Converting a night owl into a morning person

[CalicoKat]

The problem is, is that my kids get up early. Left unsupervised all my efforts from teh night before are shot. 3 of them are too young.

 

Someday I may do this but for now, I must rearrange my clock.

 

Yes, I have a couple early birds in my nest too. As they grow they do learn to leave mama to sleep. They're happier and so am I. Until then I feel your pain.

 

BUT when they're older I do have a suggestion. :D A friend of mine, another night owl, makes her kids a stack of cards that direct them through different school activities for about an hour. Breakfast & clean your dishes, a math station, a science experiment to do & document, fold the clean clothing in the dryer and put it away.... that kind of stuff. She's got a stack for each day of the week for each kid. Me, I use a weekly checklist. Same idea, just a lot less fun looking. But it works the same way.

 

Those kiddos also need to be trained to bring you breakfast in bed! :D My oldest dd started bringing me coffee in bed when she was 8. Ahhhhmazing! I can actually smile before I get my feet on the floor.

 

We also have a saying in our house, "Respect those who are still sleeping by being quiet!"

 

Until they're older though you might want teach them to play with their toys in their bedroom until you're awake. Or, "Come snuggle with mommy until she's ready to put her feet on the floor."

[Alice]

I'm a night owl who is now sort of a morning person. My experience is that you can get used to it and not be grumpy about it but that if I'm not careful I tend to drift back into being a night person (which doesn't work for our schedule).

 

On my own I would probably go to bed around midnight or later and get up around 8ish. I have to get up at 5 am daily for work so I've had to just adjust.

 

Two things that are key for me:

1) Get up at about the same time every day regardless. If you have to get up at 5 sometimes don't let yourself sleep until 8 on other days. If you are fighting your natural sleep/wake cycle then you won't be doing yourself any favors by sleeping in some days. I do best if I keep it within about a 2 hr window, getting up between 5-7 am.

 

2) Don't let yourself stay up past a certain time. I get very tired around 9:30ish. If I go to sleep then all is well. If I stay up late, which has been happening too often lately I get a second wind around 10ish and then I feel like I'm fine. I am until the next morning.

[5kidsforME]

Yes, I have a couple early birds in my nest too. As they grow they do learn to leave mama to sleep. They're happier and so am I. Until then I feel your pain.

 

BUT when they're older I do have a suggestion. :D A friend of mine, another night owl, makes her kids a stack of cards that direct them through different school activities for about an hour. Breakfast & clean your dishes, a math station, a science experiment to do & document, fold the clean clothing in the dryer and put it away.... that kind of stuff. She's got a stack for each day of the week for each kid. Me, I use a weekly checklist. Same idea, just a lot less fun looking. But it works the same way.

 

Those kiddos also need to be trained to bring you breakfast in bed! :D My oldest dd started bringing me coffee in bed when she was 8. Ahhhhmazing! I can actually smile before I get my feet on the floor.

 

We also have a saying in our house, "Respect those who are still sleeping by being quiet!"

 

Until they're older though you might want teach them to play with their toys in their bedroom until you're awake. Or, "Come snuggle with mommy until she's ready to put her feet on the floor."

 

All good ideas. The few times they have tried to bring me breakfast in bed, I jump up and say "I'm up, I'm up!! I'm coming out in the kitchen in a sec." Seriously watching them precariously bringing me breakfast on a cookie sheet is both cute and distressing. :D

[Critterfixer]

Two things that are key for me:

1) Get up at about the same time every day regardless. If you have to get up at 5 sometimes don't let yourself sleep until 8 on other days. If you are fighting your natural sleep/wake cycle then you won't be doing yourself any favors by sleeping in some days. I do best if I keep it within about a 2 hr window, getting up between 5-7 am.

 

2) Don't let yourself stay up past a certain time. I get very tired around 9:30ish. If I go to sleep then all is well. If I stay up late, which has been happening too often lately I get a second wind around 10ish and then I feel like I'm fine. I am until the next morning.

 

This is more or less what I am doing to try to shift my wakeful hours. Unlike some night owls, I can go to bed and be perfectly happy to do so at 9:00 to 9:30. I actually tend to get sleepy around 8:00 regularly. The only trouble is that if I pass that magic 10:00 hour, WHEE...I'm awake! I have also shifted my habits to allow only one to two cups of tea a day, both prior to 11:00 am. Nothing past noon.

I got up at 5:30 on Friday with only mild regrets, most of them due to the fact that the fire was out and the bed was nice and warm. This morning I was not happy at all to get out of bed at 6:00 because the rain was drumming on the roof.

But I did wake up within about 30 minutes of actually heaving my carcass out of bed, which is an improvement.

 

Why do you need to change it? Says who?

 

Why change? In my case, I feel that a four day school schedule requires a certain amount to be done in a day. And I'd like to give the boys more time in the afternoon to play. Right now I get up when they get up, around 7:30, but because of morning chores, breakfast, etc, we usually don't get around to starting school until 9:00. I just want to be up in time to have all the morning work done so that we can start around eight.