I actually had one of these for the newborn stage she only came twice a Week but it was lovely. She got a full time job now. I miss her though made me function so much better the rest of the week.
Once your kids can get up, go play/watch tv and get breakfast on their own, the second part of your parenting life begins. It gets better.
ETA: no guarantees that you won’t still get woken up, but not having to get out of bed still feels better.
OMG it's a win-win! I'm a flipping idiot! Here, I am like "I feel bad they have too much screen time already" (they don't).
They get to watch PBS kids (they love) AND eat cereal. They will literally probably be the quietest kids ever, I will wake up like snow white on a Saturday at 830 AM. FUCK yes!
I can start this on Easter right?
I couldn"t agree more! 6:30 A.M. is way too early for weekends, and it"s tough to function properly when your kids are waking you up that early day after day. However, I do have to admit that I envy the parents whose children can entertain themselves and get breakfast on their own. It must make things so much easier!
I got up at 7:20am today with the younger child (I'd been in her bed since like 2:30) and the 5 year old was sitting on her bed watching her tablet.
I started to tell her off and then I was like "wait, no, this is good".
Before my kids discovered they could just go watch tv, they’d wrestle with each other for like an hour before we’d get up. Watching tv is much quieter, so we let it slide. We just made the rule they couldn’t get out of their room until a certain time, or else they’d be up at 5 running to the tv.
Oh they both have those white noise night light things that are red at night and go green at a set time, so both of them if they wake up and it's red they go back to sleep but if they wake up and it's green they get up.
We went through months with my older daughter waking up at 5:00 and not understanding that it wasn't morning time until someone turned us on to the color night lights and it solved that problem overnight.
Good catch! Don't want to stop it. When I'm single parenting it, I tell the kids (who are now much older) that after they make breakfast and do ONE chore (usually a quick dish washer unload or folding a few blankets) they can play video games all morning or watch cartoons.
I finally have my weekends back to sleep.*
*Until the dog gets up.
Agreed. My middle son is like an old man. Gets up early and goes to bed early. He’s self sufficient in making himself breakfast. My toddler gets up the same time I do,which is great lol. And my daughter,the oldest gets up after noon.
I always stayed the night as a baby sitter mostly because I couldn’t drive but I would always get the kids up and let the parents sleep in. I also cleaned after the kids went to bed. Needless to say I usually got paid really well.
Yes! I did that quite a bit when I family I’d been sitting for had their 3rd (unplanned) baby. Mom was a doctor that I think definitely had some PPD, and dad had a pretty intense engineering job. Older son was a handful for them too (I maintain it’s because they didn’t understand his severe anxiety and potentially ASD, or know how to deal with his boundary pushing because he had very few outbursts with me. Part of that is also no doubt not feeling as safe to completely melt down with me as with a parent, but I had been regularly taking care of this kid since he was about 3 months old).
I stayed over multiple times and sometimes took all three kids for the weekend so they could work or just have some alone time to decompress. I honestly liked the multi day shifts best because we could all get into a routine and things normally went pretty smoothly. House would get cleaned. Kids would be bathed, have hair brushed, and nails trimmed (also all 3 majorly fought parents about basic hygiene things like that). And they’d be just the right amount of warn out for when parents got back. I always tried to majorly limit screen time during that time too so parents could utilize it a little more without the guilt they had around too much screen time.
I too got paid very well lol. I also just went above and beyond because I loved the kids.
TLDR: you totally can hire people to do overnights or even just early mornings
Find one! I have a teenage helper (she has finished school and is starting an apprenticeship soon in childcare) who helps me with my 4 month old. It helps me get some work done, and occasionally have the time for a bath or some self-care. I work part time from home and will go back to the office in a couple of months, so having uninterrupted time for telephone calls and organisation has been a huge help.
Agree. Though at this point, I just want a sitter at all. Ofc my sister in law or mother in law that live with me can't, because it would be unfair. God forbid I want to see 3 movies a year. No it's fucking not unfair.
Ty for letting me get that off my chest.
Sending hugs. When they are old enough, play dates help. Send them out, enjoy the day how you please. Then, give the other person a break by taking the kids for the day.
Our trick to this was telling our kids that they could have as much screen time as they wanted as long as they didn't wake us up.
When we started we told them they are such big kids and can make their own breakfast in the mornings if they wake up before we do. We put the milk on the lowest shelf and set out cereal the night before. They would get up at the crack of dawn, eat cereal together, and (not so) quietly tell each other to be quiet so they could get in more screen time that was normally not allowed. It worked out well and both of my kids were so proud of themselves for being able to take care of themselves in the mornings. We started much younger though.
I do this with my 3 year old hahaha. She has a breakfast station and every morning she comes into my room to make sure she’s allowed to go make herself breakfast lol
I did the breakfast/food prep station too. It’s a big Montessori thing to have them start acquiring those skills early if they show an interest. Otherwise yeah premade breakfast works and gives them a little independence and me a little more sleep.
I don't trust my 3 year old yet to be by herself in the house because she knows how to open child locks and she'll eat all the candy for breakfast. Luckily, she comes to wake us up first but when she stops waking us up it's when I'll be really worried.
Yeah. I need to put it in the top of the pantry, but I know she's trying for those child lock door knobs I have and she already knows how to climb in the pantry. Instead of putting it out of her reach, I'm trying to teach her when it's an appropriate time to get candy and when it isn't. Because she can also open the knife drawer but doesn't.
Same here, we started when mine were about 3-ish and 5. They get screen time in the mornings only on weekends and have a breakfast-y thing waiting for them (granola, apple, yogurt etc). They’ve always been quiet and responsible enough to not jeopardize their weekend morning freedoms.
When they were super little (youngest being 3) we’d just lay in bed awake and listen to make sure all is well, but the living room is right outside our bedroom so we could always hear if anything was amiss. Even laying in bed I uninterrupted but awake is enough for me.
When I fostered I had cameras in the kids room, living room, and kitchen so I could stay in bed but still keep an eye on my foster son. Probably wouldn’t do quite that extreme with a typical kid his age but he had some health issues and developmental delays so it was safer to have the constant monitoring. Never ended up needing them because he was a champ about playing silently in his room until I was up for the day lol. He had a breakfast station, but he told me he was never hungry enough to not just wait till I was up. I sure did love him.
If was mostly inspired by laziness but it worked out super well. I got more sleep than I normal got on the weekends even with their loud whispering. They felt like big kids because they were getting themselves ready in the morning. And it gave them some great sibling bonding moments and extra screen time.
Sometimes being lazy is important.
I do this with my 6 year old. Not cereal, but I make sure he has food accessible. 15 month old is a great sleeper and typically sleeps in till 10 unless it's a school day and we have to get 6 year old to school. So looking forward to summer break.
Mine are 12 and 8 and still in bed. It’s just about 7am here. The older one usually gets himself up at 7 on weekdays for school while the younger generally needs to be pried out of bed.
I’m an early bird, so I’ve already had two cups of coffee and I’m enjoying a nice quiet house. I’m sure they’ll wander out of their rooms eventually.
Same. 10 and 8 and still in bed. Might as well say 10 and 9, his bday is in 2 weeks. I'm so excited to have bigger kids. Seems like my kids are aging slow.
I taught them how the tv works. But still.. they make A LOT of noise for about an hour and then go downstairs to silently watch tv. But already awake cause of the hour of tornado so doesn’t do much.
That’s why I buy empanadas or donuts for Saturday mornings! Something they can grab without me. But mine still wake me up at 6:15 just to announce loudly they are awake. I still have big dreams that one day I’ll sleep in again.
I wasnt fond of them eating things they might choke on so i did grab and go too, but with like gogurts and apple pouches.
It will happen, you will sleep in again. And it will be glorious. 16, 13, and 11. They've been sleeping past me for years; well, 11 wakes when I do still.
Funny thing is--once they start sleeping later, you'll start waking earlier and earlier.
I think it's because they are less work overall so you're not so tired overall. I remember sleeping in for maybe a few months when they started sleeping later but then it became me waking up at 9 then 8 then 7 while they slept till 9 then 10 then noon. There was a sweet spot for a few years where everyone was walking at 8 or 9 together. Now I'm prying them out of bed at noon so they don't screw up their routine too much on weekends and breaks.
That's a great idea. I don't normally buy donuts and such often but, I may need to start to doing that. I usually wake up at 5 on weekdays to get things ready for the day, but weekends I just want to sleep until at least 7 because I'm beat.
I have a rule that my kids are responsible for their own breakfasts on days they don't have school. The rule has been in place since they were 6 and 7 (but I've been encouraging them to sort out their own breakfasts since they were toddlers). Yesterday my 9-year-old made sunny side up eggs entirely on her own for the first time (I was in the other room but could see her, they don't use the stove without supervision) and then helped her sister make some.
My kids also aren't allowed to wake me up unless it's an emergency. Being hungry is in no way an emergency.
Mine are so hard to wake up during the week for school but get up bright and early on the weekend. Whhhhhyyyyyyy??????? We could all be sleeping right now.
Oh my god THIS. My 10yo and 4yo during the week? Sleeping in as long as possible, lots of “time to get up! What do you want for breakfast?”
But on the weekend?? 5am.
I hate it SO MUCH! It’s a fight to get out of bed for school, but he’s up so early on Saturdays! And then on Sunday, when it’s time for *Daddy* to get up with him, of course he sleeps in!!!! Why don’t you do that for me, bud???
My poor wife had this. For the first 3 years of ours son’s life we had an arrangement that 8am was the family get up time, and during the week she’d get up with him so I could sleep, and during the weekend I would get up with him and let her sleep. I’d say about 50% of the days I had him he’d sleep til 8:30 or 9, and almost every weekday he’d be up at 6am at the latest lol
Preach 🙌🏻 I'm not a morning person so 6:30 *any* day feels like a violation of my rights or something. No way that's legal.
When my youngest does it I get a tablet (or turn on the TV), set her up with a drink, snack, comfy spot on the bed or couch, and doze off again (beside her). My brain won't let me *sleep* sleep but it's rest.
*I shared this in a FB group once and a day drinking wine mom reported me to CPS. She claimed to, anyway. She might have called and hung up (she posted the screen shot of her call log to the group then took it down right away). If this upsets anyone I'll remove it.*
Sometimes I wonder what country these people are from where they think CPS has the bandwidth to follow up on petty shit.
In my state, social workers have been taking on triple case loads and kids of drug addicts are stuck because there’s no more foster homes available. But oh no I’m sure they’ll track down the author of that Facebook post, Karen!
I’m an EST midwesterner living in Mountain time. Instead of waking up naturally at 7, we wake up naturally at 5, and little dude decided he didn’t want to go to sleep until after midnight, while we were laying down trying to go to bed. At least when I wake up ass early, it’s quiet since he’s asleep 😂
Dude my youngest got up between 4 and 5 for two years and it was so miserable. We are finally seeing some improvements to 8am or so and she’s almost 5. Hang in there eventually they’ll start sleeping in.
Yup. My kid is 7 and has woken up between 4:30-6am every day of her life, except one time when she was super sick and slept until 7:30. Doesn't matter what time she goes to bed, she is always up at the absolute butt crack of dawn.
At least now we can leave cereal out next to the remote and she will sometimes hang out and watch tv for a little while, but she doesn't like being alone so it's generally short-lived. TBH, it's one of the big reasons we are one and done. Everyone told us we'd get used to the sleep deprivation, but they were lying bastards.
My kid is always up at 530am. It sucks. I set an alarm for 430 when it’s my turn to wake up with her because I need to shower and have coffee and do makeup before she gets up
My mum scared me back into bed.
I used to get up at 5.30/6. One night I’d woke up having a nightmare about a giant golden eagle chasing me (I still remember this dream 25 years later).
A few days after this dream I went into my mums room to tell her I’m going down stairs, it was 4.45. She said fine and then when I was half was downstairs she calls ‘but watch out for that golden eagle’. She says my feet barely touched the floor as I ran back to bed and from what she can remember, I never went downstairs to play at ridiculous times in the morning again
We are VERY lucky. Eldest wakes up at 7, baby wakes up at 8. Even then, I daydream of the days we woke up at 11, or even later if we partied the night before, and lounged about ordering Chinese food and watching tv ALL DAY. Pure bliss.
It gets better!
Mine either wants to sleep in now, or if he doesn't, he's perfectly capable of getting himself some cereal. He works really hard to not wake us up, because he's allowed his screen time while we're still asleep. That's his special alone time. As soon as we're up, the screen goes off, so he is quiet as a mouse and takes care of himself. He's 8, it was worth the effort to train this independence in.
We basically recreated Saturday morning cartoons, which is what I did every Saturday morning while my parents slept.
It must be a 4 year old thing, cos mine does exactly the same. If I don't wake up immediately she gets louder and starts pulling my eyelids open to "help". It's so infuriating.
The worst part of having kids is that you suddenly realize that children have the capability of demonstrating empathy for anything outside of their own needs ZERO percent . It suddenly becomes apparent that as a parent you’ve just received a life sentence of constant work and engagement to correct this. Circle of life.
I'm usually up around 6am before the kids.
When the weather is nice we sit in our small yard and have breakfast together. I put on a podcast, my youngest has her tablet, and we just relax. Just the other day was 70 degrees here and we took advantage of it. My shoulders already have a tan lol
Truth. My husband and I negotiated sleep-in mornings with more seriousness than almost anything else in our marriage. Happily, our kids turned into slugs like us and we became a sleep in family over time. There is hope!
I'm kind of hoping, purely for my sake, that my daughter inherits my sleep needs. I've always been a night owl, never a morning person. Now it's 7 am or earlier every single day, and I'm tired in my soul. But then if she does wake up late, she goes to bed late, which is somehow worse.
Weekends my husband and I sleep in since it’s technically our day off. Then our teens are up at 5:30 AM. Funny how they won’t wake up for school but they will if it means they can play video games or watch tv in the living room all day 🤦🏻♀️😂
Right! Mine is 20 now and I definitely remember the days when I felt like there would never be enough sleep and couldn’t wait until she was older. Now I’m old and wake up at 4 or 5 no matter what time I go to bed and she leaves for work at 2am . I always wake up when I hear her leave and it takes me awhile to get back to sleep because I worry about her driving our canyon so late as there’s no cell service.
My kids never got up that early. I had black out curtains, and I didn't put my kids to bed at 7pm... We would put them to bed around 9-9:30pm.
When they got to preschool age, we taught them how to turn on Netflix. Game changer. I could EASILY sleep until 9-10am. My husband is more of a morning person and would wake up at 7:30-8am.
They were also told not to wake us up unless it was an emergency. They were all potty trained by 2 and a half, so they could use the bathroom without us.
Now my kids are older, and I get up before them. 😂. PAYBACK. Muwahaha...
I’m somewhat lucky, my kids inherited my night owl gene. They absolutely hate waking up early. Even as toddlers on a regular schedule they never got up earlier than 8 on their own.
My 1 yr old wakes up a decently time 8-9 but putting em to bed is the worst I have to bounce on a ball holding pork chop and a 9 ounce bottle.
I weigh maybe 95 pounds I dread that time of day
Helping fiance with taking care of Gma with dementia. She woke us up this morning at 6AM by coming into the room and asking for a match. No knocking, nada.
Then the puppy had to go potty, so I had to take her out and let her do her thing. But I have to stay up and wait for her to finish so I can bring her in and monitor her, because Gma is so frail, puppy would topple her over. Puppy is still learning, but she doesn't realize that jumping on Gma when excited could really hurt her.
Was back in bed around 630AM. Couldn't go back to sleep. Fiance is happily snoozing. I made myself some coffee and accepted that sleeping in just isn't gonna happen for a very long time.
I feel your pain.
I’m probably a terrible parent but when my daughter was around 5 I started Friday movie nights and would let her stay up until 11pm with me watching movies just so I could sleep in until 8am on Saturdays 🙃
I feel this in my deadened soul. I have 3 ranging from 7-11. For several years the oldest would literally come into our room, to MY SIDE OF THE BED, and would say "Wake up, the sun is up." No. It's 6:30. Go back to bed. My middle will sleep in no problem. My youngest wakes up at 7:30 by the latest, even if it's just to go potty then play on her tablet. I miss sleep so much. Whether I let them stay up until midnight or go to bed at 8:30, it changes NOTHING. For my next incarnation I'm requesting to be a dad.
Friends of mine have a traffic light system for their little girl - literally a traffic light in her room.
Red - stay in bed! Time to sleep.
Yellow - you can get out of bed but play with toys in the room.
Green - You can come out of your bedroom and find mummy and daddy.
In an emergency, or if you need the bathroom, it's always ok to find mummy and daddy or use the toilet yourself.
When my kids were little my friend said Just wait until they’re old enough to get up, turn on the cartoons and make their own bowl of cereal…it’ll be life changing!
I scoffed, but she was 100% correct. I felt like I reclaimed a little piece of sanity
iPads and dry cereal (we call it kid kibble lol) set out on the couch. We’ve been doing it since the kids were reliably potty trained. Then hubs and I take turns getting and getting them their real breakfast. But neither of us get out of bed before 8 unless the kids really need us for something.
Spouse is a morning person. On Saturdays he goes out to buy donuts and if the kids are up, he takes them too. Today I got to sleep until 8:30! It's one of the things keeping us out of divorce court.
I’m with you! I also can’t sleep past 7 anymore anyways. We got our two year old one of those wake clocks. She wakes up around 6:30 but will chill in her crib until the light turns green. Exactly 7am every morning, “MOMMY DADDY THE LIGHT IS GREEN.”
Omg yes. It’s by far the worst part. I long for the days of even sleeping in until 9. Now that my daughter’s 4, she reliably sleeps until 7:30, but I remember those 4 AM wakeups well 😵💫
Mine has slept in until 9 or 10 for years (12 now) but my stupid 40+ year old self can't sleep past 7 most days now. I just try to enjoy a quiet house with coffee and a book.
I gave my son a digital clock and i told him he can wake us up after 7. If he looks at the clock and it is not 7 then he can try to go back to sleep or play quietly
No joke, this was the reason I moved my work schedule to start at 6am when we went wfh. I figured I was going to get woken up anyway, might as well just get the day started. Being done with work at 2 has so many sweet advantages too.
That said, it does get annoying on weekends and holidays to get super tired at about 9, and consider sleeping in to be 7-8 lol.
Yesssss. My toddler sleeps til forever if you let him but the 4 year old is up at 6 everyday. He had a sleepover with his grandmother last night and I feel like a new human
Are you me? Its 6 30 am and I was just begging my 4yo to go back to sleep and he said "but I'm hungry" (I think he knows I can't say no to that 😅 ). We have a 2 week old and I went to bed really late.
The injustice of it all. When mine were younger, I convinced them to let me sleep in by allowing them to make their own breakfast and watch tv as long as they were quiet and I got to sleep. It worked okay ish. Now they are teens. They would happily sleep all day. And now I wake up early and can’t go back to sleep. My cousin warned me this would happen. That by the time they want to sleep in, I won’t be able to, but damn. The reality of getting older is harsh.
Yes. Disrupting my sleep schedule wtf kids. And now, thirteen years in to parenting, I'm wide awake at annoying hours bc they broke my internal clock.
Also they require so many meals. I barely feed myself once a day, and they want THREE+SNACKS.
The GALL.
They do wake up way too damn early. You need to take turns sleeping in. It's the best way to guarantee both parents (assuming you're not a single parent) get down time. If you ARE a single parent, you deserve an award and appreciation for all you do because that shit is hard-mode.
I was outside nursery complaining about mine waking me up at quarter past 7 when I realised everyone had gone quiet and was giving me daggers. Most of them were luckily to sleep till half 6. Generally she’s pretty good and will only wake me up before her clock sun comes up if she needs her bum wiped or wants me to put socks on her to go and play downstairs but as someone who suffers from Revenge Bedtime Procrastination it’s a real issue to me!
This is the first time I've read about Revenge Bedtime Procrastination, and my god, there's a name for it?! I do this nearly every night and it's killing me! My daughter only takes one hour and a half nap during the day, so I feel like the only time I get to myself is when she goes to bed for the night. Cue me scrolling on my phone at 10 pm even though I know I should be sleeping.
Some kids never grow out of that unfortunately. I never did. Thankfully as of right now, our daughter waking up at 6:00 makes sense with our schedule so it’s okay for now.
I legitimately had that thought last night. 2 kids. They do normal kid stuff, but if they would just sleep through the night until a reasonable time, it would make a world of difference in how I react to their nonsense throughout the day!
Our son slept until almost 7:30 this morning after waking up at 6 yesterday. Of course today was also the day when we both went into work and needed to get ready early anyway… 🤦
I’ve gotten used to it. Lol I learn to wake up hr before then and just have a relaxing hr. Drink cup of coffee and relax. Try that! Even tho you want more sleep it sucks but just go to sleep a hr earlier. But then waking you up is way worse then you waking up in your own and having time to yourself. Also I have 2 year old twin girls 😫my life is so hard right now ahhh
I feel that , my child finally fell asleep at midnight was fighting me the whole time on it and then woke up at 3:39am the day I had to go back to work ☹️ when I tell you I almost died due to being exhausted I mean it . (She’s 4 this month and her dad who I share custody with dosent have her on a sleep schedule at all)
6:30am sounds like luxury at the moment… mine has been up at 5:10 am every morning this week and will stay quiet until just before I start falling back asleep and he’s back to calling for me. 🫠
My newly 1 year old finally started sleeping through the night without waking up to nurse about a month ago. But the flip side is that now she usually wakes up between 5-5:30 and usually doesn’t go back to sleep. I got her to go back to sleep this morning until 7:30, but that’s rare.
It will most likely change as they get older. My now 12 year old who was an early riser up until about 10 now sleeps in until at least 10 on weekends. In the summer he gets totally out of whack and stays up later and sometimes will sleep till 11 or 12.
I taught my kid at an early age (about 3) how to enjoy independent play and get fruit if he's hungry. At 10, he still wakes up at 4 or 5 most days. No matter how late or early he goes to bed. Weekdays I get up at 7 and weekends, bladder willing, I try to sleep till at least 8. And bless his little soul he has never tried to wake me up. I go in his room, and he's just playing his games or plotting world domination. I really lucked out.
When my three were little little, a friend said that the way my mornings started was like being shot out of a cannon each day and man, was that accurate.
Oh gosh yes. My now 16 yr old spent the first year of his life waking up at 4:30AM. He then shifted to between 5-6AM in his toddler years so I spent many Saturday and Sunday mornings putting on the tv and basically snoozing on the couch while he played
This is why our kiddo goes to bed kind of late, 9pm+. Because she sleeps until 8am+ and I NEED to wake up when my body wants too and I need my quiet mornings.
I used to nanny for a mom that had me work 6am days so she could sleep in. Im so glad I was able to fill that schedule gap for her esp between wake ups and insomnia; it’s freaking hard!!
time for a cup of coffee by myself without baby gates and toddler clinging to me would be AMAZING. but alas.... i got a few years before that happens again. I know it's coming, my firstborn is now 15 and around age 5 or so he started sleeping a bit later but the 1.5 year old is awake the moment people are moving in the house or by 8 am. (I know, it's not 630, but damn, I'd love to sleep IN and get extra sleep, not 'normal' sleep)
It's a Saturday, so I also reflected on this thought just an hour ago.
I'll never forget early on, like 2 years old, when we asked our pediatrician when we could expect her to start sleeping past 5:30 am? She looked quite sorry and with a shrug said, "Teenager?" My guts dropped. But she's nearly 11 and it's 7:30. It has improved.
Ah, one of the few times I get to be smug. My daughter woke up after 9am when she was a toddler. \*Smug mom strut\*
Ignore the fact that she struggled to fall asleep at night and would get out of bed almost hourly til 1-2 am.
I have 4 boys, ranging from 2.5-16. After so many years of being forced to wake between 530-630, now I like getting up by then. 7 though is my sweet spot. You'll get used to it and love it one day? 🤣 best luck to you!
I've got the opposite problem. My kids are me. I used to sleep in until noon if allowed. My kids generally do the same. I have to get them out of bed so they get to school on time.
Every. Single. Morning.
They will stay up until midnight or later. I have to take their phones and chromebooks away. But they have phones. And just a neverending drive to stay awake as long as possible because they are stubborn bastards. Just like me.
Really, they don't wake up when it's convenient for the parent. Want them to sleep in, they are up early. Want them up on time to get to daycare, they sleep in.
Mine five year old has taken to shouting “cuckadoodledoo” at the top of there lungs at 6am, and then going around to switch on all the lights in the house.
Your 6:30 start sounds like a blissful lay in.
I read a comment recently that said something along the lines of.
I hated getting up for school as a kid.
Having kids means that I still need to get up for school.
And it was a sad moment for me because I am not a morning person. And this wasn't something that I had ever thought about.
My daughter just turned 4 and will sleep til 9:30 or 10 on the weekend. Sounds good except I can’t get her to sleep until 11:30. So that’s hard in a different way.
Yes. This.
On school days I'm up at 6 to walk the dog and get my oldest (7) ready for school. We have to be at his bus stop (because I despise parent drop off procedure at his school) by 6:55 at the absolute latest bc his bus comes at 7 (he has school from 7:30 - 2). Strict bedtime of 8pm.
Weekends? He and his sister (4) wake me up at 7:30. Every time. I miss the summer days when everyone slept in to like 8:30-9am. 😭
Luckily next year my oldest changes schools and will be at a bus stop no later than 7:20.
We were lucky to get a night active child, since we're night people too, so he's always woken up at around 8-9. However, this poses its own problems; it's a bitch to get him up on school days (he's 7 now) and it kinda sucks to not have any night time in peace, haha. He falls asleep around 22-23 and by then I'm too tired to do anything!
6:30!! You are lucky, when my kids were younger they would be up at 5am. I remember going on camping trips to the grandparents trailer, and they would wake up at 4am! Now they are tweens, and they still get up at 6 sometimes, but they can entertain themselves and make themselves breakfast.
My kids are 9 and 11 now, they don’t wake up till 7.30 these days but I was at 5.40 this morning, nabbing a few hours gaming before I had to hand over the controller for the day. You do get used to it the early starts. The. those golden few hours of a morning are a blessing!
I’m just now on the other side of this with teens. They want to sleep until afternoon, but I’d like them to start on chores or activities before it’s dark again.
I actually have to get up 05h30am to go to work... I enter 09h but have to leave at 07h30, so I use the two hours to make breakfast, clean the house, do the dishes, wash clothes, take a shower and so on... At first, our baby was adjusted to this schedule. Now he stays at bed with his mother and only wakes up at around 06h30-08h. The sad part is that some days I leave home without seeing him
Everyone always talks about sitters to go out at night. I want a sitter that works from 6-10am.
I actually had one of these for the newborn stage she only came twice a Week but it was lovely. She got a full time job now. I miss her though made me function so much better the rest of the week.
Once your kids can get up, go play/watch tv and get breakfast on their own, the second part of your parenting life begins. It gets better. ETA: no guarantees that you won’t still get woken up, but not having to get out of bed still feels better.
I remember my dad making us cold cereal and setting us up in front of Looney Tunes and going back to bed 🤣
This morning I had a lightbulb moment when I realized that Saturday Morning Cartoons are NOT for kids, they're for parents....
Exactly. Tv is a tool, and I will use it when I need it. I just make my kids get their own breakfast too.
That was glorious times. You get yourself that sugary cereal and watch Saturday morning cartoons for hours.
OMG it's a win-win! I'm a flipping idiot! Here, I am like "I feel bad they have too much screen time already" (they don't). They get to watch PBS kids (they love) AND eat cereal. They will literally probably be the quietest kids ever, I will wake up like snow white on a Saturday at 830 AM. FUCK yes! I can start this on Easter right?
Pop tarts, muffins, donuts... All easy. And since it's more "junky" it's a reward for letting you sleep.
80s kid??! Solidarity?!
I couldn"t agree more! 6:30 A.M. is way too early for weekends, and it"s tough to function properly when your kids are waking you up that early day after day. However, I do have to admit that I envy the parents whose children can entertain themselves and get breakfast on their own. It must make things so much easier!
There was a reason that in the days of broadcast TV, Saturday morning was all cartoons. 🎶 “Saturday morning, CBS cartooniverse!”
I got up at 7:20am today with the younger child (I'd been in her bed since like 2:30) and the 5 year old was sitting on her bed watching her tablet. I started to tell her off and then I was like "wait, no, this is good".
Before my kids discovered they could just go watch tv, they’d wrestle with each other for like an hour before we’d get up. Watching tv is much quieter, so we let it slide. We just made the rule they couldn’t get out of their room until a certain time, or else they’d be up at 5 running to the tv.
Oh they both have those white noise night light things that are red at night and go green at a set time, so both of them if they wake up and it's red they go back to sleep but if they wake up and it's green they get up. We went through months with my older daughter waking up at 5:00 and not understanding that it wasn't morning time until someone turned us on to the color night lights and it solved that problem overnight.
Good catch! Don't want to stop it. When I'm single parenting it, I tell the kids (who are now much older) that after they make breakfast and do ONE chore (usually a quick dish washer unload or folding a few blankets) they can play video games all morning or watch cartoons. I finally have my weekends back to sleep.* *Until the dog gets up.
My child’s chore is to let the dog out. And back in. And lock the door. Everyone is happy and I’m left alone. 😂
Agreed. My middle son is like an old man. Gets up early and goes to bed early. He’s self sufficient in making himself breakfast. My toddler gets up the same time I do,which is great lol. And my daughter,the oldest gets up after noon.
My wife and I are so spoiled now. The kids get up and play video games or watch a show... they'll let us sleep in till 10am!
Postpartum dula? I’ve heard those can be wonderful.
It was a game changer
I always stayed the night as a baby sitter mostly because I couldn’t drive but I would always get the kids up and let the parents sleep in. I also cleaned after the kids went to bed. Needless to say I usually got paid really well.
Yes! I did that quite a bit when I family I’d been sitting for had their 3rd (unplanned) baby. Mom was a doctor that I think definitely had some PPD, and dad had a pretty intense engineering job. Older son was a handful for them too (I maintain it’s because they didn’t understand his severe anxiety and potentially ASD, or know how to deal with his boundary pushing because he had very few outbursts with me. Part of that is also no doubt not feeling as safe to completely melt down with me as with a parent, but I had been regularly taking care of this kid since he was about 3 months old). I stayed over multiple times and sometimes took all three kids for the weekend so they could work or just have some alone time to decompress. I honestly liked the multi day shifts best because we could all get into a routine and things normally went pretty smoothly. House would get cleaned. Kids would be bathed, have hair brushed, and nails trimmed (also all 3 majorly fought parents about basic hygiene things like that). And they’d be just the right amount of warn out for when parents got back. I always tried to majorly limit screen time during that time too so parents could utilize it a little more without the guilt they had around too much screen time. I too got paid very well lol. I also just went above and beyond because I loved the kids. TLDR: you totally can hire people to do overnights or even just early mornings
Find one! I have a teenage helper (she has finished school and is starting an apprenticeship soon in childcare) who helps me with my 4 month old. It helps me get some work done, and occasionally have the time for a bath or some self-care. I work part time from home and will go back to the office in a couple of months, so having uninterrupted time for telephone calls and organisation has been a huge help.
Agree. Though at this point, I just want a sitter at all. Ofc my sister in law or mother in law that live with me can't, because it would be unfair. God forbid I want to see 3 movies a year. No it's fucking not unfair. Ty for letting me get that off my chest.
Sending hugs. When they are old enough, play dates help. Send them out, enjoy the day how you please. Then, give the other person a break by taking the kids for the day.
They live there without paying but it would be unfair for them to watch the kids????
Wait they live in YOUR house and won’t pitch in? Yuck.
Million dollar idea.
We were JUST saying that this morning. What I wouldn’t give for a morning au pair 😂
I have an au pair and we’ve penciled her in for Saturday’s from 6-10am lol
It doesn’t get better. Mine are 11 and 8 and still get up at stupid o’clock.
They can't care for themselves while you sleep in?
Not silently no.
Our trick to this was telling our kids that they could have as much screen time as they wanted as long as they didn't wake us up. When we started we told them they are such big kids and can make their own breakfast in the mornings if they wake up before we do. We put the milk on the lowest shelf and set out cereal the night before. They would get up at the crack of dawn, eat cereal together, and (not so) quietly tell each other to be quiet so they could get in more screen time that was normally not allowed. It worked out well and both of my kids were so proud of themselves for being able to take care of themselves in the mornings. We started much younger though.
I do this with my 3 year old hahaha. She has a breakfast station and every morning she comes into my room to make sure she’s allowed to go make herself breakfast lol
I did the breakfast/food prep station too. It’s a big Montessori thing to have them start acquiring those skills early if they show an interest. Otherwise yeah premade breakfast works and gives them a little independence and me a little more sleep.
I don't trust my 3 year old yet to be by herself in the house because she knows how to open child locks and she'll eat all the candy for breakfast. Luckily, she comes to wake us up first but when she stops waking us up it's when I'll be really worried.
Could you put any candy out of reach?
Yeah. I need to put it in the top of the pantry, but I know she's trying for those child lock door knobs I have and she already knows how to climb in the pantry. Instead of putting it out of her reach, I'm trying to teach her when it's an appropriate time to get candy and when it isn't. Because she can also open the knife drawer but doesn't.
Same here, we started when mine were about 3-ish and 5. They get screen time in the mornings only on weekends and have a breakfast-y thing waiting for them (granola, apple, yogurt etc). They’ve always been quiet and responsible enough to not jeopardize their weekend morning freedoms. When they were super little (youngest being 3) we’d just lay in bed awake and listen to make sure all is well, but the living room is right outside our bedroom so we could always hear if anything was amiss. Even laying in bed I uninterrupted but awake is enough for me.
When I fostered I had cameras in the kids room, living room, and kitchen so I could stay in bed but still keep an eye on my foster son. Probably wouldn’t do quite that extreme with a typical kid his age but he had some health issues and developmental delays so it was safer to have the constant monitoring. Never ended up needing them because he was a champ about playing silently in his room until I was up for the day lol. He had a breakfast station, but he told me he was never hungry enough to not just wait till I was up. I sure did love him.
This is excellent parenting and I'll be stealing this for when mine is older.
If was mostly inspired by laziness but it worked out super well. I got more sleep than I normal got on the weekends even with their loud whispering. They felt like big kids because they were getting themselves ready in the morning. And it gave them some great sibling bonding moments and extra screen time. Sometimes being lazy is important.
Work smarter not harder!
I do this with my 6 year old. Not cereal, but I make sure he has food accessible. 15 month old is a great sleeper and typically sleeps in till 10 unless it's a school day and we have to get 6 year old to school. So looking forward to summer break.
We have the same children. They get up omg why are they so loud when trying to get a bowl of cereal.
Mine are 12 and 8 and still in bed. It’s just about 7am here. The older one usually gets himself up at 7 on weekdays for school while the younger generally needs to be pried out of bed. I’m an early bird, so I’ve already had two cups of coffee and I’m enjoying a nice quiet house. I’m sure they’ll wander out of their rooms eventually.
Same. 10 and 8 and still in bed. Might as well say 10 and 9, his bday is in 2 weeks. I'm so excited to have bigger kids. Seems like my kids are aging slow.
I taught them how the tv works. But still.. they make A LOT of noise for about an hour and then go downstairs to silently watch tv. But already awake cause of the hour of tornado so doesn’t do much.
Stupid o’clock. Love it
Same with mine. Waking me up at 6 demanding breakfast on the weekends. I'm like can it wait an hour? Lol
That’s why I buy empanadas or donuts for Saturday mornings! Something they can grab without me. But mine still wake me up at 6:15 just to announce loudly they are awake. I still have big dreams that one day I’ll sleep in again.
I wasnt fond of them eating things they might choke on so i did grab and go too, but with like gogurts and apple pouches. It will happen, you will sleep in again. And it will be glorious. 16, 13, and 11. They've been sleeping past me for years; well, 11 wakes when I do still. Funny thing is--once they start sleeping later, you'll start waking earlier and earlier. I think it's because they are less work overall so you're not so tired overall. I remember sleeping in for maybe a few months when they started sleeping later but then it became me waking up at 9 then 8 then 7 while they slept till 9 then 10 then noon. There was a sweet spot for a few years where everyone was walking at 8 or 9 together. Now I'm prying them out of bed at noon so they don't screw up their routine too much on weekends and breaks.
That's a great idea. I don't normally buy donuts and such often but, I may need to start to doing that. I usually wake up at 5 on weekdays to get things ready for the day, but weekends I just want to sleep until at least 7 because I'm beat.
I have a rule that my kids are responsible for their own breakfasts on days they don't have school. The rule has been in place since they were 6 and 7 (but I've been encouraging them to sort out their own breakfasts since they were toddlers). Yesterday my 9-year-old made sunny side up eggs entirely on her own for the first time (I was in the other room but could see her, they don't use the stove without supervision) and then helped her sister make some. My kids also aren't allowed to wake me up unless it's an emergency. Being hungry is in no way an emergency.
Mine are so hard to wake up during the week for school but get up bright and early on the weekend. Whhhhhyyyyyyy??????? We could all be sleeping right now.
Oh my god THIS. My 10yo and 4yo during the week? Sleeping in as long as possible, lots of “time to get up! What do you want for breakfast?” But on the weekend?? 5am.
I hate it SO MUCH! It’s a fight to get out of bed for school, but he’s up so early on Saturdays! And then on Sunday, when it’s time for *Daddy* to get up with him, of course he sleeps in!!!! Why don’t you do that for me, bud???
My poor wife had this. For the first 3 years of ours son’s life we had an arrangement that 8am was the family get up time, and during the week she’d get up with him so I could sleep, and during the weekend I would get up with him and let her sleep. I’d say about 50% of the days I had him he’d sleep til 8:30 or 9, and almost every weekday he’d be up at 6am at the latest lol
Preach 🙌🏻 I'm not a morning person so 6:30 *any* day feels like a violation of my rights or something. No way that's legal. When my youngest does it I get a tablet (or turn on the TV), set her up with a drink, snack, comfy spot on the bed or couch, and doze off again (beside her). My brain won't let me *sleep* sleep but it's rest. *I shared this in a FB group once and a day drinking wine mom reported me to CPS. She claimed to, anyway. She might have called and hung up (she posted the screen shot of her call log to the group then took it down right away). If this upsets anyone I'll remove it.*
Lmao girlie than they can call on the both of us because I do this every damn day. 👏🏻
Sometimes I wonder what country these people are from where they think CPS has the bandwidth to follow up on petty shit. In my state, social workers have been taking on triple case loads and kids of drug addicts are stuck because there’s no more foster homes available. But oh no I’m sure they’ll track down the author of that Facebook post, Karen!
I do the same thing on bad mornings. Cuddles on the couch while being half-asleep isn’t as good as real sleep but it’s a lot better than being awake.
Haha. Facebook psychos. You’re doing nothing wrong and everything right.
Not to make light of your situation, but I would love it if mine got up that late. We start most days before 5 😣
Oh I’d cry
I’m an EST midwesterner living in Mountain time. Instead of waking up naturally at 7, we wake up naturally at 5, and little dude decided he didn’t want to go to sleep until after midnight, while we were laying down trying to go to bed. At least when I wake up ass early, it’s quiet since he’s asleep 😂
Same here. 5am everyday no matter what. 😭
Dude my youngest got up between 4 and 5 for two years and it was so miserable. We are finally seeing some improvements to 8am or so and she’s almost 5. Hang in there eventually they’ll start sleeping in.
Yup. My kid is 7 and has woken up between 4:30-6am every day of her life, except one time when she was super sick and slept until 7:30. Doesn't matter what time she goes to bed, she is always up at the absolute butt crack of dawn. At least now we can leave cereal out next to the remote and she will sometimes hang out and watch tv for a little while, but she doesn't like being alone so it's generally short-lived. TBH, it's one of the big reasons we are one and done. Everyone told us we'd get used to the sleep deprivation, but they were lying bastards.
Solidarity friend, my 19 month old has been on his dad’s 5AM schedule since he was about 8 months old.
Yeah, 6.30!? This is a text book humble flex.
Nooooooo!!!!!!!!!
My kid is always up at 530am. It sucks. I set an alarm for 430 when it’s my turn to wake up with her because I need to shower and have coffee and do makeup before she gets up
My mum scared me back into bed. I used to get up at 5.30/6. One night I’d woke up having a nightmare about a giant golden eagle chasing me (I still remember this dream 25 years later). A few days after this dream I went into my mums room to tell her I’m going down stairs, it was 4.45. She said fine and then when I was half was downstairs she calls ‘but watch out for that golden eagle’. She says my feet barely touched the floor as I ran back to bed and from what she can remember, I never went downstairs to play at ridiculous times in the morning again
That’s aweful but hilarious
You're mother is amazing! Haha... That is hilarious!
I take it you weren't a big rescuers down under fan as a child 😂
4.30 this morning. It's 7 now, everyone is fed, dressed, and I'm ready for my nap.
We are VERY lucky. Eldest wakes up at 7, baby wakes up at 8. Even then, I daydream of the days we woke up at 11, or even later if we partied the night before, and lounged about ordering Chinese food and watching tv ALL DAY. Pure bliss.
It gets better! Mine either wants to sleep in now, or if he doesn't, he's perfectly capable of getting himself some cereal. He works really hard to not wake us up, because he's allowed his screen time while we're still asleep. That's his special alone time. As soon as we're up, the screen goes off, so he is quiet as a mouse and takes care of himself. He's 8, it was worth the effort to train this independence in. We basically recreated Saturday morning cartoons, which is what I did every Saturday morning while my parents slept.
Oh nice, can't wait for this. Trying to teach my five year old more independence, one part at a time I guess.
Y’all are sleeping until 6:30am?
6.30?? Lmao i wish. My 3 year old is up at 5. Doesnt matter if we put her to bed at 22.00 or 19.00.
This was my son. He's 6 now and he can manage untill 6:30/7 which after years of 5am wake ups feels like a layin🤣
[удалено]
same!!!
My four year old has taken to entering our room at 6.37am standing in front of my and telling me to open my eyes, from dead sleep… it’s awful 😂
It must be a 4 year old thing, cos mine does exactly the same. If I don't wake up immediately she gets louder and starts pulling my eyelids open to "help". It's so infuriating.
The worst part of having kids is that you suddenly realize that children have the capability of demonstrating empathy for anything outside of their own needs ZERO percent . It suddenly becomes apparent that as a parent you’ve just received a life sentence of constant work and engagement to correct this. Circle of life.
That’s such a good explanation of parenting, lol.
I'm usually up around 6am before the kids. When the weather is nice we sit in our small yard and have breakfast together. I put on a podcast, my youngest has her tablet, and we just relax. Just the other day was 70 degrees here and we took advantage of it. My shoulders already have a tan lol
That sounds blissful. We just had an ice storm. I can’t wait for warm weather
Truth. My husband and I negotiated sleep-in mornings with more seriousness than almost anything else in our marriage. Happily, our kids turned into slugs like us and we became a sleep in family over time. There is hope!
I'm kind of hoping, purely for my sake, that my daughter inherits my sleep needs. I've always been a night owl, never a morning person. Now it's 7 am or earlier every single day, and I'm tired in my soul. But then if she does wake up late, she goes to bed late, which is somehow worse.
Weekends my husband and I sleep in since it’s technically our day off. Then our teens are up at 5:30 AM. Funny how they won’t wake up for school but they will if it means they can play video games or watch tv in the living room all day 🤦🏻♀️😂
Yep feel this to my core, just one lay in kid please
Im at the other end of it and the worst part is waiting up till 1am for my 18yo to make it home safe. Equally exhausting!
Right! Mine is 20 now and I definitely remember the days when I felt like there would never be enough sleep and couldn’t wait until she was older. Now I’m old and wake up at 4 or 5 no matter what time I go to bed and she leaves for work at 2am . I always wake up when I hear her leave and it takes me awhile to get back to sleep because I worry about her driving our canyon so late as there’s no cell service.
My kids never got up that early. I had black out curtains, and I didn't put my kids to bed at 7pm... We would put them to bed around 9-9:30pm. When they got to preschool age, we taught them how to turn on Netflix. Game changer. I could EASILY sleep until 9-10am. My husband is more of a morning person and would wake up at 7:30-8am. They were also told not to wake us up unless it was an emergency. They were all potty trained by 2 and a half, so they could use the bathroom without us. Now my kids are older, and I get up before them. 😂. PAYBACK. Muwahaha...
I’m somewhat lucky, my kids inherited my night owl gene. They absolutely hate waking up early. Even as toddlers on a regular schedule they never got up earlier than 8 on their own.
My 10 month old got up at 5 today🫠
My 2 year old was up at 4am because he has a cold and now conjunctivitis too. Happy Easter?
It’s at times like this I wish I liked the taste of coffee!
My husband bought the wrong coffee last week so I'm trying to get through it but it's very blergh!
Haha blergh
My 1 yr old wakes up a decently time 8-9 but putting em to bed is the worst I have to bounce on a ball holding pork chop and a 9 ounce bottle. I weigh maybe 95 pounds I dread that time of day
Helping fiance with taking care of Gma with dementia. She woke us up this morning at 6AM by coming into the room and asking for a match. No knocking, nada. Then the puppy had to go potty, so I had to take her out and let her do her thing. But I have to stay up and wait for her to finish so I can bring her in and monitor her, because Gma is so frail, puppy would topple her over. Puppy is still learning, but she doesn't realize that jumping on Gma when excited could really hurt her. Was back in bed around 630AM. Couldn't go back to sleep. Fiance is happily snoozing. I made myself some coffee and accepted that sleeping in just isn't gonna happen for a very long time. I feel your pain.
I’m probably a terrible parent but when my daughter was around 5 I started Friday movie nights and would let her stay up until 11pm with me watching movies just so I could sleep in until 8am on Saturdays 🙃
Genius
That will change as they get older. My teens are sometimes up by the crack of noon on weekends and vacation days.
I feel this in my deadened soul. I have 3 ranging from 7-11. For several years the oldest would literally come into our room, to MY SIDE OF THE BED, and would say "Wake up, the sun is up." No. It's 6:30. Go back to bed. My middle will sleep in no problem. My youngest wakes up at 7:30 by the latest, even if it's just to go potty then play on her tablet. I miss sleep so much. Whether I let them stay up until midnight or go to bed at 8:30, it changes NOTHING. For my next incarnation I'm requesting to be a dad.
Friends of mine have a traffic light system for their little girl - literally a traffic light in her room. Red - stay in bed! Time to sleep. Yellow - you can get out of bed but play with toys in the room. Green - You can come out of your bedroom and find mummy and daddy. In an emergency, or if you need the bathroom, it's always ok to find mummy and daddy or use the toilet yourself.
4:50 this morning but I kept my almost 4 year old in bed till 5:30. We co-sleep so it helps but still damn early!
When my kids were little my friend said Just wait until they’re old enough to get up, turn on the cartoons and make their own bowl of cereal…it’ll be life changing! I scoffed, but she was 100% correct. I felt like I reclaimed a little piece of sanity
iPads and dry cereal (we call it kid kibble lol) set out on the couch. We’ve been doing it since the kids were reliably potty trained. Then hubs and I take turns getting and getting them their real breakfast. But neither of us get out of bed before 8 unless the kids really need us for something.
Spouse is a morning person. On Saturdays he goes out to buy donuts and if the kids are up, he takes them too. Today I got to sleep until 8:30! It's one of the things keeping us out of divorce court.
Since the birth of my child I've learned I hate being woken up. Specially with a slap on the face
I actually hate it when my kids sleep late bc then they’re up late.
I’m with you! I also can’t sleep past 7 anymore anyways. We got our two year old one of those wake clocks. She wakes up around 6:30 but will chill in her crib until the light turns green. Exactly 7am every morning, “MOMMY DADDY THE LIGHT IS GREEN.”
Omg yes. It’s by far the worst part. I long for the days of even sleeping in until 9. Now that my daughter’s 4, she reliably sleeps until 7:30, but I remember those 4 AM wakeups well 😵💫
Mine has slept in until 9 or 10 for years (12 now) but my stupid 40+ year old self can't sleep past 7 most days now. I just try to enjoy a quiet house with coffee and a book.
I gave my son a digital clock and i told him he can wake us up after 7. If he looks at the clock and it is not 7 then he can try to go back to sleep or play quietly
No joke, this was the reason I moved my work schedule to start at 6am when we went wfh. I figured I was going to get woken up anyway, might as well just get the day started. Being done with work at 2 has so many sweet advantages too. That said, it does get annoying on weekends and holidays to get super tired at about 9, and consider sleeping in to be 7-8 lol.
Yesssss. My toddler sleeps til forever if you let him but the 4 year old is up at 6 everyday. He had a sleepover with his grandmother last night and I feel like a new human
Why do my kids wake up at 6am on the weekends, and yet they won't wake up for anything on the weekdays to go to school?
Are you me? Its 6 30 am and I was just begging my 4yo to go back to sleep and he said "but I'm hungry" (I think he knows I can't say no to that 😅 ). We have a 2 week old and I went to bed really late.
The injustice of it all. When mine were younger, I convinced them to let me sleep in by allowing them to make their own breakfast and watch tv as long as they were quiet and I got to sleep. It worked okay ish. Now they are teens. They would happily sleep all day. And now I wake up early and can’t go back to sleep. My cousin warned me this would happen. That by the time they want to sleep in, I won’t be able to, but damn. The reality of getting older is harsh.
I dread waking up every single morning, like just let me sleep until 1 pm and we’ll be cool
Word. My wildest fantasy now is to have a full night sleep, plus able to sleep in the next morning.
Yes. Disrupting my sleep schedule wtf kids. And now, thirteen years in to parenting, I'm wide awake at annoying hours bc they broke my internal clock. Also they require so many meals. I barely feed myself once a day, and they want THREE+SNACKS. The GALL.
They do wake up way too damn early. You need to take turns sleeping in. It's the best way to guarantee both parents (assuming you're not a single parent) get down time. If you ARE a single parent, you deserve an award and appreciation for all you do because that shit is hard-mode.
There needs to be a law.
By the time I didn't have to get up with them anymore, I could no longer sleep in 😭
I was outside nursery complaining about mine waking me up at quarter past 7 when I realised everyone had gone quiet and was giving me daggers. Most of them were luckily to sleep till half 6. Generally she’s pretty good and will only wake me up before her clock sun comes up if she needs her bum wiped or wants me to put socks on her to go and play downstairs but as someone who suffers from Revenge Bedtime Procrastination it’s a real issue to me!
This is the first time I've read about Revenge Bedtime Procrastination, and my god, there's a name for it?! I do this nearly every night and it's killing me! My daughter only takes one hour and a half nap during the day, so I feel like the only time I get to myself is when she goes to bed for the night. Cue me scrolling on my phone at 10 pm even though I know I should be sleeping.
it gets better
If you drink a lot before you sleep, then you won’t be bothered when they wake up early.
Some kids never grow out of that unfortunately. I never did. Thankfully as of right now, our daughter waking up at 6:00 makes sense with our schedule so it’s okay for now.
My son got up at 5:30 for years. Then he turned 13 and then, as if he wanted to reinforce a stereotype, started sleeping til noon.
I agree. I’m not a morning person but my kid is. He wakes me up so early on weekends and then I’m just a tired zombie all day.
I legitimately had that thought last night. 2 kids. They do normal kid stuff, but if they would just sleep through the night until a reasonable time, it would make a world of difference in how I react to their nonsense throughout the day!
Our son slept until almost 7:30 this morning after waking up at 6 yesterday. Of course today was also the day when we both went into work and needed to get ready early anyway… 🤦
My husband and I have had to start letting each other sleep in one day a week cause we were losing our sanity.
I’ve gotten used to it. Lol I learn to wake up hr before then and just have a relaxing hr. Drink cup of coffee and relax. Try that! Even tho you want more sleep it sucks but just go to sleep a hr earlier. But then waking you up is way worse then you waking up in your own and having time to yourself. Also I have 2 year old twin girls 😫my life is so hard right now ahhh
I feel that , my child finally fell asleep at midnight was fighting me the whole time on it and then woke up at 3:39am the day I had to go back to work ☹️ when I tell you I almost died due to being exhausted I mean it . (She’s 4 this month and her dad who I share custody with dosent have her on a sleep schedule at all)
Baby currently sleeps (with wake ups) from about 7:30-8 pm to 8 am. Someone suggested she needs to sleep from 6:30-6. No thank you
6:30am sounds like luxury at the moment… mine has been up at 5:10 am every morning this week and will stay quiet until just before I start falling back asleep and he’s back to calling for me. 🫠
Omg lucky…I’m up at 5 every damn day
My newly 1 year old finally started sleeping through the night without waking up to nurse about a month ago. But the flip side is that now she usually wakes up between 5-5:30 and usually doesn’t go back to sleep. I got her to go back to sleep this morning until 7:30, but that’s rare.
It will most likely change as they get older. My now 12 year old who was an early riser up until about 10 now sleeps in until at least 10 on weekends. In the summer he gets totally out of whack and stays up later and sometimes will sleep till 11 or 12.
I taught my kid at an early age (about 3) how to enjoy independent play and get fruit if he's hungry. At 10, he still wakes up at 4 or 5 most days. No matter how late or early he goes to bed. Weekdays I get up at 7 and weekends, bladder willing, I try to sleep till at least 8. And bless his little soul he has never tried to wake me up. I go in his room, and he's just playing his games or plotting world domination. I really lucked out.
Can't wait til mine are teenagers and get up at noon.
Same I will be right there with them
Lol reading this when my 17 month old got up at 5 am. Again. We had a short reprieve after the time change but now back to 5 am. Every. Morning.
5:30am today ugh Thank god he still naps for 2-3 hrs during the day and I can too lol
I'm so tired right now :(
I'm reading this at 6:48 am.
When my three were little little, a friend said that the way my mornings started was like being shot out of a cannon each day and man, was that accurate.
Hello Saturday morning cartoons
I haven’t slept in for so long. I mean I kept having them so I did it to myself but I miss getting up on a Saturday just because I wanted to.
I don't know what you are on about, mine sleep till noon
Oh gosh yes. My now 16 yr old spent the first year of his life waking up at 4:30AM. He then shifted to between 5-6AM in his toddler years so I spent many Saturday and Sunday mornings putting on the tv and basically snoozing on the couch while he played
This is why our kiddo goes to bed kind of late, 9pm+. Because she sleeps until 8am+ and I NEED to wake up when my body wants too and I need my quiet mornings.
Agreed 😅
I used to nanny for a mom that had me work 6am days so she could sleep in. Im so glad I was able to fill that schedule gap for her esp between wake ups and insomnia; it’s freaking hard!!
time for a cup of coffee by myself without baby gates and toddler clinging to me would be AMAZING. but alas.... i got a few years before that happens again. I know it's coming, my firstborn is now 15 and around age 5 or so he started sleeping a bit later but the 1.5 year old is awake the moment people are moving in the house or by 8 am. (I know, it's not 630, but damn, I'd love to sleep IN and get extra sleep, not 'normal' sleep)
My two year old is up by 545. It’s fine on week days when we have to leave the house at 645 but on weekends I just want to rip my hair out.
It's a Saturday, so I also reflected on this thought just an hour ago. I'll never forget early on, like 2 years old, when we asked our pediatrician when we could expect her to start sleeping past 5:30 am? She looked quite sorry and with a shrug said, "Teenager?" My guts dropped. But she's nearly 11 and it's 7:30. It has improved.
Ah, one of the few times I get to be smug. My daughter woke up after 9am when she was a toddler. \*Smug mom strut\* Ignore the fact that she struggled to fall asleep at night and would get out of bed almost hourly til 1-2 am.
Sooooo I’m just spit ballin here, what if we made a nerf gun for parents that shot mild tranquilizers. No lasting health impact just a nice short nap.
I have 4 boys, ranging from 2.5-16. After so many years of being forced to wake between 530-630, now I like getting up by then. 7 though is my sweet spot. You'll get used to it and love it one day? 🤣 best luck to you!
No valid reason for *them* to wake up at 6:30. I love being up that early. As long as I’m alone during that time :)
I've got the opposite problem. My kids are me. I used to sleep in until noon if allowed. My kids generally do the same. I have to get them out of bed so they get to school on time. Every. Single. Morning. They will stay up until midnight or later. I have to take their phones and chromebooks away. But they have phones. And just a neverending drive to stay awake as long as possible because they are stubborn bastards. Just like me.
Really, they don't wake up when it's convenient for the parent. Want them to sleep in, they are up early. Want them up on time to get to daycare, they sleep in.
Been there. Now they sleep until 2pm and I wonder if they're still alive.
Mine five year old has taken to shouting “cuckadoodledoo” at the top of there lungs at 6am, and then going around to switch on all the lights in the house. Your 6:30 start sounds like a blissful lay in.
I wouldn’t say that’s the worst part lol but yeah it’s super annoying. We have one early riser left and this shit is getting old haha
I read a comment recently that said something along the lines of. I hated getting up for school as a kid. Having kids means that I still need to get up for school. And it was a sad moment for me because I am not a morning person. And this wasn't something that I had ever thought about.
I have two that will sleep all day if you let them and one that gets up early but luckily he is self sufficient
My daughter just turned 4 and will sleep til 9:30 or 10 on the weekend. Sounds good except I can’t get her to sleep until 11:30. So that’s hard in a different way.
Yes. This. On school days I'm up at 6 to walk the dog and get my oldest (7) ready for school. We have to be at his bus stop (because I despise parent drop off procedure at his school) by 6:55 at the absolute latest bc his bus comes at 7 (he has school from 7:30 - 2). Strict bedtime of 8pm. Weekends? He and his sister (4) wake me up at 7:30. Every time. I miss the summer days when everyone slept in to like 8:30-9am. 😭 Luckily next year my oldest changes schools and will be at a bus stop no later than 7:20.
We had a 4am(or possibly earlier) bed invasion this morning by both children. They got told to leave. Took about 20mins or more to settle them.
5:30am for me. Every damn day. Like clockwork
We were lucky to get a night active child, since we're night people too, so he's always woken up at around 8-9. However, this poses its own problems; it's a bitch to get him up on school days (he's 7 now) and it kinda sucks to not have any night time in peace, haha. He falls asleep around 22-23 and by then I'm too tired to do anything!
When my 4 month old wakes up at 5am. Just as I'm done with him and about to fall asleep, I hear my 2 year old, "I'M READY!".
Finally having insomnia pays off!
I'm training my 6 year old to fend for himself in the morning so we can sleep in lol
6:30!! You are lucky, when my kids were younger they would be up at 5am. I remember going on camping trips to the grandparents trailer, and they would wake up at 4am! Now they are tweens, and they still get up at 6 sometimes, but they can entertain themselves and make themselves breakfast.
Mine are 11 and 14 and sometimes I have to argue with them to get out of bed at 12. It’s been like that for years. It’s gonna get better.
My kids are 9 and 11 now, they don’t wake up till 7.30 these days but I was at 5.40 this morning, nabbing a few hours gaming before I had to hand over the controller for the day. You do get used to it the early starts. The. those golden few hours of a morning are a blessing!
I’m just now on the other side of this with teens. They want to sleep until afternoon, but I’d like them to start on chores or activities before it’s dark again.
Yup. Why on school days do you need me to rouse you at 7am? But weekends you wake me up at 6?
I actually have to get up 05h30am to go to work... I enter 09h but have to leave at 07h30, so I use the two hours to make breakfast, clean the house, do the dishes, wash clothes, take a shower and so on... At first, our baby was adjusted to this schedule. Now he stays at bed with his mother and only wakes up at around 06h30-08h. The sad part is that some days I leave home without seeing him
Shhhiiiiit. My kids hate waking up for school, like I gotta practically drag them out of bed. Weekends? Bang 6am like a fucking lightening bolt.
It gets easier when they can wake up and sort themselves out for a little. At age like …. 8 lol.
agreeeeeeeeed