Once your little ones transition from a crib to a big boy/girl bed, they suddenly have a new sense of freedom. Along with that usually comes the ability to wake you up at all hours of the night and wee hours of the morning. Give them a hand with a simple timer from the hardware store.
Over at Li'l Magoolie they've shared a brilliant idea for helping your children learn when they should be in bed versus dragging you out of yours. All it takes is a simple electrical timer and a plus in light. When the light is off they can play in their room quietly, when it's on they're free to come find Mom and Dad!
• Check out all the details on how to put it to use in your own home over at Li'l Magoolie.
What tricks do you use to keep your children in bed a little longer? Share your ideas, secrets and tricks of the parenting trade in the comments below!
(Image: Li'l Magoolie)
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I'm so interested in this one! We haven't been able to sleep past 7 a.m. for a long time. Anything that might help change this has my attention!
we love this cheap little trick and it works like a charm! we have recently implemented a timed night light for our 2.5yr old. a cute $4.50 night light from the local store, plus a timer we already had... bingo. super cheap and effective way to get her to stay in bed (and quiet) until we're all ready to be up!
Awesome idea! Of course! But I never would have thought of it myself. Thank you, thank you!
This works great. I just use a clock radio on a really low volume, set to a classical station. When the radio turns on each morning, the kids are allowed to "get up" and make as much noise as they like (unless one of their sibs are still asleep), if they are asleep they sleep through the radio. Works quite well. I usually wake before them, but use that time to get ready, answer e-mails etc, so I use it as my cue to finish work for the morning.
We got our 3yo an "OK to Wake" alarm clock from Aldi (in Australia) last year and it is AWESOME... At the time you have set for the alarm - the whole clock light up green (no sound), so if they're sleeping, they keep right on sleeping. If he's already awake, he stays in bed waiting for the green light. Totally made it a game instead of Mummy & Daddy trying to enforce a rule. Found the same thing on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Childrens-Alarm-Clock-Nightlight/dp/B002RNKOM2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1305784587&sr=8-2
We have the Good Nite Lite, which turns on to illuminate a blue moon when it's time for bed (7 p.m., for us), and stays lit as a nite lite like that till 7 a.m., when it turns yellow like the sun.
Each night before we go to bed, we ask our toddler, "You don't get up till you see....?" and she replies, "The SUN!"
I did this with a digital timer (I found the cheaper ones too hard to adjust precisely enough) when my son was around 2, and it worked great to get him used to sleeping later. He started waking up early again now that the sun is up before wake up time, so I've set it again and it works like a charm. I'd just suggest getting a very low wattage lightbulb so it doesn't wake the kid up on those rare mornings when they might sleep in otherwise!!
How does this work with a potty learner? My kids wake up to pee.
Wonderful! We looked at the Good Nite Lite and the Okay to Wake clocks but I can't stomach shelling out $40+ for a fancy alarm clock. Definitely going to try this!