Wake-up Call

It’s the same scenario day after day. Your daughter’s alarm clock rings in the morning waking up everyone in the house…except for her! Instead, she sluggishly rolls over, hits the snooze, and within minutes she’s back asleep. And if you try to get her up for school yourself, you’re in for a rude awakening. You’ll probably encounter a sneering, sniping, whining ball shouting at them from underneath her lair of blankets.

Despite your preteen’s protests, there is legitimacy to her chronic sleeping-in condition. Tweens are developmentally programmed to stay up later and sleep in later than adults. But despite the scientific data, the fact remains that she still needs to be on time for school. Thankfully, there’s a better way to wake up your sleeping beauty.

How to Wake Sleeping Beauty:

• No more night owl. Getting her out of bed early means getting her into bed early. Most school age children need between 9 and 12 hours of sleep per night. However, every child is different, so it becomes your task to figure out what’s best for her. A general rule of thumb is if she can fall asleep easily at night and wakes up either on her own or without feeling tired and cranky, then she’s getting enough sleep. Don’t let her pull the infamous excuse “my friends get to stay up later,” just be firm and explain to your daughter that her sleep cycle is different from her friends, and she needs the extra sleep so she can get up easily in the morning.

• Make it routine. Preteens respond best to routine, so about a week or two before the new school year begins; set her alarm a little earlier each day. This will help condition her to begin waking up on time when school starts. The same routine can be done over school holidays and breaks.

• Leave out the LOUD. No need for a blaring alarm. Instead, have her set her alarm to play soft music about 15-20 minutes before she is scheduled to wake up. This progression will allow her to ease into the morning and give her a couple of times to hit the snooze without being late.

• Hand it to her. Tweens and teens are at the age where not only are they seeking more independence and responsibility, but they should be given it. Hand the responsibility of getting up for school over to her. You can offer to knock on her door one time, if you like. Will she miss school? She might, but she’ll learn quickly the consequences of her actions. Many teens revel in the opportunity to assert their own autonomy and do a surprisingly good job getting to school on time when given the chance.

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• Negotiating Night Terrors
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• Girls and Bed-Wetting Accidents