Parent Thread
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Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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My kids (2 and 4) wake up because they're hungry. We've tried feeding them dinner closer to bed time, increasing portion size, and making it more protein heavy (hoping for slower digestion), but unfortunately none of that impacted their wake up time. I wish I could offer more help, but we have just kind of accepted that this is the new norm for a while. Think of it as an opportunity to become a morning person?Ok so how the hell do you make your 14 month old sleep past 5am? I don't know wtf the deal is but the past week he's been getting up at 5-530 instead of his 'normal' 630-730. Maybe 5 is fine for some people but that is an ungodly early hour for me. Constantly feeling like a damn zombie right now.
Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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What we ended up doing to fix this was making their super early wake ups as boring and painfully uneventful as possible. My son would wake up at 3:30 and ask to play the iPad. Giving him the iPad wasn't an every morning thing, but when we're in a rush to get out the door it's faster to distract him so he's not under our feet than to deal with all the reasons he comes up with to distract and delay getting out of the house.
Our standoff lasted 3 days. We'd sit in the living room in complete darkness and silence. I'd put an audio book on with my headphones in and he'd stumble around the living room or sit on the couch until he was finally like, "Let's go back to bed," an hour or so later. Yeah, it sucked for those 3 days, but we haven't had a problem with it since then. YMMV of course.
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I went the other way: I got kindle-fire kid's editions for our kids, I charge them during the day, I set out cereal the night before and leave a few minibagels in a bag on each end of the table, and put glasses of milk in the fridge. The oldest (5yo now, 4yo when we started doing this) gets the milk out for her and the 3yo (2yo then), and we get to sleep an extra hour while they get pokemon/battle slugs/backyardigans and a light breakfast. They also let themselves out of their [shared] room to do this though. If they fight or make too much noise to wake up their 18mo brother, they lose the tablets and have to go back to sleep.
edit: I missed the 4am part... I have the kindles set for "hours of use" so they only are available from 6am to 8pm (and only 3 hours of total use during the day). We got the kids a visual alarm clock... it turns green at 6am, which is when they are allowed to get out of bed and play on their kindles. Sometimes they get out a bit earlier and start eating or playing with some toys, but if it's too early and they wake us up... they lose the kindles.
Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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I'm glad you mentioned that. I need to try the visual alarm clock again. We were trying to be cheap about it and got one of those outlet timers, but the settings are nonsensical and the timing is hugely inconsistent. In theory I think my kids would respond well to it (they're very rule/protocol oriented).
Which brand/model do you use? Or which would you recommend?
Which brand/model do you use? Or which would you recommend?
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Amazon.com: Adorable color-changing night-light teaches children to stay in bed longer so families get more sleep!: Home Kitchen
That's what we have. Green faceplate and everything. It "works" well enough, though the biggest issue is that the green light doesn't necessarily stay on that long. So if the kids oversleep and actually listen to rules, then they might not get out of bed even though they should be able too.
Woefully Inept
Ssraeszha Raider
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Yup I've tried a bottle. It doesn't matter. I try to put him back to bed and he screams like I'm Freddy goddamn Krueger trying to kill him in his dreams or some shit. I'm hoping it's just a phase because he WAS sleeping better until a little over a week ago. Damn it I refuse to go to bed early! It's the only time I really get for myself. lol
And now no nap at all today. We had a genetic counseling appointment with him today in Boston to have him tested for the genetic disorder I have. He shouldn't have it at all due to the PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnoses) but they there was a margin of error in the 1% range so for total peace of mind we're comparing his DNA to mine to double check it. Anyway it all took forever and he missed his nap by a long shot and now he'll drift off but will not stay asleep. I am dreading tonight big time now. Last time this happened he was fucking hell for hours.
And now no nap at all today. We had a genetic counseling appointment with him today in Boston to have him tested for the genetic disorder I have. He shouldn't have it at all due to the PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnoses) but they there was a margin of error in the 1% range so for total peace of mind we're comparing his DNA to mine to double check it. Anyway it all took forever and he missed his nap by a long shot and now he'll drift off but will not stay asleep. I am dreading tonight big time now. Last time this happened he was fucking hell for hours.
I apologize for bringing up my kids driving. I was told in a neg that I should be teaching them in a parking lot. Doesn't matter that they need 60 hours of road time logged with an adult driver.
opiate82
Bronze Squire
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First, I didn't neg you, but your post did read like you went to the DMV, got their learner's permit, then told them to take the freeway home. That would seem a little irresponsible to me.
I'm guessing based on your reaction that wasn't the sequence of events, but that is how it looked based on your post.
You can't get your learner permit in any state without going through a driver education program first. Did none of you get licensed that way or did they start that in 1996 with me.
I think they have changed more recently then. I assumed everyone did it this way. Truly my mistake.
Woefully Inept
Ssraeszha Raider
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Back in '94 we had to take drivers ed and pass the test then and only then could we get a driving permit.
Crone
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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As said already, they are up for a reason. Most of the time it's hunger, but try and figure out what it is. Again, as said, probably is food related.Ok so how the hell do you make your 14 month old sleep past 5am? I don't know wtf the deal is but the past week he's been getting up at 5-530 instead of his 'normal' 630-730. Maybe 5 is fine for some people but that is an ungodly early hour for me. Constantly feeling like a damn zombie right now.
Edit: Fuck, didn't see the extra page of replies already answering this for you pretty much. My bad.
Going to look into the alarm clock thing, that's sweet. Also about to order 2 Amazon Kindles for Kids since they have it BOGO 50% off right now.
Woefully Inept
Ssraeszha Raider
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Well it took an hour and 45 minutes to get him to bed tonight so we'll see how he does tonight. If he gets up early in the morning I'll try a quick diaper change and a bottle to see if that works. My wife is all well maybe that's just when he gets up now. Man don't give me that crap. He never woke up this early until a week ago. But then she's up before the roosters to get ready for teaching so it's no skin off her back. I just don't function properly at 5am. Lol
Crone
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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I feel that. I work 2nd shift, 3:30pm-12am, and lately I've been having to stay later at work for random things. By the time I get home, I'm tired and usually just go to sleep, instead of having some ME time. Then during the day, I'm with the kids and playing with them all day, so again, no ME time. Shit's rough. The struggle is real.
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Our Driver's Ed class was given after school via a DMV instructor at the school. We had to do 10 hours with the instructor, after which we got a parental supervision license (learners permits). We had to do 100 hours of behind the wheel with a parent to get take the driver's license test, which let us drive alone.
Adebisi
Clump of Cells
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Ontario has graduated licencing. At 16 you can pass a written test to get the first level that allows you to drive with mom and dad. After a year you can take the in-car level two test which allows you to drive without mom and dad, but absolutely sober. Last level in-car test gives you full license to have a beer with dinner before you drive.