My 6 y/o daughter refuses to get up in the morning?

Question

My 4 y/o and 6 y/o share a room at the moment and they keep each other awake (especially my 4 y/o...he likes to play. I've taken his toys away at night time but he still make noise). I think he's a typlical 4 y/o but if you have any advice for him it would be great. In total they get atleast 8-9 hours of sleep which is efficient I think. He gets up no problem in the morning but my daughter is a nightmare to get up. She cries and screams, refuses to move or get dressed. Even if I offer to do her hair, that doesn't motivate her. We often run late because of her. Some nights I put her in the living room to seperate them and she still doesn't want to get up. It's an ongoing battle and it's getting worse. I'm a single parent so I don't have any extra help in the mornings. He's starting to copy her behavior and I want to nip this in the butt ASAP. What can I do?

Did the spanking thing once and got a call from Child and Family Services when she told her teacher I hit her.

Unfortuntly they cannot go to bed until 9-9:30 most days because that is when I pick them up from daycare and we are up at 7am in the morning. So I give them as much sleep as I can. I work 2 jobs to put food on the table and a roof over their head. My dead beat ex husband doesn't pay child support and stopped working. Any other advice other then "put them to bed earlier" because at this moment I cannot.

Answer 1

You saying your 6 year old makes the rules? Who is the adult parent here and who is the child. Start being a parent now or you really will be in trouble when she is 13 and pregnant!

Answer 2

Its all about routine with kids. Try to get the kids to bed at 8PM each night. Give them a bath first, teeth brushed, read a story to them and put them to sleep. I always make the toys "go away" for the night, bedtime is for sleeping only. It may take you a week or teo but once the routine is established things should go smoothly. As for your daughter not wanting to get up, I have a six year old daughter too. When she doesn't get at least 10 hours of sleep she's hard to wake. I always go into the room 15 mins before her wake up time and open the curatins and turn on the light and take the covers off of her. This usually works. If not I take TV away for the day, that ALWAYS works...she'll get the message after a day without TV.

Answer 3

Yeah, I can see why this would be a nightmare! And yes, nip it in the bud now!! Put your 4yr old to bed earlier than the 6yr old. About one hour before the 4yr needs to be in bed, give him a nice relaxing bath, get jammies on and sit down for the rest of the evening, This is calming. No running, jumping, goofing around. This is settle down time. Take him into his room and a read a short story or just talk about 10 minutes. Now for the 6 yr old. It's her turn. Bath, settle down time, and off to bed. Keep the evening mood calming. You want the totally relax. If they are playing and you say bedtime, they have not had the chance to calm down, and will horse around after you put them to bed. If your 6yr old still has a hard time waking up, try putting her to bed first, Stick with it. You must be consistent, and set the rules. You are the parent, and if you don't take charge, it will get worse, and will lead to other poor behaviors. You can do it!! have faith in yourself, and as their parent. Being a single mother is not easy, but you can do things that make it easier.

Answer 4

Put them to bed earlier. By the time they wind down, it will be their normal bedtime. Kids that age need 10-12 hours of sleep. Everyone's sleep needs are different, maybe your daughter needs more sleep than average. Put them to bed an hour earlier. I do this when my daughter, who is 10, gives me a hard time in the morning. It has helped, mainly because she doesn't like going to bed early, so she acts better in the morning and gets up easier.

Answer 5

Try putting one to bed a little earlier than the other,or keep doing the separate room thing and then just move the child once asleep.Just keep a schedule,try starting pretty early maybe the child needs more sleep.Also a shower in the morning may help her wake up a little more!

Answer 6

It is dificult, and i believe this situation is the result of diferent factors that you should try to solve separately.
First of all, 8-9 hours of sleep is not enougth for kids that age, so you should try to provide your kids with more sleep, and not all the children needs the same sleep, keep that in mind, that migth be the reason of your 6 y/o dificulty to get up.
So, you migth send them to bed earlier; mostly if you know that they will take more time before they get to sleep.
You migth try to get the older one to sleep before, while you take the younger with you at your bedroom or kitchen and play a little longer with him, you can try giving him some exercise while playing, what i mean is that you make him to do something to get him tired, like dancing, jumping, or play figths (remember he is a boy) - really, some physical activity.
Then you can take the younger to bed, he will be more tired than usual, and maybe will get to sleep rigth away.
There is another thing, when the kids are about 3 or 4 y/o, we used to let them take a nap during the day, if your younger son do that, then maybe he doesn't need it anymore, that migth be the reason of him to keep up till later hours at nigth. So, at the time he use to take his nap, give him some activities in order to keep him away. So, he will be tired earlier at nigth.
Maybe even your 6 y/o daugther can help to get your son tired, you can invent some games with the two of them, that will make them share, and get both tired, like a dance contest, or running, or walk trougth the park.
To take both to sleep at the same time, a bed time story will help, you have to convince them to think about the story, imagine the places, and you can even add some nice things to make them feel relaxed, as telling them the places are light blue - or green, there are blue clouds in the sky, the sun was brigth, to help them to use their imagination.
After you had done things, and acomplished to make them sleep earlier, and if your daugther attitude doesn't change, then you have to be more strict with her, and i have some ideas for that too.
You can tell her that if she doesn't get up early, you will let her go with her hair as it is when she gets up. Try it someday, don't be shy or feel sorry about it, act naturally, as you said it was gonna happen it is really happening, so she realizes that you are not kidding -you have to try that she doesn't look so dirty - just a little bad so she feels the need to get up early.
You migth let her sleep more, but she won't have the breakfast she likes, but something that she doesn't enjoy that much.
Or maybe you can use some prices, like .... if we both get up earlier i'll make you some pankakes, or i'll give some fruit with honey, or even - i'll teach you how to prepare your own chocolate.
We sometimes don't realize how challenging for them is to have responsabilities, and this will even help you to make her more independent. Soon you will find a real help in her.!!
A

Answer 7

Reward her for good behavior, set up a reward system that gives her points everytime she does good in the morning, let her collect her points, and redeem them for rewards. They do not need to be big rewards, just stuff that will make her feel good about getting up on time. I also would not let her watch cartoons, or eat breakfast until she is dressed and has her hair brushed.Good luck.Good ideas for rewards would be picking out the cereal for the week , or getting to rent a movie , new hair bows, etc.

Answer 8

That's not enough sleep. Kids that age need 10-12 hours of sleep a night depending on the child.

Answer 9

I have sleep issues with my kids too.

I am thinking maybe your daughter should be going to bed first where she can go to sleep without hearing the 4 year old playing. Let him play in the living room until she is asleep then have him go to bed.

Answer 10

how about getting her ,her own alarm clock,let her choose it,and leave it till she gets up and turns it off!tell her the amount of time it takes her to get up is the amount of time she will have to go to bed earlier,also try reading them a book at bedtime it might relax them and help them fall asleep,hotchocolate treat an hour before bedtime?830-9 is a good bedtime for this age.you need some time for yourself
goodluck!