One of the frustrating morning routines for most parents like you might be the time when you awaking your child. For many bed-heads, this means they would be late for school and/or any other activities. Calm down. Remember that you or your husband once also had difficulties waking up in the morning as a child. Instead of laying a finger on them, here are few tips that would help you awaking your child easily. It might not be an overnight miracle, but with persistency and determination, eventually you would have your little ones jump out of bed enthusiastically.
1. Observe your child’ sleeping habits
Some kids are seemed to be born with natural alarm inside, which is a gift for their working parents. However, if your little ones are having difficulties getting up early, s/he might spend less time sleeping because s/he takes longer time to fall asleep. Observe your child to see why s/he has difficulties sleeping; ask him/her if needed. You need to make sure that your child does not drink or eat food or beverages loaded with sugar and/or caffeine in the afternoon. Sugary food tends to make him/her hyperactive and has difficulties sleeping during the night.
2. Make sure your child can sleep soundly
If the child does not have problems in getting sleep, s/he may indeed need more time to sleep. The human body would require a person to sleep longer especially in times of illness, seasonal changes and after a day filled with activities. Getting comfortable bedding and pillows is also important for your child’s sleep quality. By getting sufficient, quality sleep at night, your child is likely to wake up easily in the morning. However, urging the children to go to bed early can also be a big challenge for you.
3. Use varying methods to awaken your child
Please bear in mind that not all children respond to the same waking-up call/method. Some may get up once you turn on the bedroom light. Some only need to be touched gently, tenderly called by name. Others may require you to take the blanket and call their name with authoritative voice. Meanwhile some others would instantly jump out of bed if they listen to the soundtrack of their favorite cartoon movie. A friend of mine taught her daughter about dancing time (this is a time in the morning when she would play a cartoon soundtrack in the morning to wake up her daughter. Then they would dance together to the music). When she goes to her bedroom, she would ask what time was it. Her daughter would jump out of bed saying that it was dancing time. For my friend’s daughter, the best method is to make her enthusiastic and positive in the morning. Reinforce positive thoughts and attitudes daily, and avoid using negative sentences and harsh words when waking up child in the morning. Be patient to understand the best method to make your dear little one listens to your voice and get up.
4. Teach child to be grateful and have cheerful attitude
You can do this by first being grateful at the things you have, and be cheerful in doing your own tasks. Then, you could teach your child to be grateful and cheerfully obey commands. You can teach them to understand about consequences (either good or bad) that come after they do something. For example, if your child obeys your commands (which are spoken out for their own good), they would have time to eat breakfast favorite on certain days. To add dramatic effect, you may leave child’s door room open so your child could smell the tasty breakfast.
5. Teach child to have his/her own good habit
Teaching your child to have a good habit is not easy but it is not impossible either. You need to be patient in encouraging your child to get used to the habit of enthusiastically wake up in the morning. By inviting the children to experience their own learning, you are indirectly preparing them to the real world.
