Getting children out of bed is a difficult task. But surprisingly it is difficult only on school days. On weekends and holidays they are up and everywhere in the house even before us. Since I had seen my mom struggle with me while waking me for school, one thing I for sure knew as a parent that “It’s not laziness when kids do not wish to get out of the bed easily”. Most of the times it is lack of excitement in the morning or a problem at school or lack of sleep. If these three are sorted then getting them ready for school will be alot easier.
Many children sleep far less than they require. Children need more sleep compared to adults (9-10 hours every night) for a healthy body and mind. Even growth hormones are released during sleep, hence it is very essential that they get enough sleep. Children who sleep enough, usually wake up more happily than others. My son who is 8, doesn’t sleep during the day so i make sure that he is in bed by 8.30pm so that I can wake him by 6am.
Next reason could be that the child fears going to school. Talk to your child about it. If he/she cries waking up or refuses going to school time and again then may be he is facing trouble somewhere. There was a time when my son absolutely refused going to school. This behaviour was not usual. I could sense strong repulsion. Thats when I spoke to him, and assured him that he needs to share his reason of not going. I made him believe that if the reason was strong enough, i will not send him to school. That is when he spoke about a senior boy teasing him in bus. The matter was sorted comfortably and in two days he was happily going to school.
And last but not the least, Make mornings exciting for them. I keep changing the morning routine to make it exciting. If I have to gift him something, I usually do it in the morning so that he wakes up happily. I brought him an alarm clock and told him that he is a grown up boy and must wake up by himself. This gave him a sense of being mature and every night he would put an alarm by himself and wake up comfortably, feeling rather proud about the same. This trick worked well for almost 6-7 months until i had to experiment again. Many a times I begin waking him up by asking him questions, or sharing something silly that would make him smile and soon we are in a conversation and he doesnt realise that he is wide awake. Shouting at them or telling that they are getting late for school only makes them believe that no matter how hard they try, they are always late so why even try.
I will cuddle him, tickle him, give him 5 minutes extra sleep time before he gets out of bed or even give 10 minutes extra sleep time if he gets ready quickly, play treasure hunt right in the morning,share an exciting story of a neighbour but try never to bore him with the same dialogue and monotone. Hope this helps you too in making your mornings easy and pleasurable.
#HappyParenting
Parenting by Dr Shweta 