Do you wake your children?

[hollyh]

I'm struggling with wondering if I should start to wake my 6yo. One thing I love about homeschooling is that I don't have to get her up and out the door and can let her body get as much sleep as she needs. That being said, she has been staying up until 10 or so reading in bed and then sleeping in until 8:30 in the AM. I would LOVE that, except with the other 3 being up at 6:30, and the baby going back down for a nap at 9ish, I need the oldest ready for school by 9. If she is just getting up, she hasn't eaten, gotten dressed or done any chores. I feel like my day is waiting for HER.

 

Also, my twins are almost 4. They seem to be giving up their naps, but are super cranky if they do. What did you do to get over the hump? Force them to still nap? Give up? I don't remember what I did with the oldest. She was never a sleeper to begin with.

[Julie Smith]

I do if I feel it would make the day go better.

 

ETA: If you can try to transition her to do her reading at some other time when it would fit your schedule better.

[Freckles]

I would let her sleep and have time with your littles. They probably enjoy being the center of attention for awhile. The joy of homeschooling is you don't have to start by 9. This is coming from the mother of a night owl. I stopped fighting it and started enjoying the mornings with my other dd. As far as naps for the twins, I would require a quiet time. They could look at books and just rest.

 

You could also instate an earlier bedtime. Lights out by 8:30. She may change her schedule on her own by getting to bed earlier.

[Shellydon]

I aim to allow my kids to get 11-12 hours of sleep a night. They are asleep no later than 9:00, and usually by 8:30. I wake them no later than 8:30. I need evenings to recharge, so they go to bed. I like to have afternoons free, so we get school done in the morning and finish right after lunch.

[gardenmom5]

I don't believe in waking up kids - they're cranky without enough sleep. (and don't function as well as a child who has had enough sleep.) I am a hard nose about dudeling's bedtime routine and he wakes on his own. If a six year old is staying up until ten reading and you want her up earlier, I'd make bedtime earlier, and a firm time for lights out. one thing I hear over and over from our naturopath is how. much. more. rested. the body is with the sleep it gets before midnight.

 

He used to have a horrible time getting to sleep at night. For medical reasons (lack of sleep was a symptom), I started him on melatonin - he actually ASKED for it the. very. next. night. this was a kid who'd rather starve (I'm not exaggerating - he doesn't recognize hunger.) than take a supplement. he felt better because he had slept longer, and HE recognized it! If I ever forgot to give it to him - he asked. he went from eight or nine hours to eleven hours of sleep. (and on rare occassion, twelve hours even after he no longer needed the melatonin.)

 

he grew alot in the following two months

was calmer

is more functional

[dirty ethel rackham]

I have always woken my kids if they weren't awake when I needed them to be. If we don't get started by a certain time, our day just isn't as productive. That said, they sleep a lot later than kids who have to catch a school bus around here. I do encourage going to bed at a reasonable hour to develop good habits. My oldest has always been a little bit of a night owl, so we have always struggled with respecting his normal rhythms, yet balancing those with the needs of the family to have things run more smoothly. Our wake up time is between 7:30 and 8 am. Ds16 usually gets up at 8:15 and is ready to start school by 9 (in fact he has several classes that he has to be on time for.) Dd would love to sleep late, but I constantly have to keep her moving. But she is like this whether she gets up early or sleeps late - she just moves more slowly that the rest of us. My oldest has always been an early riser. Even though he just returned home from college, I have every confidence that he will adjust to the household schedule. Another reason why I need them up is the dog. He wakes up when dh leaves for work (before 7.) I walk him for an hour, which means that I want someone else up to help with the rest of his morning routine - like feeding him so I can get a shower.

[Danestress]

I absolutely woke and wake my kids. Your daughter is young. Might feel differently if she were 15 and working independently.

 

I would start waking her at 7:30 every morning. Yes, expect he'd to be cranky. After a few days I would start moving her '"lights out' time back.

[Starr]

Hang on a few more months juggling naps. By fall you'll have instituted the afternoon rest and read time and everyone will be happier.

[NotSoObvious]

I wish!

[regentrude]

Yes. We need to start school at 8am in order to be productive. I also work outside the house and have a schedule, and DD is taking classes.

[Shellydon]

I'm struggling with wondering if I should start to wake my 6yo. One thing I love about homeschooling is that I don't have to get her up and out the door and can let her body get as much sleep as she needs. That being said, she has been staying up until 10 or so reading in bed and then sleeping in until 8:30 in the AM. I would LOVE that, except with the other 3 being up at 6:30, and the baby going back down for a nap at 9ish, I need the oldest ready for school by 9. If she is just getting up, she hasn't eaten, gotten dressed or done any chores. I feel like my day is waiting for HER.

 

Also, my twins are almost 4. They seem to be giving up their naps, but are super cranky if they do. What did you do to get over the hump? Force them to still nap? Give up? I don't remember what I did with the oldest. She was never a sleeper to begin with.

 

 

 

Mine give up naps around 2.5, usually. When they do, I start putting them to bed an hour earlier.

[LMV]

We have breakfast together as a family every morning and sit down at the table around 6:30 every morning. For the most part our kids are up before this and are down in the kitchen helping with breakfast preparations prior to this. Our four year old would sleep way past this (and for days at time it sometimes seems) if we let her so I do wake her and help her get ready for the day before we sit down.

[redsquirrel]

It is important to me that my kids get enough sleep that they wake on their own. If they aren't waking early enough then I put them to bed earlier. My 8 year old is lights out at 8pm. He is awake on his own at 7am.

 

6 year olds need a lot of sleep for healthy brain and body development. They need, on average, 10-12 hours a day. If she is going to sleep at 10 am then you can't expect her to be up as early as you would like. She's not going to be able to do as well with her lessons if she is tired.

[blondeviolin]

I don't. My 6yo stays up late reading too. I can't complain much because she is READING, you know?! Something had to give, though, so if she slept past 8/8:30, she skipped "breakfast" and I'd give her a "morning snack" after she's dressed and usually during spelling or something.

[mommylawyer]

I'll just address the nap issue. We have "mandatory rest time" in my house. Every weekday after lunch, all of my kids retire to their beds. If they can sleep or read, but they must stay in bed for an hour (or longer, if I can swing it). My 3 1/2 year old has stopped napping, but he's so used to rest time, he stays in bed and looks at books quietly now.

[MrsMommy]

You mean not all children are up with the sun?!? Because mine usually have to wake me!

 

Seriously, the only day of the year that I actually wake them is on Easter Sunday, so we can be at the sunrise service. My girls are up by 6:30 at the latest, and the boys are usually up by 7:00. But I would wake them if I needed to. Having a schedule is very important to me, and necessary for our family, so I'd do whatever I needed to do to make that work.

[swellmomma]

I do not wake 3 of my kids they usually are all up on their own by 9-930am. However dd13 would sleep until 2 pm if I let her so I wake her up by 11am if she is still asleep. I am of the belief that if they are not waking naturally on their own they need the sleep, BUT she needs to be up long enough to get things done before dance class so no sleeping the day away until summer vacation for her.

[KungFuPanda]

Not until they're teens and attempt to sleep all day.

[Parrothead]

I wake dd when I get up or when she has to be somewhere. Usually I spend a great deal of time dealing with my insomnia. As it is now I might not get up until 10a or even noon. Most mornings it isn't hideous bad, and I'm up by 9. If that happens I'll give hr a shake. Otherwise she sleeps until I finally get up. On days I sleep until noon she gets herself up, fed and starts school.

[BakersDozen]

When I had only "littles" (6yo and under) I did not wake them. They did, however, have an early bedtime (8:00) so they never slept past about 7:30 or 8:00 at the latest.

 

Now that we have more than just littles, everyone gets woken up except for the babies. We prefer to eat breakfast as a family and move through our morning routine together, so a universal wake time works for us. Everyone has a task so in the morning so one or more sleeping in would not work at all. Our dc still go to bed fairly early (8:30-9:30 depending on age) so waking kids up isn't too hard...usually. ;)

[MissKNG]

Do you wake your children?

 

No! I never have to wake my children, they are up each morning between 5:30 and 6am. Not matter what! They haven't napped for years but we do a daily "quiet time" after lunch for about an hour.

 

Hope you can find something that works for you!!

[Heather in Neverland]

Do I wake my children? Goodness no, not if I can help it!!! :)

[8circles]

Not unless we have to leave the house early. They're typically up at 7.

[BarbecueMom]

Ugh, I wish. Mine go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00... and I usually wake up to them singing what sounds like a drunk Irish pub version of songs off the Leapfrog videos at 6:00 (or earlier).

[Farrar]

Nope. I'd love if they could learn to sleep in though. I guess we'll revisit it when they're teenagers.

[Tita Gidge]

I don't wake my kids. They're usually up before me anyway :)

 

I'm all for letting kids sleep in and rest; I think sleep is super-important, especially to growing bodies. We're pretty laid-back about bedtimes, waketimes, school time, however that doesn't always work for each and every season of our lives. A few years ago I was working in Philadelphia, which was five time zones away from home, and flying back and forth every other week. By the second month, jetlag and exhaustion had contributed to insomnia on my days at home. I still had to get up and get work done, because the entire family's day depended on school having been completed, kwim? So I had to get strict with myself, and even if I couldn't sleep I had to force myself to - at minimum - rest. And even if I felt like sleeping until noon, I had to be sure to get out of bed by 9 so we could get our day going and done with.

 

It's sort of the same for your daughter, now. Maybe kill the lights 30 minutes early and see if that gets her up 30 minutes earlier, so she does have time to do morning routine before school. Alternately, start school at 9 regardless of anything else; maybe some days it means she's doing it in her PJs, or delaying breakfast, or eating a modified breakfast like a muffin or fruit while studying, and chores get pushed to afternoon/playtime. She may not mind, I wouldn't have. She may mind, and you explain that you're open to (her) other ideas on how to best fit everything into her sleep schedule - and you mean it.

 

My youngest is seven but the rest are a bit older. We still have siesta LOL. Mostly for me. Those at home will have quiet hour, for the teens I'm okay with computer time but my youngest does reading, coloring, sometimes napping. I sleep. Those at school are usually due home around the end of the siesta hour so we transition into tea/snack time. It's restful. I think rest is as important as is sleep, and four year olds in particular could still benefit from it. And so can parents of four year olds ;)

[elegantlion]

I'm also for letting kids sleep in. Ds was in private school for prek and K. It was a nightmare to get him up and out of the house by 7:20. I hated it. At that I would wake him up about 8:30 or 9 if he wasn't already up. I did make sure he got at least 9-10 hours of sleep.

 

As a teen I have to wake him up or he'll sleep all day. He has to be up by 10 on the weekdays, weekends I let him sleep in.

[Georgiana Daniels]

The question is.....do the kids wake me up?

 

 

It's only a problem because I make them go to bed by 9:15 at the latest, therefore they are up by 7. Maybe earlier because stupid AZ doesn't have Daylight Savings Time and the sun comes up ridiculously early.

[Ravin]

I would regulate the bedtime rather than the wake-up. Try lights-out at 9PM, so she'll start waking a little earlier. My DD has to be up early 2 days a week for her enrichment program, and tends to be an early riser regardless (sleeping in for her is 7:30 AM), so her bedtime is at 8PM. Sometimes we let it slide a bit for an evening activity or play (this time of year, with it light later and so hot earlier in the day especially), but that's the goal.

 

I only wake my DD in the morning when truly necessary.

 

I've been trying to convince her of the merits of an afternoon nap/siesta so she can stay up later (something I often do myself), but she insists she doesn't know how to take one.

[Pegasus]

i do not intentionally wake my children. DD16 wakes naturally on her own. It used to be between 7:00 and 7:30 but recently it has been 6:15 on the dot. She has always been an early riser. DD13 will sleep until between 8:00 and 9:00 if undisturbed. However, she usually wakes up hearing me and DD16 moving around and chooses to get up with us.

 

IMHO, the 6-yo needs a much earlier bedtime if you are expecting her up and ready to do school by 9:00. Maybe to bed around 7:30 pm with lights out at 8:00, giving her a full 12 hours to sleep.

[I.Dup.]

I wish!

 

Yeah no kidding. My kids are up at the freaking crack of dawn.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Your 6 year old will probably need 11-12 hours of sleep. If you want her up at 7:30, she'll need to be in bed by 7:30. Does that fit your evening schedule? If it's going to be difficult to get her to bad that early most nights, then I would aim for a 9pm bedtime and she can sleep as late as she wants.

[kitten18]

Ugh, I wish. Mine go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00... and I usually wake up to them singing what sounds like a drunk Irish pub version of songs off the Leapfrog videos at 6:00 (or earlier).

 

:laugh:

[kewb]

For my kids it depends. They don't usually want me to wake them because I open the blinds and sing the good morning song and let the dog jump on them and lick their faces.

[hollyh]

We try to have them in bed by 8. That's about the earliest we can do here. I'm not strict about her not doing it, but even with lights out, she will read in the dark with what little light there is still coming in the room... has been that way since she was a baby. I can't turn the hall light out b/c her sister is afraid of the dark. I guess I will just let her sleep in and adjust my expectations for the day AND work on her getting to bed a bit earlier. This has never been a problem in the past as she has always risen with the sun. :closedeyes: Now that I WANT her to get up, she sleeps. :huh: Something about the age of 6 is different for her. She even noticed it and told me that she suddenly realized that she LIKES sleep. LOL. If only I could have gotten that through her head when she was a baby and NEVER slept! ;)

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[NoseInABook]

I am not a morning person so no, I don't wake my kids. These days they are all up by 8am anyway.