What time do you wake up in relation to your kids?

[Aspasia]

I'm not a morning person by nature, but I'm wanting to start getting up before my kids. I think it may be the key to our family's mood and productivity. So how does it work for the rest of you? Any tips for forming this habit?

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[craftyerin]

I wake up 45min to an hour before the kids. It is essential for me if I want to be ready for them and happy to see them.

[wendyroo]

My kids are 4, 2 and a newborn on the way in a couple months.

 

My alarm goes off at 5:30 (5 when I'm not pregnant) and I immediately shower, dress, make the bed and gather a load of laundry. By 6:15 the washer should be going, the dishwasher should be empty (except the silverware which the 4 year old is in charge of), the table should be set for the kids' breakfast and I am sitting down at my computer to eat my breakfast. I have 45 minutes to eat, surf, email, pay bills, etc.

 

My 2 year old wakes up around 6:45, but is content to play in his crib until 7am when I get him up. He and I have our one on one time for the next half hour - during that time he does his chore of moving the laundry to the drier. My 4 year old wakes up around 7am and is allowed to turn on his light and look at books, but other than going potty he needs to stay in his bed until his tot clock turns green at 7:30.

 

Breakfast is around 7:45 and then potty, teeth and getting dressed. At 9am let the wild rumpus begin!!

 

Wendy

[MomtoCandJ]

Dd and I get up about the same time, though I do try to get up 30 minutes before she does. Sometimes she gets up with dh which makes for a long for her, but she has to get use to that for next school year.

[UncleEJ]

I wake up when the come crawling into my bed lol!

 

I am not a morning person at all, my natural inclination is to stay up late and sleep in. Alas, little kids don't let that happen. I too have thought about waking up before the kids, I KNOW I would be a much more pleasant Momma but I don't have the will power. After they go to bed, it's so nice to have the quiet and I end up staying up way to late. This is something that has really been on my mind though and I would love to hear tips from others on how they accomplish this.

[Pawz4me]

I'm usually up between 4:30 and 5:00. Oldest DS (public high school) gets up around 7:00. Youngest DS (homeschooled) is usually up by 8:30.

 

I don't have any advice. I'm naturally a morning person. I don't even need an alarm clock to get up long before dawn. But staying up past 9:00 or 9:30 at night is very hard for me, so I can image what it's like for a night person to have to get up early.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I usually wake up at the same time or later than my kids, but my boy's are 10 and 13. So they can fend for themselves while I get some Zzz's. When they were younger I had to get up at the same time or before to keep the day going smoothly. I am not a morning person.

[TheReader]

LOL, I can't vote because I need a different answer for each child!

 

I get up with my DH when he gets up for work; that's around 7 a.m. He and I have coffee together, chat, hang out, etc. while he gets ready to leave. I have my quiet/computer time once he's gone.

 

The first child wakes up within about 30 mins of DH leaving for work, normally; he is a slow waker so watches a movie while his brain wakes up; I continue my quiet/computer time while he does that. The next child wakes up about an hour after the first child, and the last wakes about 30 mins to an hour after that. We don't have normal wake-up times around here.

 

I do need my wake-up time/quiet/computer time to fully become awake and ready for the day; the boys are good about entertaining themselves & one another while that happens, and if I did sleep in, they'd do okay. But they are 15, 12 and 8 now, so big difference from when they were little.

[Kelly1730]

Early riser here. I'm not sleeping well lately and I wake up anywhere between 2am and 5am but force myself to stay in bed until 5. I get up, start my tea, put in a lol, and do my quiet time/devotions. Second cup of tea, switch laundry, empty dw and get online for awhile. Best case scenerio would be that I shower and get kids breakfast ready. They are up between 7 and 8 but do their own thing until I call them for breakfast.

[*Lulu*]

I voted about the same time, although I do occasionally wake up 30 minutes before. (At least I would in a perfect world!)

 

It only works for us because I do not cook breakfast except on Friday and Saturday. (Okay, DH cooks more on those days than I do.) The rest of the week I serve oatmeal in pre-measured containers so the kids can fix it for themselves in the microwave, (Punk helps Bug), and baked goods that I have made ahead of time. Our morning routine is to the point of auto-pilot and that helps tremendously as well.

[Spryte]

Not a morning person here. :) I've never been wired that way, but now I have a medical reason. My body does not create the hormones, etc that normally wake us, so I have to take them. Aaack, just makes a non-morning person's life harder! I would sleep forever, really.

 

I wake up twice. Once when the kids get up and crawl into our bed - around 6:30. At that point, DH gets up and passes me my morning meds. I swallow them, and fall back on the pillow while DH takes the kids for some quiet time. Around 8 - 8:30, I wake up and grab coffee, ready to go. DH heads to work, and the kids have Happy Mommy.

 

(And yes, I know how lucky I am to have a DH who can do this, because he works from a home office!)

[SKL]

I am not a morning person. I generally get up maybe 5-10 minutes before waking my kids, but it varies. Sometimes I have to get up very early to get some work out before "normal business hours." Occasionally one or both of my kids gets up early for some unknown reason. But in general, I get up at the latest possible time to get all the morning stuff done before 8:15am, and I do my essential bathroom things before waking my kids.

[Bree]

I'm not a morning person but I try an hour before the kids. I am up at 7 and then the baby will sometimes wake up around then or later depending on the day. The rest of the kids usually wake up around 8. They probably let me have my hour since they go to bed later. If I lay them down early for bed they are up early.

[ErinE]

I'm a much nicer Mommy when I've had time to wake up first, usually an hour.

 

The parent has a mandatory 15 minute quiet time if the kids wake up early. It makes for a better start to the day. I try to be up at least an hour before so I can exercise and shower.

[sassenach]

When mine were little, I slept right up to when they woke up. I just really needed the sleep. Now, I get up at 6:15, start getting my disabled ds ready for school at 6:45, put him on the bus at 7:30, say goodbye to my teen at 7:45, and then I have about an hour before my 2 homeschoolers get up. This week I started couch to 5k in that 1 hour gap. I'd rather sit and read, but I really need to start exercising.

[Parrothead]

For the most part we get up about the same time. Some nights my insomnia kicks in to high gear, like last night, and dd wakes me at 10 to see if I'm okay. Other nights things work as expected and I'm up in the mornings first and wake dd.

[MissKNG]

I wake up about 5am every morning and my girls get up between 5:30/5:45am.

 

Fortunately, my body adapts well to change! I "trained" myself to be a morning person in college. I scheduled as many early classes as I could. Then I would set my alarm and put it ACROSS the room so I would HAVE to get up to turn it off. It's way too easy to hit snooze and go back to bed when the clock is right next to the bed. But when it's across the room, you are up!

[Soror]

I prefer at least 30 min, with a baby it varies but these days I am usually up at 6:15 and the earliest kids wakes around 7am.

[creekland]

I'm a natural morning person (without an alarm clock) and tend to get up at 4:30am on school days. On school days I shower, then get youngest up around 5:30am so he can get ready for school (public high school). We leave at 6:48. I get hubby up right before we leave.

 

On weekends, unless something is going on, everyone sleeps as late as they want or 10:30 or so if they aren't up by then. I get up around 5:30am. Hubby will sleep until 8 or 8:30 and youngest will sleep until I wake him up.

 

When my two homeschoolers were here they could get up whenever they liked (or 10:30). Oldest would often be up by 8am. Middle would often sleep until 9:30 or 10:00.

 

I can't remember a time when any family member has been up before me - if there were a time, chances are, I was sick. I do, however, go to bed the earliest of all of us.

[Ellie]

When my dc were little, it never occurred to me to get up before them. I needed my sleep, too. :-) We usually got up between 7:30 and 8. Since I take my shower in the evening, I was ready to go in the morning (especially since dc were not early risers). We had hugs and kisses and meandered out into the living room and kitchen, where we had breakfast together (I get dressed and make my bed before I leave my bedroom, and I wash my hair in the kitchen sink after breakfast). We were ready for the day by 9ish.

[nmoira]

Me: 5:30

DD the Younger: 7:00-7:30

DD the Elder: 9:00 (I wake her)

[Soror]

When my dc were little, it never occurred to me to get up before them. I needed my sleep, too. :-) We usually got up between 7:30 and 8. Since I take my shower in the evening, I was ready to go in the morning (especially since dc were not early risers). We had hugs and kisses and meandered out into the living room and kitchen, where we had breakfast together (I get dressed and make my bed before I leave my bedroom, and I wash my hair in the kitchen sink after breakfast). We were ready for the day by 9ish.

 

I like some time just to myself and like my own time to wake up quietly and slowly. I go to bed the same time as the kids so as they need more sleep I wake up earlier than them. I notice a lot of people stay up later than their kids, some significantly so but that doesn't work the best in my family as dh needs to get up early and I'm more of a morning person. Our days go much smoother when I am up early.

[mandymom]

Seeing that I have 5 kids, I do have some early birds. I voted that I wake up an hour before my kids, but my oldest dd is usually awake when I wake up. She stays in her room though. I only know she is awake because I see Facebook posts from her, or she texts me from upstairs :) She's like me and needs a little while by herself before the masses wake up.

[Tita Gidge]

I voted for after my kids, which is true the majority of weekdays.

 

I live with and near family, so it's not unusual (especially this time of year) to put the kids to bed and walk over to a sibling's house for games, conversation, and such. Or, as was the case last night, heckling a nephew over the unfavorable call he made as ump at his cousins' baseball game earlier in the evening :)

 

We stay up late. We did even as kids. Our kids sometimes join us, we're flexible about sleeptimes.

 

I'm just not as able to recover from late nights as easily as I used to, so I still need to sleep in LOL.

[Ellie]

I like some time just to myself and like my own time to wake up quietly and slowly. I go to bed the same time as the kids so as they need more sleep I wake up earlier than them. I notice a lot of people stay up later than their kids, some significantly so but that doesn't work the best in my family as dh needs to get up early and I'm more of a morning person. Our days go much smoother when I am up early.

 

 

My dc were in bed by 8. Mr. Ellie and I stay up later. Although we all woke up around the same time, we were all gently waking up. :-)

[TracyP]

I voted an hour before, but that changes depending on the kids. The important thing is that I get up 1.5 hours before my dh leaves for work. This guarantees me enough time for a workout and a shower. I am a much happier person when I get those two things in the a.m. :)

[BarbecueMom]

I will naturally wake up around 6:30-6:45 these days, but the kids are usually up before then. They went to bed about 7:45 last night after being outside all day, were up coughing and congested most of the night, then I woke up at 5:48 this morning to the sound of running, things being flung down the stairs, and a dramatic reenactment of "Froggy Learns to Swim". It seems they wake up to use the bathroom early, then do that cat thing where they run up and down the hall for five minutes straight afterward. I'm not entirely sure they are fully awake when they do it.

 

I'm hoping some day I have at least 20-30 minutes of quiet in the morning before kids get up. Today is not that day.

[HRAAB]

Depends on how well I sleep. I'm always up between 5:00 to 5:30 to get dh's lunch, but I usually go back to bed and get up around 7:00. If I haven't slept from 1:30 on, somebody will usually wake me by 9:00. My oldest gets up around 7:00, the twins get up around 8:00. It's nice now that they're older: if I'm not up they get their own breakfast and start on math. My oldest doesn't need me in the mornings. Our best days are when I get enough sleep! So if that means sleeping in until 9:00, that's what happens.

[prairiewindmomma]

Dh is up at 5:00. He sets out breakfast for the kids before he heads to the gym. #3 is usually awake by then. I am up at 8:00ish when the baby wakes. #4 wanders in around then. I shower and dress and then wake oldest.

 

We get a late start to our day, but I have some major health issues, and must sleep 9ish hours a night or I have problems. Between waking to nurse preemie baby and waking to deal with #4 who only sleeps 6 hours a night total...it just is what it is in this season of life.

 

When I can sleep without interruption and when I can sleep fully (not needing to keep an ear out), I can wake before kids.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I'm up at 5 am. I get the kids up at 7 if they aren't up by then.

[Embassy]

And I thought 8:00 was early! :eek: My kids get up about 30 minutes before I do or at the same time.

[violamama]

I'm a night owl, and so is my husband. My boys are up between 8-9 and usually I'm up just a little before they are.

 

I've been thinking about getting back into running in the mornings. It wouldn't take much, just up by 8 and I could use the treadmill. Up by 7 and I could go outside all by MYSELF!

[Rosie_0801]

I wake up when they wake me up, usually. I'm currently a mess because I haven't slept past dawn in weeks and the two hours after dawn are when we make most of our serotonin. I really like serotonin. It's one of my favourite things.

[nmoira]

And I thought 8:00 was early! :eek:

 

 

I used to as well, until I hit a certain age that I just couldn't sleep past 5:30/6. I'm not amused.

[Farrar]

We're much closer now because my kids will sleep until 7:30 sometimes now! But it used to be they were up before 6 am. I just could not do it.

 

When they were about 3 yo, I trained them to use the remote for their shows and would put out dry cereal and a sippy of juice. They would watch one show, then come get me.

 

Now, in order to get things moving for the day, I put out "Morning Work." This is usually something easy or light - a math drill, an editing sheet, a logic page. Tin Man Press's Wakeruppers is my favorite for this. That helps us accomplish getting the day off right.

[LucyStoner]

Most often I wake up when our younger son runs into our room and climbs on my head. After one of us taking him to the bathroom and getting him settled back into our bed, I sometimes lounge in bed. Sometimes I get up. If for some reason my son miraculously doesn't wake me using me as a jungle gym, I wake up when my husband leaves for work and he says goodbye. Life was more efficient when i got up much earlier than them, worked out, made lunches, etc. That was when I had to work out at 5:30AM since I was working FT. Now, I workout after a full night's sleep and can fix lunch in the middle of the day. Not as efficient but I have way more hours at my disposal than I did.

[Jennifer in MI]

I said after my kids, but I must explain. My kids are rowers and are out on the water by 5 am. I don't get up with them. I wake up around the same time as my daughter - 6:30 - 7. My 12 yo would sleep until noon if I let him.

[lavender's green]

An hour before. I treasure my alone time with my coffee and internet. I am a much, much nicer mommy if I get that.

[MrsMeunier]

I want to wake up earlier than they do, but if I so much as stick my big toe out of bed, they somehow know and all wake up! ack! :)

[GSOchristie]

I'm naturally a morning person, but so are my kids. I get up at 6:00, Asher between 6:15-6:30, Jax between 6:30-7:00. Asher comes down and eats yogurt then goes back up to read his Bible until 7:00, Jax has to stay in bed until 7:00. I need to drink my coffee, start my chores, do my Bible study, and make sure we are ready for school when they wake up.

[LostSurprise]

My PS kids (10-14) usually get themselves up, shower, dress, feed themselves, make themselves lunches, and walk to school. I really appreciate their independence on this issue. I try to get up near the end of their time and help my 10 year old make his lunch or help people grab things at the last moment.

 

I need my sleep. I'm not a night person, but my life is very stressful right now. I awake with my youngest son for medical issues off and on all night and I need all the rest I can get.

[redsquirrel]

I don't even know what time they get up. It is before me, that is all I know. They get up, they make their own breakfast and play until I get up. If it gets too late they start their lessons without me.

 

My husband brings me coffee and puts it next to my bed every morning, but by the time I get it, it is always cold. I have no idea what time he gets up either.

 

I swear I am out of bed by 8:30. Ok, maybe 9. But, really, 9 is the absolute latest.

[Aspasia]

I want to wake up earlier than they do, but if I so much as stick my big toe out of bed, they somehow know and all wake up! ack! :)

 

 

This is what I'm afraid of! I just know they'll all wake up, and then we'll all be exhausted and cranky all day.

[Pod's mum]

I'm generally awake in the pre-dawn dark, then watch the sky colour up and then get up. I normally bother dd if she's still in bed an hour or so later.

If I've been awake for hours in the night then occasionally I'll go to sleep again at dawn. THEN dd can come in for a cuddle before I'm up. Rare.

Sometimes she's convinced that I don't go to bed.

My body just copes with much less sleep now.

This can be annoying in the middle of the night when I'd prefer to be asleep.

 

I do like my quiet coffee + sunrise hour.

 

ETA: I hate a blacked out, sealed room, I think seeing, smelling, hearing the morning arriving helps with being awake and ready to go. Though this means full moon nights keep me awake more.

[lea_lpz]

Around the same time. We have one early bird who usually comes in as we are getting up but occasionally we sleep in and let the kids get themselves cereal and watch cartoons.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Can't vote. Child #1 wakes up about an hour before me. Child #2 wakes up about an hour after me. That has been their pattern since very young.

[Chris in VA]

Nowadays, dd has to leave the house by about 6:45, and I don't have to go to work until 10ish, so I sleep until 5 minutes before I get her up.

[Aspasia]

Well, Day #1 of Operation Early Riser is a bust. I forgot that the baby often wakes up at 6:00. I don't know if I can pull off 5:00, you guys. That sounds insane to me.

[plath]

Most days, I'm up at the same time- around 7-7:30. This morning I'm relishing in my quiet time- they're not up yet so I'm sitting here with my coffee :) and they went to bed an hour early!