For most parents, the two most tiring and dreaded jobs of parenting can be 1. Making the child go to bed on time, and 2. waking the child up in the morning. Sometimes, it can be a struggle for the parents, and they end up losing their temper and start the day on the wrong foot. I firmly believe that waking up happy and refreshed sets the tone for the day. Hence, one cannot stress the importance of the mood and thoughts while waking up.
How I inspired my child to wake up without an alarm
During the summer break, parents tend to slacken a bit and secretly wish that their children slept for extra hours in the morning. This will give the parents time to get a bit of work done. But, come June, when the school reopens, we want them to be awake, with their tummies full, ready for school.
I started following the school routine a week in advance, and I still found that it was an exhausting task waking my daughter during the first week of school(Online school). I would set the alarm and wake my daughter only to hear the sleepy murmur saying, “ Five more minutes Mommy.” Then, I would check back time and again to make sure that she is actually awake. Somedays, she would not be out of bed, which usually resulted in me opening the blinds, switching off the fan, and in rare cases, tearing off the blanket.
This struggle during waking up was putting a strain on our relationship and spoilt the whole day for us. After a week into school, I realized that I had to change my strategy to wake my daughter up.
I am a firm believer that waking up in a happy mood with refreshing and loving thoughts sets the mood for the day. This constant fighting with my daughter in the morning spoilt the day for both of us. So, I STOPPED what I was doing and realigned my thoughts and approach towards waking. Here are a few things that I did, not only wake her up happy but GET HER TO WAKE UP BY HERSELF WITHOUT AN ALARM CLOCK.
Setting out the right intentions
Usually, I Used to dread the time for waking up my daughter. I changed that thought. Every night before I went to sleep, I imagined my daughter waking up the next day happy and refreshed. I shared this intention with my daughter and spoke to her about the importance of waking up happy. I also suggested that she repeat the words, “ I will wake up tomorrow by 7:30 in the morning feeling very happy”, before going to bed.
Giving the responsibility of waking up
After the first week of struggle, I realized that as long as I take the responsibility of getting my daughter out of bed, she will let me do it. So, I changed my strategy. I told my daughter that I was no longer responsible if she does not wake up / get out of bed on time. If she is late to school, then it is her doing, and that I cannot help her in any way.
Fixing up the sleeping and waking time
I asked her to observe the birds in our neighborhood. What time do they start to chirp, and what time do they go to bed. We discussed the importance of following the CIRCADIAN RHYTHM. I spoke to my daughter and asked her to come up with a suitable bedtime. I also asked her to fix up a time for waking up. The time should be at least 1 hour before school time.
Some Perspective
My daughter loves to play (which kid does not, right?) Since she is almost 10 years now, I decided to give her some facts. I explained to her how she is missing out on her playtime by sleeping. If she could wake up at 7:00 am every day (an hour before her regular waking time) then, she could use that time to play. If she could get 1 hour of play every day, that makes 7 hours of EXTRA PLAYTIME in a week and 30 hours a month.
I also explained, every day we wake up, we become a day older than the previous day. That means we are moving closer to death by one day at a time. We need to cherish our days on this planet being happy and cheerful. We need to feel grateful for all that God has offered us. Live like there is no tomorrow and have fun today for, if we feel grumpy while waking up, then we will have an irritable day.
How rhythm helps
I find setting and following a rhythm is absolutely critical in a child’s life. It offers security and strength to the child. A well-thought-out rhythm renders the interference of the parent obsolete and empowers the child. Slowly, my daughter followed the timing that she had committed and got into the RHYTHM. Then, it was my turn to offer her strength, and I followed one of my Golden Rules – APPRECIATION.
Appreciation
Appreciation is the BOOSTER SHOT that a child needs to ensure his actions are acceptable. I often find that we as parents are quick to point out the inconsistencies and bad behavior of a child. We forget to truly appreciate good behavior (however minuscule it may be for us). We need to catch them doing GOOD and hence offered her praise every time she woke up on time.
I appreciate the way you woke up today.
Thank you for following the planned rhythm.
I love your smile this morning.
Now that my daughter was set in a rhythm, I was happy as a lark that we did not have our morning fight. I also wanted to take – Waking up a notch higher.
Waking up naturally without an alarm
One weekend, I spoke to my daughter about how exceptional our BRAINS function. I explained that our brains have superpowers. It can remember anything and can effectively work even while we were asleep. It’s just that we do not use our brain to its full potential. We had a small discussion about how a person called Mr. Kanagasuburathinam, (also known as “Kavanagar” ), used his brain to perform 16 different things using mind power in a 45 minutes program. He is the only living person from Tamil Nadu practicing this art form.
For more details about the Kavanagar click the following link or follow him on Youtube: https://www.kavanagarmuzhakkam.com/FoundersProfileEnglish.htm
The most important thing is to program our brains accurately. I told her to hold on to the thought, “I want to wake up at 6:30 am tomorrow “. While going to sleep and ordering the brain to wake her up at that time. In about 2 days, she was able to wake up by herself naturally without an alarm. She was so proud of her achievement.
We celebrated her brainpower by drinking a glass of banana and peanut butter milkshake topped with chia seeds and a scoop of ice cream!
It has been two months already, and I can proudly say that our mornings are pleasant, happy, and cheerful!
What do you do to get your children out of bed? I would love to hear from you. Let me know your thoughts and comments in the comment section below.
For more parenting tips on various topics read the parenting section of my blog.
