that they woke up and played we would be quite happy

onlyroz

Keep up the bribery. I'd also say that 7 pm was a little early for a 7-year-old's bed time.

thorsoak

Do you have black-out curtains in the bedroom? And does he really know at what time it is acceptable to get up/wake up his brother? I know it is hard - been there, had the black rings under the eyes that go with it - but until you can instil in him that he DOES NOT get up/wake his brother/the whole household before a reasonable time - say 7am - then you have to get up to supervise him - after all he is only 7 years old and there have been far too many sad stories of house fires started by youngsters when mum/rest of the family are in bed - for you to leave him unsupervised for any length of time.

I know its hard - but you may have to get to bed earlier yourself for a whilte. Remember - the lighter mornings are coming and it will get worse before it gets better unless YOU are more proactive!

elsien

Is the clock just so he can see what time it is or do you set the alarm? My friend sets the alarm for her 7 year old, and he knows he has to stay in the room until it goes off.

chelle230

I don't have any advice as such, but my DS is the same, he's 5 years old and no matter what time you put him in bed, he's up by 6.30am.
I don't mind in the week as we have to get up anyway, but weekends I like a lie in, especially if I don't go to bed til late.
he has blackout blinds but makes no difference, some people are just early risers, he gets it from his dad!

he knows he's not allowed to go downstairs if I'm not up.

I put a drink and small box of cereal in his room, and he has a tv/playstation 2/toy cars and books in his room.

he's pretty good and will let us know he's awake, then goes off to keep himself amused for a couple of hours.

could you not put toys/games in their room, also a snack and drink so they're not up and down disturbing you? it's working wonders for me!

delain

We have a safety gate at the top of the stairs, only the adults are allowed to open it and they don't go downstairs until we do.

I've had to drum into DD1 that she is to stay in her room and read or play quietly and not wake her sisters.

jinky67

My DS was always up at 6am, he used to go downstairs and watch the Open University programmes :rotfl:

Counting_Pennies_2

The only thing I would say is while the reward thing is a brilliant idea, my concern would be it is being used in a negative form.

Strikes and you are out, no ice cream.

Instead of taking things away I would give something as a bonus so he has something to work towards.

Make it big for the first week. If he manages to stay in bed until 7am and not disturb everyone he gets the computer game he has always wanted, or a trip to the cinema at the weekend to see his favourite film. If he only manages it for a few of the days, he will be allowed to choose a favourite magazine in the shop.

Then the next week, make it the magazine if it is all the week, and a sweet treat in the shop if just part of it.

So it goes that he still gets a treat for a month of doing this, with a bigger one for the whole week and a smaller treat for part of the week, and each week it gets smaller, but still very much appreciated.

After a month he should be into a routine.

Fingers crossed.

hth

Nicki

chelle230 wrote: »

he's 5 years old .... and he has a tv/playstation 2/toy cars and books in his room.

:eek::eek::eek:

Who lets a 5 year old have unrestricted and unsupervised access to a TV and playstation?

pigpen

My 10 year old goes to bed at 7.. young growing children need masses of sleep or else they are tired, grumpy and it does affect their growth... so long as they go straight to sleep they are tired enough to need to be in bed at that time.

Do they have supper? Might he be waking because he is hungry?
Does a neighbour go to work at that time and is unknowingly waking him? Or milk delivery?
Can the cats get in his room? Are the walking on him and waking him?
Does the heating come on at that time? The boiler firing up is very noisy in the silence and the water gurgling through the radiators is also quite loud.
Does he initially wake because he needs the loo?
Is he kicking off the covers so is cold? .. sleepingbag?

It is still dark at 5 so I doubt the light is waking him.

Could he maybe have a dim light so he can read or a magnadoodle type thing to draw or a snack close by so he doesn't have to get up?

I found these phases tend to last a month or so and then they'd revert back to sleeping until later once they got used to whatever it was waking them. I'd get up make mine go back to bed growl at them about it being 2 or 3 in the morning and tell them they'd be late for school and the teachers would be cross and they would fall asleep in class and everyone would laugh at them.. maybe a bit mean, but it worked!.. or maybe I am just really scary when I've been woken at God-forsaken o'clock!

chelle230

Nicki wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek:

Who lets a 5 year old have unrestricted and unsupervised access to a TV and playstation?

he has it for less than an hour, he watches cbeebies and plays toystory, don't see a problem tbh.
I'm never asleep, just resting and can hear everything he's doing, he's in the room right next door.
the rest of the time he reads or plays cars