Some little people wake up early no matter how hard we may try to convince them to sleep longer, hello early risers! It’s possible a child wakes up early but wakes up rested, they may just be a natural early morning riser. These tips are for those children who wake up rested but it may be problematic for the exhausted parents who also become early risers {and it’s not by choice}. My toddler is one of these little early risers. And luck would have it, my infant is an early riser on the off-chance my toddler sleeps past 6:00 a.m.
We have a bedtime routine established and have tried recommendations of adjusting the bedtime earlier or later, reducing/skipping nap time, and keeping the room as dark as possible but the end result is still an early riser. Honestly, I’m also an early riser but let’s face the facts, neither one of my kid sleeps through the night consistently, I often stay up later than I intend, and there are mornings I’m just not ready to hit the ground running.
Here are a few tips that I have learned to survive with children who are naturally early morning risers. I use these tips in order to get just a little more rest before we start the day.
#1 Leave the Lights Off. Would you believe it took me almost two years to figure this tip out?!? Naturally, we would come downstairs, turn the lights on – wait, what?! Tip #1 is to leave the lights off or if you need a light to function, turn on a small table lamp. This is a helpful reminder for children that it’s early and that the world is still sleeping.
#2 Have Bonding Time. I love using early mornings to grab a blanket or pillow and snuggle with my boys. They enjoy an early morning quick, mess-free snack, usually dry cereal and a cup of milk. We lounge on the couch and enjoy some bonding time before we start the day. It also provides the perfect quiet time for morning prayer or conversation. My toddler in particular loves using this time to talk about the day ahead and he’ll say “Momma, let’s talk. Want to talk about God?” How could I not savor the moment and find peace with being awake before the sun with this beautiful time for conversation?
#3 Have Quiet Time Activities. Establish a quiet time routine. We use books, puzzles, and screen time in the morning. There is some caution with using screen time first thing in the morning because it may encourage young ones to rush up to be rewarded with TV or an iPad but we haven’t found that a driving force with our early risers. My toddler enjoys quiet snuggle time on the couch with his favorite cartoons or playing some of his favorite iPad apps. Routines are a must with my toddler who is very active – morning or not, he wakes up ready to rumble. He wakes up ready to jump, climb, talk loudly, bang on his toy piano so having quiet activities is necessary for the momma bear, papa bear, and baby bear who may be attempting to wake up and soak in a few quiet moments in the early morning.
These three tips to survive with children who are naturally early morning risers of course do not actually get us more much-needed sleep but they do provide a few moments of wake-up time, a few more minutes to close our eyes if we need. I realized how stressful it was to always jump up when one of the kiddos woke up and to jump right in to getting ready, making breakfast, and shuffling around the house even though my mind {and body} are screaming NOT YET! Of course, there are plenty of days we still might have to jump right in to a routine but these tricks are helpful for that lazy Sunday morning when we need just a few more minutes to recover from a busy week!
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