Six Year Old Can No Longer Sleep in Due Summer School

I'd rather have my child waking up early than late for school and school is starting soon. Why not have your son play quietly in his room. He could play with his toys or read books. He is 6 years old and should be able to play in his room without supervision. Not mention, if one child is waking up at one time, if they both wake up at the same time, I don't see the problem unless you don't want to get out of bed. I totally understand not wanting to wake up early myself since my 2 year old wakes up between 6 and 6:30. I can barely wake up.

Sleep schedules are so hared to work with and isn't he going back to school in about 3 weeks? The kids here are. Anyway, why not find something he can do quietly when he wakes up so he won't bother you. I'm fortunate in my daughter loves to read so she will just start reading in the morning. Maybe some sort of puzzle or game that he can either do in his bed or take to another part of the house and do?

Dear A.,
It's been my experience that early risers are just simply that...early risers. My daughter was always up very early. And my nephew...when he comes to stay with me, he's up before dawn. Even still, at 17 years old!
My son, on the other hand...unless he knows we're going on a trip or he's up early to go fishing, I practically have to drag him out of bed. I've literally threatened to make him go to school in his underwear if he doesn't get up to get dressed.
Early risers are actually easier, and although you can't change when they will wake up, you can let them know that they can still be quiet. I told my daughter and nephew...."You may be awake, but the HOUSE isn't awake yet." They could color or read, quietly listen to some music, play Barbie's or Lego's, get dressed if they wanted, but no getting into the kitchen, no turning on all the lights and TV. Obviously, as they got older, they could help themselves to some toast and cereal or something. But, they had to be quiet if everyone else was still sleeping.
I have two kids and Lord knows I've been up all night with one sick and didn't need the other one banging on my shoulder at 5:00 to get up when I'd just laid down and finally konked out an hour earlier. "Go back to bed!"
If you've got little ones getting up at 6:30 or 7, count your blessings because that's way easier than 5 or 5:30, trust me.
School will be starting soon. Lay out their clothes the night before. Make sure they have a lamp they can turn on and puzzles they can do. Give them a tablet and some crayons. What time does your alarm go off? 7am doesn't sound unreasonable, but perhaps you're a night nurse or something. I was going to say that maybe you could get your older son a digital clock and tell him at such and such time is when everybody gets up. He may be awake earlier, but that's not the get up time for everybody.
I've always said there are two things you can't force a child to do:
1) sleep
2) eat

Chances are, you kids will always be early risers so you just have to try to work around it.

I wish you the best.

Hello A.,

I was able to change up my daughter's schedule by letting her stay up later one night and waking her up at the time I wanted in the morning then the next night I would push it back a little and again wake her up at the same time. She got back on track within the first week. The first day they are tired but I was able to get her back on track. Good luck.

I'm puzzled as to why you want him to sleep in. He is six, and is going to be needing to start to get up early for school anyway. The schedule you mention wanting him to be on sounds like a lot of sleep for his age. You say you are a working mom, which makes me wonder why you aren't having to get him up early anyway so you can take him to daycare on your way to work. I guess what I'm saying is it sounds like you need to simply adjust and let him wake when he needs to. Someone else suggested that you help him find quiet things to do when he wakes. That seems to me to be the best idea. He's even old enough to fix himself a cereal breakfast and eat it as long as you give him some guidelines and the availability of the cereal, milk and utensils. If he has some small chores he's expected to do around the house, this might be the perfect time for him to get those out of the way too.

My kids have always been early risers - when they got to the age of about 3 or 4 - I gave them each an alarm clock and told them that they were not allowed to get out of bed until the clock said .....whatever time you choose. I told them that if they woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, that they could quietly get a book and read it in their bed but until the clock says .......whatever time....then you need to stay in bed and read QUIETLY!!! And don't they dare come in and wake me up! LOL - it worked and they liked having the clocks in their room, and I think it kinda made them feel like a grown up. Hope it works as well for you as it worked for me! Good Luck!

Hi A.,
Try moving his bedtime earlier. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, put if he's going to bed too late, he will be overtired and unable to sleep as well. I, too, agree with some of the other moms. If he is already on a great school sleep schedule, why mess with it? I HIGHLY recommend reading the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth for age appropriate sleep needs and schedules. Per Dr. Weissbluth (an expert in sleep) most children go to bed too late and it can cause many health and developmental issues.
Sincerely,
L.