<p>I don’t know why I was thinking about this today, but how do your kids wake-up? I still wake my 13 and 18 year olds up every morning, usually with kisses. 
I know… sounds ridiculous, but my mom did that for me ALWAYS and it’s something I remember fondly. Before you yell at me, they can and do wake themselves up if needed, but they both work so hard all day long, it’s just a little perk I think they deserve. What are or were mornings like at your house?</p>
<p>Everyone gets up on their own with alarm clocks, except for S19 who wakes up early with no alarm. They go about getting ready without much interacting. I think it is nice that you do that though. I guess I go to the other extreme to expect independence as much as possible.</p>
<p>Me: Time to get up, sweetie.
D: incomprehensible mumbling</p>
<p>Five minutes later, Me: It is now 5:50! Get up!
D: I’m coming.</p>
<p>Five minutes later, Me: GET UP NOW!
D: I’m up! Sheesh!</p>
<p>Five minutes later, Me: It is 6:00! You are going to be late!!!
D: OK, OK, you don’t need to yell! I’m really up now!</p>
<p>It is our daily ballet of love. 
It gets everyone’s blood coursing, and exercises our lungs.</p>
<p>Funny, I have always done the same thing when I have to wake them, but my kids are much older and usually away at college. In order to get away with it, I bring the dogs into the room with me and put them on the bed. They are cavalier king charles, which are comfort dogs, so they instantly go for the snuggle, distracting my sleepy kids from the fact that I sneak one in too. After all the effort raising them…I think it’s a perk I deserve.</p>
<p>thank you for this thread, as I almost started same last week. </p>
<p>Still wake 15yo S1 up every morning and it’s tough. At least 1x/month he falls back asleep and I get a panic call that he will be late for school. (We leave the house at 7am, he doesn’t need to walk out door until 7:50am). I’m able to use those days to negociate better living condition for the parents. </p>
<p>PS - he does have alarm clock, but can sleep though it. Think I need to find one that blasts heavy metal music, although he could probably sleep through that too…</p>
<p>@busdriver11… who am I kidding? You’re right, the perk is probably more for me. ;)</p>
<p>@nj2011mom… S18 has UNCANNY ability to sleep through anything that does not apply to him. When we visits our OOT family he sleeps on the couch in the family room… little cousins/dogs/etc. get up, blast cartoons, dog jumps on top of him, cousins try to torture him and he NEVER MOVES.</p>
<p>My kids are all grown and gone now, but back when my youngest, our daughter, was in HS, she was determined that she should have an alarm and wake herself up. She was a very disciplined student and also a dancer with several hours of dance class per day, so she had a lot going on in her life. </p>
<p>She had several instances of waking up in the middle of the night in the shower, and we realized she might be subconsciously worried about not waking up in time. Then one day she woke up and discovered that she had somehow, during the night, IN HER SLEEP put on a leotard and seamed tights (the kind she had to wear to do pointe work…and the seams were straight, mind you) and then put her PJs back on top of her dance clothes.</p>
<p>After that I took her alarm clock away and woke her up myself every day till she got out of HS. :)</p>
<p>DD is now 24, but I remember well the routine when she was young. I would go in and sing “Get up you sleepy head, get up, get out of bed, see how the sun is shining!” or “Get your head out of bed, get up get your body fed” and rub her back. She would ask for “five more minutes” at least three times. It got to the point that she didn’t want to get up at all and that made me yell. I quickly tired of it and, when she was in third grade, we bought her a Nickelodeon alarm clock (anyone else remember those?). As much as I hated to hear that thing blaring “nick nick nick nuh nick nick nick nick … NICKELODEON!” every Monday through Friday, I preferred that to the yelling and she did, too. We placed it on her dresser which required her to get out of bed and cross the room to turn it off. Once she was up, she stayed up.</p>
<p>What I also remember are the days my mom was not able to do it for whatever reason… and I got my dad, all lights thrown on and yelling “FEET ON THE FLOOR, FEET ON THE FLOOR” at the top of his lungs until he saw my feet hit the floor. Sure made me appreciate my mom and her sweet little “Rise and shine, Morning Glory!”… ;)</p>
<p>When my kids get up for school they use an alarm clock. </p>
<p>Sometimes they ask if I will wake them the next day. Today S13 has no school and has to be at school by 11. He asked me to wake him. He prefers mom to an alarm clock. So most of the time they wake themselves but every now and then they ask me to do it.</p>
<p>My daughter in 9th grade is very responsible and gets up with no trouble. My 12th-grade son is another matter. He sees a psychiatrist and counselor, and they have both told me it has to be HIS job to get himself up. I still go in and tell him what time it is, but he misses school a LOT. At this point, I’m not even sure he’s going to graduate. He keeps insisting he’s an adult, though, so I guess he’ll discover what that really means. He thinks we’re going to get him a car, ha!</p>
<p>S1 is a swimmer and has no problem getting out of bed on the weekends or in the summer for 7am practices or early morning meets. It’s the whole going to school thing. He’s in a loft bed, so that adds an extra challenge, as I can’t physically pull him out of bed like I did with his sister.</p>
<p>@nj2011mom… S18 is also a swimmer. I have made a breakfast taco EVERY SINGLE MORNING of high school for him to take to eat after morning practice. Told him the other day I am REALLY going to miss him next year, but am NOT going to miss making a taco in my sleep every morning at 5:30 a.m.</p>
<p>My kids have/had to get up by 5:15 for school. I love them a lot, but I’m not their alarm clock. I do make breakfast occasionally which I hear is a rarity. DH is up at that time and can usually tell who is not moving at the assigned times. Our older two were pretty good. S3 has had a lot of problems oversleeping and we finally resorted to the Sonic Boom alarm clock that wakes the dead across the room. He’s always been a very heavy sleeper even if he falls asleep in a chair for a catnap.</p>
<p>This: " I love them a lot, but I’m not their alarm clock. "</p>
<p>My older D had a tendency to oversleep, and I’d yell to get her up if she wasn’t moving after the alarm went off, but amazingly she got up and to class on her own in college and at work. My S always got himself up and my youngest has beaten me up since she was born. </p>
<p>I don’t make breakfast-by the time kids are in middle school they get their own food in the mornings, make their own lunches the night before, etc. I don’t need to be at work until 2 hours after we leave for youngest’s school-being up and driving her even in fog thick enough to ground air travel, torrential rains, etc. is my contribution.</p>
<p>the Sonic Boom alarm clock is what I am looking for!!! ordering from Amazon today</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Sonic Boom Alarm Clock: Health & Personal Care](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Alert-SB200ss-Alarm-Clock/dp/B000EX7LNM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Alert-SB200ss-Alarm-Clock/dp/B000EX7LNM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)</p>
<p>I want to know what a breakfast taco is. :)</p>
<p>^ Yes very similar to my son’s. His has the one where lights flash on and off. Jarring, but that’s the idea. He set it on the far side of the bedroom so he has to physically get out of bed, the caveat is to not get back in the bed.</p>
<p>I have no issues with any parents morning wake up rituals. Every family does what works for them. As long as the kids are capable of getting themselves up, dressed, and out the door for class on time once they leave for college then who cares how they got there?</p>
<p>We don’t make breakfast taco’s but I make breakfast burritos. Scrambled eggs in a tortilla with shredded cheese and salsa. You can add crumbled sausage/grnd beef if you want, but my kids aren’t a fan. Usually they want an egg sandwich…fried egg (solid, not runny in the least) on wheat toast with cheese.</p>
<p>@abasket… scrambled egg with cheese (I do this in the microwave on school days), sometimes bacon or sausage (if we have pre-made the bacon/sausage over the weekend) wrapped up in a flour tortilla. I wrap it in foil so it stays hot until practice ends…</p>