Major difficulty waking teenagers for school

[twinkle.tink]

It may be hard to change the course of the path you have set now....like so much with kids, it is a delicate balance of responsibility of the parents to get kids to do what they are suppose to do, while teaching them to do it on their own...

My youngest doesn't have to get up until 8:15, so sometimes I don't get up until then...but my 14 year old has to be up at 7:00. Right now I set my alarm and wake him...but he gets one 'time to get up'...and then he knows, I often go back to sleep myself...so he does get up. Ironically, just last night I told him that he is in high school now, he needs to be responsible for setting his alarm and getting up. When my oldest (now almost 20) was in HS, I was still working. I started work at 6:00, so it was on him to get up and get moving on his own, DH had enough to do getting the 2 little ones ready.

I would def. check he is going to sleep at decent hour...probably the root cause....not just going to 'bed'....check cell phone records, I would bet he is up late on the phone...talking or texting....we went through that with my oldest. we ended up having to ground him from the cell phone for late night usage...after going without his phone for a week, that nipped that in the bud.

Good luck :)

[fatefullotus]

I never had a problem getting myself out of bed. In fact, by the time I got to high school, I was AT school for Period 0, which was at 6:50am. Now, however, I love sleeping in til 8am.

My younger brother, on the other hand... It was such stress trying to get him up in the mornings. We employed every tactic possible. Dragging him out of bed, applying a cold towel to his face, employing a VERY loud, VERY obnoxious alarm clock that squawked like a parrot. We escorted him into the bathroom only to find out 30 minutes later that he had resumed sleeping in the tub. He even took the initiative and dressed himself... BEFORE going to bed the night before so that he could have the precious couple of minutes in the morning. Nothing at all worked. In high school, he failed a couple of morning classes because he could not get himself to show up on time, or at all.

Now, he's at West Point, which means he's up before 6am. Go figure.

ETA: I read not too long ago that teens do indeed physically, biologically require more sleeptime, amounting to 9 to 11 hours each night! I think it's a losing battle to fight your 12 year old's biorhythm.

[Belle49]

OMG I was so terrible when I was in school. My mom would come in yelling (lol) I'd finally get up, get in the shower and fall asleep in there hahaha she'd knock on the door and be like HELLO are you almost done and I'd be like yup I'm coming and I haven't even washed my hair lol. Once out of the shower I'd dive right back into bed and fall asleep. I was soooooooo not a morning person. My poor mom!

[Sternchen]

Your kids are definitely old enough to be waking up by themselves!

[wordbox]

Getting up with an alarm is a very important thing for them to learn. They won't always have someone to wake them up, and high school is a much easier thing to deal with missing; future professors and employers just won't care that they accidentally slept in or "didn't hear" their alarm clock. That's an easy ticket to failing college classes and getting fired.

Move the alarm clock across the room (so they have to get out of bed) and set it for them, then leave it up to them. Maybe see if you can track down one that's really obnoxious? Let them know ahead of time that you're done waking them up, and that if they are late for school or miss breakfast, there will be consequences. And follow through!

I think that's so annoying. I got myself up on my own ever since middle school, and in high school I had a job that sometimes required me to be there by 6am, and I was NEVER late. And I left the house before my mom was even awake.

If nothing else works, a bucket of icy water first thing in the morning will get them to change their ways. Who cares if you're the bad guy? Tell them they are being lazy and disrespectful and it's time for them to grow up. You don't have to be their best friend right now.

Also: make sure they are going to bed on time and really are getting enough sleep. If they like to stay up late, but aren't mature enough to deal with it in the morning, then reinstate the "bed time" and let them know why. Tell them in bed and lights out by 10. No tv.

[evolkatie]

My dad always took a bag of ice to my face in the morning so i'd wake up

[k2sealer]

My 6 year old DS has an alarm clock and gets up when it goes off. Yes, I said 6 years old, not 16. I should add that DS started using the alarm clock a year ago when he was 5 years old for kindergarten. We have him get his clothes ready the night before and lay them out. (I do the same thing for mine because I get up at 4am to be at work at 5am) Anything to make the morning routine go smoother.

It is never too late to start making your kids get used to using an alarm. If they need to lay their clothes out the night before, so be it. They should also have their backpack packed and ready to go.

When I was younger, I would set my alarm because I wanted to get in the shower before my older sister. At one point my parents tried to make it my responsibility to get my older sister out of bed. I rebelled at that suggestion because she was fully capable of using her alarm to get her own butt out of bed.

[jsenning]

My dad used to sit on the end of my bed and fart. Or in the winter rub his feet across the carpet and spark me on my nose.

I did a much better job of getting up in highschool and college than I do now, though, haha. I bet making the kids go to bed earlier will help.

[~bastet]

I think they should learn to get themselves up. They need to learn that there are consequences if they're not responsible for themselves. I think it would be different if you just had to go in once and then they got up. I say this because I deliberately took advantage of my mom to stay in bed longer when I was a teenager. I think a lot of teens do that, all my high school friends hated getting up and tried to sleep as late as possible.

I was awful to my poor mom about getting up. I was supposed to get up at 6am. I hated it and would hit the snooze button in my sleep, or turn it off completely! Because I knew that mom would not let me miss school. She had to come into my room several times to make me get up. She would gently say my name and try to wake me up w/o scaring the daylights out of me. I totally took advantage of that. I knew I could sleep for an extra 30+ minutes because she'd keep coming in. Like I said, I was awful. Finally, she got sick of it and told my dad to get me up when he got up for work at 5:30am.

My dad woke me up by turning on the lights, singing "Good morning" loudly, and tossing my dog onto the bed with me. Sometimes, she would sit on my head. After a few days of that, I asked for a second alarm clock and set it to go off 5 mins after the first. I set it on the floor near the door to my room, which required me to actually get out of bed to turn it off. I hated getting up at 6, but it was better than waking up to my dog sitting on my head at 5:30.

[LeeMiller]

Originally Posted by rendodan110

NO YOU DONT WANT TO BE THAT PERSON I am that person, he (18 yr old son) will not wake up to anything but my voice.... I need an alarm i can record my voice on and he might get up ......after several snooze button hits. I really wish I didnt have to do that it is hard because I always get screamed at when I wake him up.

I don't know. Honestly it sounds like he's faking it. I mean seriously you don't hear loud alarms but your mom's voice works? I'm so sorry he screams at you! You don't deserve that.

[LeeMiller]

As a formerly late sleeping teen I think the big thing for me was that I would stay up reading. Then again I had to wake up my sleepy self by myself. I have a feeling with lots of kids TV and cell phones are involved. So take them out of their rooms until they can get up by themselves. Take away the car keys. Honestly that's what I would do. It just seems like you're letting the kids rule you instead of laying down the rules. I don't get it, doesn't taking away privledges work?

[jsenning]

Oh I forgot, there's an alarm that you put under your pillow that vibrates... it's called quake awake, supposed to be pretty good.

If they have cells phones, you could call them on their cell phone.

[nooch]

My mom stopped waking me up for school when I was eight. She celebrated by buying me an alarm clock.

Result: I am never late for anything.

[bisousx]

Originally Posted by Hokaplan

I'm on strike! I don't think I need to or should have to go in kid's bedrooms 5 or 6 times to wake up for school. Am I a "meanie" if I quit and make them get uo themselves with an alarm clock? I got up on my own at age 12. There was so much backtalk and attitude this morning upon waking them up at 7:00 AM. I woke up at 5:00 AM, did two loads of laundry, packed lunches, walked dog, straightened up, etc. Do you wake your teenage children up for school?

You shouldn't have to wake them up.. My brother and I woke ourselves up in the morning everyday to an alarm clock... we took the bus, and there was no way we wanted to face the wrath of waking mom up when we missed the bus!

[lovinalotofbags]

I would not wake them. I think they know you will keep coming back in. I believe I was getting myself up before 5th grade and getting my little brother up when he was in school and getting him ready, eat and off to school. I have always been independent and the earliest to rise.