Moms Forum: Now how do you wake them up?

Posted in Mom Stuff
by besttech

McClatchy-Tribune

Moms Forum spotlights useful discussion taking place on the parenting forums of newspapers around the country.

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QUESTION: So we put them to sleep with all those lovely lullabies … how do you wake them up?

Do you sing them awake? Yell? Dump cold water on them? Rub their backs?

DD15 & DS7 are like me and wake up to the slightest sound or touch. All I have to do is come in, whisper their name, and touch them and they’re up. DS5 is a little tougher. He really resists it. But I found if I just pick him up and carry him out to the couch, turn on a cartoon he will wake up. Don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do that.

My mom always woke me up with songs, lyrics she made up. I’ve woken my kids up with the same songs many, many, many mornings and recently they were talking about it… Come to find out they all love being awakened like that, just like I did. I bet they sing their grandma’s silly made-up songs to their kids someday, which I think is kind of cool.

_ Posted by Jennifer Brown at www.mom2momkc.com

RESPONSES:

_ On school days, they get themselves up with alarm clocks. On days when I have to wake them up, I go in the room and say rather loudly, “Time to get up!”. For DS, it helps if I turn on his light.

_ When I was in school my mom would scream our names up the stairs and that did it. I don’t wake my grouchy sleeping beauty up yet, I’d rather let her sleep.

_ I have a little good morning song my mom sang to us. But after the first “nooooo, I don’t wanna, I am so tired” I turn on the very bright lights and walk out of the room. This only happens on weekdays for some reason on weekends she has no problem getting up at 6 a.m.; weird huh?

_ My parents used to push the test button on the fire alarm to wake us up. Real cute until we had an actual fire …

_ Waking my daughter up? I have lots of different ways to do that, depending on how sleepy she is. But if she’s really sleepy and just now wanting to get up at all, I tell her, “Don’t make me sing the ant song.” You know the one: “The ants go marching one by one … ” When I sing it, I march my fingers up and down her legs. By the time we reach 10, she’s very rarely still asleep. As a matter of fact, she’s usually laughing and kicking her covers off to make me stop.