I have a 13 year old son who is the MOST stubborn to wake up in the morning. He sleeps through any alarm I’ve bought and gets angry at me for waking him up School starts next week and I do not want us to fight every morning. Last year was extremely stressful for both of us. No one likes to start the day like that. What have you done to help mitigate a SUPER non-morning kid and what kind of wake up system do you use??
Air horn cold water. Idk Sunday we get everything set out for the next week sock underwear jackets pants shirt make sure snacks are ready to grab the next day backpack by the door.
That may just be who he is… a grumpy morning person. But have you also analyzed his sleeping habits? Does he snore? What time is he going to bed? Is he waking up during the night?
Was he born in the middle of the night? My son is now 46 yrs old and gets up for work at 4:30am every morning. It was a battle since he started kindergarten. Turns out when he was in 8th grade his teacher tested him with the university entrance exam…he scored at senior level so he skipped high school and went straight to college. I wish you all the best. Just know it does get better with time.
It’ll be a fight…that’s the truth.i went through it with my son…he was never a morning person…now he’s 23 and easy to wake up…never late for work…70 hours a week…
My son was the same! I set expectations and he needed to meet them or we had natural consequences. He’d sleep through alarms, and I’d tried to wake him up and he wouldn’t budge. We talked about responsibility and set ground rules. Then it was on him, took the stress off me. He didn’t get up? He knew it meant no video games that day. He missed the bus? He knew he’d have to walk. He didn’t have a set bedtime, but when he couldnt get up, he had one. He was 14 when we had this chat. He gets up and gets going every day now.
He doesn’t need to be a morning person. He needs to learn responsibility. He’s 13, plenty old enough to be responsible for getting up and getting ready. “When you can start getting up and ready we’ll talk about giving you the responsibility of having your own phone”
I have the same problem . I get stressed just thinking I uave to wake him up.
My now 18 year old was this way her whole entire schooling. I am so happy she graduated last year and I no longer have to deal with her in the mornings. It’s the worst. It was ALWAYS a fight!
What teenager is a morning person lol. I’m not a norming person myself, Start by implementing rules, like earlier bedtime, definitely no devices and turn off wifi if needed. Either slowly reintroduce them back in once he shows responsibility or give them extra time on the weekends.
What is their favorite breakfast ? Tell them you’ll make it & have it ready for you lol food & coffee gets me outta bed everytime
Start 15 minutes before actual wake up time. I do this with my grandson. I will say " ok guy it’s time to start waking up" I do that like once every 5 minute and the last 5 minutes I say it like 2 times. It’s a good start
Natural consequences. you can’t make him a morning person but you can let him experience what happens when he doesn’t wake up in time…
Set Alexa to blast Cradle of Filth… that should do the trick!
Try a reward system. As an adult we have to get up and go to work to have money… a child does not see going to school as a good reason lol. Extra screen time, their choice dinner night, a special dessert… whatever would be enticing to your child. My son knows if he gets up and gets ready quickly he can play his game until it’s time to go.
Spray bottle… yes I did! It got him up and grumpy is a choice they make.
A walk in the early evening. Earlier “lights out”. No devices in bedroom.
Wake him up an hour earlier than everyone else, that way he can take all the extra time he needs…
That way no one is rushing, and it will start the day off easier. Other suggestions like getting clothes prepared the night before will help too.
My 13 year old son to a T. You could set firecrackers off right beside him and he would not budge. I can’t really blame him because I’m not a morning person either. Never have been. School starts for us Monday morning and so begins the fight to get him out of bed.
That’s me I am not a morning person:grin:…the only alarm that worked for me was the radio alarm. Instead of beeping it would turn on to the radio station n that’s what would wake me up. If not I just sleep thru them all:person_facepalming:
The trick I would do is… wake him up half an hour than the actual time he needed to be up and simply working my way there. I’d allow him to “sleep” 5 extra minutes and it slowly started to diminish our morning fights
Sounds counterproductive but wake him up earlier. For example if you normally wake him up at 7:00, wake him up at 6:00 or 5:30 if that works for your schedule my daughter is not a morning person and I found when I wake her up earlier it’s easier
Let me know if you find out bc I’m 36 and have had insomnia since I was a child! I feel physically ill in the morning and get loads of energy after 5pm.
My 8yr old is the same way even in utero she was the same lol
Make him walk to school if he can’t get up on time if it’s a safe trip, anyway
I don’t have a teenager yet, I’ve just had a friend with one who constantly made her late for work because of this behavior. He didn’t want to be late for school, but this made him manage his time and own the consequence.
I use our Alexa as an alarm and for my girls it goes off playing Megan Trainor— they wake up a lot easier and in better moods since I’ve started doing this. They love to dance and sing and play to the upbeat music. It helps me too! We start our days with a dance party lol
Some people just don’t like the mornings. Ive never been a morning person and I’m still not. I can get up early and deal with it if I make myself go to bed by a certain time but I don’t enjoy it and never will. I’d get everything done the night before so it’s just up bathroom and changed with everything else ready to go. The part about him complaining I’d literally just say you have to wake up for school so I don’t want to hear it and end the conversation. He may not like it but that’s just the reality that he has to get up. I’d maybe at nighttime say I don’t want to hear in the morning that you don’t want to wake up cause there is nothing I can do about that.
Start talking to him during the day and explain to him there expectations to be met and school will start soon, tell him it’s his job to wake up and be ready for school in a timely matter, that it’s his responsibility to be prepared and ready for school and when he doesn’t meet your expectations then don’t allow him to have some privileges that he might like, such as tv time, go to bed an hour earlier, no gaming if he does, make sure communication is always talked about before going to bed, and make sure you are spending time bonding more. Certain people are harder to wake up but it’s his job to be prepared for getting up and getting to school.
Water bottle works, go to bed earlier
Make sure everything is in order the night before and wake him up an hr before he needs to get up to be on time.
Sorry but he’s a hormonal teenage boy. Comes with the territory for the majority. They’ll be having growth spurts and hormonal changes right now. Earlier to bed maybe and set his alarm earlier too. If it takes half an hour to get him going, set it half hour earlier or 45 minutes. Also have it on repeat on the other side of the room so he has to get out of bed to stop it. If you can find one you can set multiple times on or use his phone, that way another will still go off if he’s turned the first one off rather than snooze lol
Im still not a morning person. Even with sleep i’ll never be a morning person and i have a husbamd who wakes before the crack of dawn like its nothing. But to make it easier all electronics need to be off by whatever time you choose and you can experiment with that time. Im a mom of 6 living and 2 angels. Just because ive trained myself to get up and take care of business doesnt mean i like it and ill sleep in until 9am or later if i can.
Is anything keeping him up at night? We take my 13 years old phone at 9pm every night and it has made a world of difference
Get a routine going to have everything needed for morning laid out and ready to go at bedtime, and have him go to bed earlier. Talk to him about not wanting his morning routine to be frustrating and ask if he has any ideas on how to make it smoother. Also remember young men and women are going through puberty and growing into adulthood and it is tiring on their bodies.
My 16 year old fights with him everyday, haven’t figured it out with school. But work he gets up and I dont even know he left. There just pain in the A**es… lol but we love them…
Its ok to not be a morning person. I am one, my teen daughter isnt. And its fine
I’m not a morning person. Only thing that can wake me up is this app called “alarmy” it’s free but it makes you do math problems or other things to turn it off… It doesn’t always work but most of the time it does. I do sometimes do math in my sleep now and manage to turn it off somehow but it’s rare
No computer, phone, or TV in his room and not after 7:00 p.m. That time is family board games, shower, reading, homework, and teeth brushing. If you try this for one week, life will improve for all. For those that laugh, good luck! You’re going to need more than luck.
Vodka in the morning for you. It will help ride out the next 4 years of the morning migration You got this
It’s not the mornings that is your son‘s problem it’s his nights. Check his bedtime mama.
I am going through the same thing. My son is now 15 in high school he had to do summer school because he was absent so much or late n fall his class. My son was am 95/ A student n I’m watching him go down. I ask for help n reach out to God almighty. Comes to find out he suffer with depression n anxiety smh. I have the same thing. I’m getting him help. Slow n baby step he is going to summer school still late but the therapist helps him to talk n open up alittle. That’s my story still being written but wish it helps someone else. God bless us all
You either have a morning kid or you don’t. Mine are opposites, one is and one isn’t. I just flip on the light and say it’s time to get up. I give 5 minutes and then I remove blankets, usually never results to that. I tend to not talk to the non morning child until they say something. it’s a pick your battles situation.
I’ve literally always been like this and unfortunately so are my kids, especially my son
There is no fixing/changing it because I’m almost 26 and driving my fiance insane with my non morning ness
Y’all gonna have to power through it, and find a way to calm him down in the morning. You don’t wake those types easy, there’s no way. I was one of those kids, and to this day people are afraid to wake me up. Does he have a morning drink? Maybe bribe his ass. Works with me.
Try taking him to the beach on the weekend and spend the whole day there. It gets really tiring this is what I did to set up a routine for my kids. They slept at 9 and woke up early
Throw water on him. Right Terry Flenory
You can’t! I’m 42 years old and have never been a morning person.
Wake up an hour earlier every week to slowly adjust sleep schedule. Fixing a sleep schedule last minute is rough. My grandparents came in, turned lights on, ripped covers off me. If I was late I walked the whole way, and got penalized by school. Hold him accountable. He’s old enough.
Is he up late on his Cell?
My mom said I’d become a morning person when I became a mom (that was a lie) . No advice here!! Gets easier with age. Some people just ARE NOT morning people
My daughter was awful ,and still is at 27. She is not ever gonna be a morning person.
You can’t. That’s part of his personality. Find ways to make it not so rough. I’m not a morning person. Never have been. Never will be. Just like my mom.
Set an early bed time and take his phone, or video games whatever he would stay up doing.
Play CHANGES on a hi fi loud. Have breakfast all ready. Bacon usually does the trick have fruit ready if they aren’t the hungry type when they wake up.
Start waking them up slowly 45 mins before they actually have to be out of bed also earlier bed times.
Play music and make some bacon
For some of us it never gets any better/easier. Waking up for me has always been physically painful. Like awaking from death. My oldest I’m sure gets it from me and has always reminded me of that scene from the exorcist when she’s sitting on the bed and her head turns around. Lol good luck.
Ice water under the covers works pretty good!!
Does he go to bed at a good time maybe earlier bed time.thats what we had to do.
Get everything ready the night before and honestly just don’t engage with him. Let him be grumpy. I am not a morning person. I need at least 30 mins and coffee before I am ready to talk to anyone. Also an earlier bed time. I turn off all social media and put my phone away around 9 pm. Then I unwind and watch tv until I’m tired usually around 10:30 or 11 pm. Routine helps.
We have an alarm every 15 minutes for an hour before he needs to be awake and usually by the last alarm he’s not as cranky lol
Make him go to bed earlier and see if that helps. He is probably staying up way too late like most teens. Set an alarm for 20 min earlier too so he has some time to be pissed off at the world for a bit before getting out of bed
Good luck. I was that kid. I’m 32 and still hard to wake. I have gotten better, but days just aren’t for me. I still sleep through alarms, my husband usually has to wake me. It’s not that I don’t care (I didn’t as a teenager) but I physically can’t do it. Even if I hear them go off I can’t make myself get up. I always wanted to go to the doctor over it and my parents never took me. Now, I just don’t care to find out. Since I’m at least not angry in the mornings anymore.
My 13 yr old too. However he starts his day with 0 privileges and he earns things by getting up in the morning, morning routine. When school starts it will be the same but he will earn but not get anything until after homework.
How does he want to be woken up? Have you asked him?
Make listen now or he will tellyou walgat to do next 30 years… and only play video games warning…
Being a mum to 4 sons an a daughter. My kids wouldn’t dare let me go in a 2nd time to wake them up. 16yr old son is the oldest. They all know I mean business or you will have consequences. When you are an adult an got to work to live you can’t be waking up when ya feel like it.
One of the alarms that has the bells on it
My 11 yr old hates waking up and going straight to school so he wakes up a little earlier so no rush to fully wake and he can watch a show n chill before heading out.
I’m 36 and wake up hating the world after snoozing my alarm 17 times so good luck
My kid brother was the same. A nightmare to get out of bed. My mother took him breakfast in bed every morning before school so he would wake up to eat and while eating it would help wake him up completely. Sounds pampered but it’s what worked and made life easy. Maybe try something like that.
I had that same problem we use to swear at each other and all of it. it will work out eventually. Mine is 48 and smart now.
You can’t make someone a morning person but maybe an earlier bed time
I always motive my one with food… if you bring in a bowl of cereal, she will sit right up and eat.
I never grew out of it… I work graveyard shift now. Always been a night owl. And will fight if woken up early. Lol
You can’t.
Sincerely
A person who’s mother tried to turn them into a morning person (still not a morning person aged 33)
It’s much more irritating when someone else is waking you up in the morning. I’m not a morning person by any means and was terrible getting up for school. When I started getting myself up, it was much better.
I have the same issue, even if I set a bedtime, take away electronics, etc. she still sleeps through 10 alarms and/or will go back to sleep once I wake her up and go to work.
Make sure everything is ready and done the night before so he only has to get up get dressed eat and out the door
Any advice on a husband like this? Honestly some people are just very heavy sleepers and are NOT morning people. My husband can sleep thru anything. I’ve never had help with babies at night bc by the time I could wake him up, I could already have the baby back asleep. When I can manage to wake him up, especially early in the morning, yikes!!! It’s like waking a bear up. Our 6yr old son is the same way. Honestly I just find little tactics that work. For my husband, is having coffee beside the bed and ready, all kids away (except the baby) No lights on, and gently speaking with him. Our son is turning off his night light, and turning on his sound thing, to happy play music, sitting beside his bed, rubbing his back to get him to start stirring. Once he opens his eyes up (can take a good amount of time) I let him know he needs to get up. I have to do this several times. Eventually he gets up, and is good to go. If I go another route, it goes horrible. Mind you they both get plenty of sleep (most the time for my husband)
Going through this with my almost 13 year old daughter…devices taken away an hour before bedtime has helped. And here’s been the biggest help. I no longer go back and forth. I give a couple of warnings in the morning (I feel that’s reasonable, what kid wants to get up I know I didn’t)… and if after that she still refuses to sit up and start the process of waking up she loses phone privileges for 24 hours…do it a 2nd day…phones gone for 48 hours. And I stick to it. During the summer it only took the 2 times and she got much better after that. We’re first week into school and haven’t had issues yet.
When you figure it out let me know… I’m 30 and STILL can’t make myself a morning person. No amount of routine and sleep helps
I’m not a morning person and I’m 65 and never have been a morning person. My husband was a morning person. My 2 kids and 4 grandkids are not morning person’s either. Lol it runs in yhe family. Now I can get up early but just don’t mess with me for about a hour and all things will be alright then
Take phone and video games away at 9pm every night. Try to get him asleep by 10pm. Also if he takes any naps during the day, cut those out to focus on more night REM sleep.
My brother has an alarm that starts softly and then gradually wakes you up louder and louder. He’s alot better about waking up and not wanting death upon the world… well for the most part lol
I’m the worst morning person ever, I’m just here to see if I can be fixed as well
Eliminate devices. Bed shaker or just physically take him out of bed. Up is up, it’s that time, get it done. Rotten moods earn consequences (further removal of devices - internet removed or codes changed and not shared, allowance stopped, more chores, etc)
My kid is in bed by 7:30. This way if she jerks around and is up to 9:30 or 10, she’ll be fine.
Mine is HATEFUL in the morning, but I don’t engage in arguing with her.
This is my middle. She is 6 she told me I was stupid school was stupid and waking up early is stupid
this year we’ve actually started waking them up half an hour earlier and I bring her a pancake on a stick to her room and she hasn’t fought me at all yet.
Say you’re taking his phone when you wake him up and he can get it when he’s ready for school
You are the parent…he is the child. He does what you say, And when. Or there will be consequences.
I didn’t change to a morning person until I was in my 40s. Some people are just night owls by nature. As a child I would get up in the morning, run a bath, fall asleep in the tub, mom would yell to get out the tub, get out the tub, curl up in my towel on the floor, fall back asleep. It was rough lol.
my girls our on a routine clothes out the night before and bed early no electronics in there room not even a tv. or mine wont sleep.
Even my ex was like that. I would beg and beg, for him to get up. Occasionally he would have me call him off work, then be furious with me, when he did finally wake up.
I am SO glad those days are over!
My oldest is 7 and never gets up in the mornings she isn’t a morning person no matter what time she goes to bed im 34 and i still can barely get out of bed never ever have been a morning person some people just aren’t
Change bed times and have a routine . No tv or electronics after certain time of night
Find out what time he goes to bed and to sleep at night. That could be a big part of the problem. Cut off all electronics TV’s etc at a specific time.
Kids need a good amount of sleep, especially teenagers. As he approaches adulthood it could get to be a big issue when he can’t get up for work. It needs worked on now so he can be a responsible adult.
I don’t know what to tell you. One of our grandchildren will sleep until 6pm. If I try to wake her it is a total fight and simply not worth the stress. If something fun is going to occur or someone she really likes is visiting she will get up. She has lost her phone several times for this and it makes no difference. She is not a morning person and that is it. Middle of the night she is delightful but when she does get up in the am for school it is a horror story.
Try to give him a warning for wake ups. For me personally I have an alarm at 5:45 am then at 5:55 am then 6:00. So a ten minute interval then a 5 minute interval. Try giving it a shot but he also can not be a booger in the morning to you. My preteen tried that and I warned him not to especially since I’m very nice waking him up. He continued to do it again and I warned him again and told him if he did it again I’d flip his mattress over. He pushed his luck once more and I followed through and flipped his mattress with him on it. Never happened again.
Um make him get up at 5am shower and get ready for the day like almost every man in America does for work… it is what it is better to start now than him have trouble keeping a job. The clock doesn’t stop ticking bc you don’t like waking up early… he will be grumpy but that’s his choice just ignore it. I was two minutes late to a class in high school once and my teacher closed the door in my face. Never forgot it. I was always late before that and teachers were lenient and it taught me nothing about how the world works. If only I knew then what I know now! Maybe play motivational speakers on the tv for him while he gets ready teach him about the 5am club expose him to healthier habits he will get over it
Earlier bed time. Take all devices away. Melatonin if needed.