Getting a 5-year-old up and going in the morning
Ok, so this question was somewhat helpful, but my son's problem is not quite the same. He is 5 and will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks (August 7th). Right now, we have the luxury of taking our time in the morning; even on days that my kids go to daycare we don't really have to be there until about 9:00 or so. However, my son's elementary school starts at 8:15 and the kindergarten teachers have all ready said that they prefer their students to be there by 8:00 so they can put their stuff away, get settled, and start their day promptly at 8:15. Realistically, this means that my son needs to be ready to walk out the door by 7:30 a.m. most mornings.
His problem is actually getting out of bed. Once he's up and moving, he gets ready fairly quickly and I don't have to hassle him too much about what he needs to do, but getting him out of bed is really difficult. The problem is not waking him up, he wakes up most mornings by himself by about 7:30, but he does not want to get out of bed. Sometimes he will come into my bedroom and climb into my bed--even if no one else is in it. Then we play the hide-under-the-covers game/I don't want to get up game/I don't feel good game/I don't like the lights on game for the next 10 minutes until he finally drags himself out of bed, uses the bathroom, and happily traipses off to his room to get dressed. After this, it's all gravy.
Thoughts on how to help him wake up and get started in the morning? I understand where he's coming from--I'm the exact same way, but dealing with the situation as an adult is different from dealing with the situation as a kid.
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I have a 4.5 year old and she doesn't like to get up either :) Sometimes if there is something exciting coming I'll remind her that, for example, a friend's birthday party will be in a couple days and if she gets up she'll be one day closer to getting to go. Anything exciting she can look forward to always works. Singing songs, turning on the lights in increments, like the nightlight first, then the overhead lights or a lamp, telling her she can wear her special princess shoes on the way to school. Anything exciting and interesting really does it for her. Challenging her to get her teeth brushed in record time is exciting. Stuff like that :)
I have the same issue with my 5-year old so I'm not too surprised.
I believe the issue is one of inertia. The child is comfortable so doesn't want to get up. My wife and I often play music to wake our little one up, sometimes we will even start a movie on a laptop to help her her fully awake and aware. Now, I know, waking is not the issue, getting up is.
So, usually one of us will pick our daughter up and carry her to the toilet. Once she's on the toilet we dry her and she's up and walking around. Of course, she is eager to run back to bed but we guide her to her toothbrush and to wash her face and by that time she is usually fully engaged and ready to start the day.
Again, the key is inertia - once you get them going you can't stop them.
Good luck!
Like Valkyrie's suggestion of the wet cloth and DrJ's suggestion of music, anything that jars your child out of his sleepiness will probably work. A friend of mine had great success with juice. Just a sip or two of cold juice with its burst of natural sugar was all it took to get her daughter ready to face the world.
My son is only 2 years old but I am realy an expert child awaker. I guess its because I am myself a late riser.
I have this toy dragon whose only purpose is to wake up my son. The dragon makes lots of funny things like jumping right into the bed and even calling my son a late riser and boasting himself being an early riser. This dragon is realy wild!
When he is awake but wants to stay in bed I suggest he says hello to his baby brother in the other room or drinking a cup of milk downstairs.
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