Major difficulty waking teenagers for school

[venetiakim]

Originally Posted by wordbox

If nothing else works, a bucket of icy water first thing in the morning will get them to change their ways.

you cracked me up! I read it suddenly and I almost spit my water

[Lovepurses4ever]

Just teach them how to use the cell phone alarm clock. It'll even work if you turn off your phone when you go to bed. This is what I do.

[PrinceAbdullah]

I am the laziest... When I became a senior in HS, my brother was a freshman in HS.. So I would give him a ride to school.... He always woke up on time, and woke me up... I would just go back to sleep and say "take the effin bus"(which came really early), or "If you keep yelling at me to wake up, i'll sleep 15 more mins" I am not a morning person, even now with a job, I'm always late... I just don't hear the alarm...

[purly]

There has been some research recently suggesting that in our teenage years, we may need more sleep within our circadian cycle. I think the research says 10AM is when the brain has fully awoken.

I don't know what to say about your situation, but my inability to wake up on time was always a major sticking point with my parents. I would literally sleep through a fire alarm at that point in my life. At 16 I was given a car and changed to a school situation where my day didn't begin until 9AM and that certainly helped things.

[purly]

Here's a fairly good summary article: http://www.helium.com/items/296058-u...eep-wake-cycle

BTW, I recommend skipping lunches to do homework. It worked for me.

[kmccrea]

I was pretty good at getting up on my own. I had to, that was the only way I could get into the bathroom before every one else. I've never been a "primpy" girl, but I do like to be clean and presentable. If my sister got in before me, she would be in there at least 2 hours! It's a wonder she got to the bus on time. Of course, my brother just liked annoying his sisters and hogging up the bathroom for no good reason.
Now that I have my own bathroom, I almost always choose sleep over beauty, but wake up in time to get to work on time.

[Peeking_Around]

Originally Posted by ~bastet

My dad woke me up by turning on the lights, singing "Good morning" loudly, and tossing my dog onto the bed with me.

My dad did that! He came in ... threw the window blinds open while singing "It's time to wake up .. it's time to wake up .. it's time to wake up in the mooooorrrrnnniiinnnggg...." - seriously .. I really wanted to throw something at him. NO ONE should be that cheerful in the morning!

[SimplyMe]

This issue reminds me of my brother. He has a major problem with waking up. During the several times that I've forgotten my keys, I would bang the outside door like crazy and he wouldn't hear me. It was literally just couple of feet apart!! After two hours of kicking and banging, calling his phone 100 times and even calling the house phone, he just won't wake up. I've waited the longest up to 4 hours...imagine 4 hours of constantly calling his phone. Sigh...needless to say, he failed high school because he couldn't make it to his morning classes. He skipped all early family gatherings. He missed all morning appointments. He failed his normal 8-5 jobs. So his solution was to find graveyard jobs and it's going great! . Really, I do think not being able to wake up is a problem...at least in my brother's case that is!

[Cheryl]

i used to get a glass of cold water thrown on my face... It sure did the trick but I still think it was mean to do My best friend though is 25 years old and he still has to have his parents call to wake him if he has to get up early...

[ILuvShopping]

i don't remember a time when my parents had to wake me up for school. once my alarm went off i was up. and i don't even use an actual alarm, i use the alarm function where it turns on the radio/music. and i used to stay up till all hours of the night too.

i never understood my friends that always needed 2 different alarms or hit the snooze button for 30 min. Just get up!!!!

not sure how i did it then,i have a hard time doing it now! recently had to set my alarm 15 min ahead just to give myself a little time to 'adjust' to waking up.

[elli]

I'm 15, and I can't stand anyone waking me up.
I get up fine with the alarm on my phone. Oversleeping would only mean less time to get ready, so I never ever get up after 6.

[Kareberry]

How about you buy a dozen alarm clocks at the dollar store, hide it in different places in your kids room and set them all of in 5 minute increments? LOL. I dunno, I'm just trying to think of ways to make your life easier...

Personally, I always had trouble waking for school, but I used the alarm clock and had to press snooze at least 5 times so my first alarm would go of WAY before I needed to wake up.. HAHAHA...I still do that...it's a bad habit. Sometimes when I pressed snooze one too many times my mom would come in and wake me but I really appreciated that because I have a bad habit of being late when going someplace I don't want to be.. LOL.

[yvalenz]

Originally Posted by wordbox

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! 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.

I completely agree!! My DD has an alarm that is set to music, and it continually gets louder (uh, very loud) until it is turned off. It is placed across the room so she has to get out of bed. If she hits snooze (which she often does) it goes off at the loudest point before it was snoozed to be sure she hears it and is up.

When she wasn't getting up and we learned it was due to the late night texting/cell, television, etc - those all came out of her room. Her cell charger was moved to the den and the phone had to be there at night.

Bottom line - they need to get to bed at a reasonable hour. She had a 10 oclock bedtime until HS graduation. And yes, she has a "bedtime" even as a freshman in college. it's 11pm.

[lostnexposed]

I'm not a parent but I always have to wake my brother up for school even with an alarm clock cause Im normally the last one to leave the house. and it's a total PITA

[SPOILEDkiwi]

When I was in high school my mom would wake me up for school. I have a habit of turning my alarm off while half asleep and not remembering that I turned it off. Plus, I would rather have a person wake me up than an alarm. She didn't really mind doing it, so I never set my alarm. I'm 20 now and I've been in college for 3 years, and I have probably overslept 1 time. I have to put my alarm across the room, forcing me to get up to turn it off. It's not fun, but it works. So, all hope is not lost if you have to wake your kid up for school, they may one day be able to wake up themselves.