Anyone have tips on getting a teen out of bed?

Pam R

New Member
TrishaBC wrote:
> Water gun

> My dad used to do it to me and it worked like a charm

LOL, I was waiting to see how far down the list this was. DS likes to have full water bottles near his bed (sometimes as many as 3). He sometimes punches a tiny hole in the cap, to make a small stream.

I found these are excellent for getting him out of bed, as they have a range of about 5'. LOLOL If that doesn't work, I go run water til it's real cold and fill the bottle with that. He's ALWAYS out of bed and on his way to the bathroom when he hears the water run. LOLOL

After several years, all I have to do is mention cold water and he's up. LOL

Pam R.
 

Pam R

New Member
I've already mentioned the water bottles.

But when he was little, I would tickle him. He'd "pretend" to be asleep and I had all kinds of tickles: squeezing kneecaps, ribs, in the ear, flipping hair, bellybutton, etc.

But when he hit puberty, all that stopped. I had to find ways to get him up that were out of striking distance. :devil:

I also pulled the mattress off the bed, or all the covers and pillows, or him. LOL

I've used his cat, dropped on him, also. Sometimes wished I had a great big sloppy dog....

But the water bottles worked the best. :rofl:

Pam R.
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
Well, I had the flashlights all ready this morning. The kid woke up before me!!! (I think he was nervous. Actually, I know he was, but he wouldn't admit it.) Ruined a perfectly good plan. Rotten kid. Sigh... I'll just have to bide my time....bwahahahahahaha!!!

Neither he nor I can eat breakfast right after waking. We have to be up a good hour. difficult child, on the other hand, can eat anytime. And I do leave him to his own devices once he's gotten up. Like I said, neither one of us are very pleasant to be around til we've had a chance to wake up. He has a futon with a heavy mattress...getting it off is not easy without a body on it. I could try, but I don't think I'd have much success with him on the mattress. When we had our husky I would have him jump up on the bed. A 70 pound, hyper dog that isn't worried about where he steps will get most boys out of bed. :devil: Our little whippet just isn't so motivating. tee hee hee
 

SRL

Active Member
The hot breakfast/reading evolved out of desperation a few years ago when my kids were all getting up early and there was enough time for sibling stuff to make mornings around here miserable. Making something hot hasn't turned out to be the hardest as I usually keep to something simple like pancakes, muffins, etc. The hard part has been finding books that work as read-a-louds for my kids with the age, gender, and interest range. It's better now that my daughter is a little older.

Sometimes my younger two will wake up the oldest by taking their stuffed pets to wake him. Adds some humor...
 

nvts

Active Member
I can't wait to hear how this one works out! 2 of mine are up at the crack o' dawn, but "mr. sweetness and light" (difficult child 1) is a witch to wake up. Lately, I've been bringing up our golden retreaver mix (who suffers from "death breath") and get her to breathe on him and lick his face. Then I tell him she couldn't wait to see him and he gets up in a better mood than usual. Good God, I couldn't wake up to that breath - it's so bad it could peel paint off the wall. Just what I needed, now I brush the dogs teeth every day! Oh well, she's 2 years older than dirt, so if that's the only thing wrong with her I can deal!

:rofl:

Flashlights, I can't wait to hear about this!!!! :smile:

Have fun!
Beth
 
K

Kjs

Guest
Wow...you guys are risk takers. Aren't you afraid you will set difficult child off on the wrong foot?? Mine would be so angry.

Although...once he had his foot hanging out and I spread peanut butter on it and had the dog lick it off. I thought it was quite funny...until he moved his foot and got peanut butter all over the bedding!
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Now THAT'S inventive!

I think a big part of it is to keep them guessing. And stay out of range once they launch themselves from bed like an Exocet missile. Besides, most teens really get off on sharing their "My mama is so mean..." stories. The more inventive the better.

Or is that only in Australia? Because, by crikey, we can be inventive.

Although with that peanut butter I think Kjs has to be an honorary Aussie.

Marg
 
We had our first 504 meeting for difficult child with all his new teachers for this semester last week. I couldn't help but notice that several of the younger teachers dragged in late and looking more than a little like difficult child in the morning. (Halfway between a comatose patient and angry warrior). I mentioned that I'm a lark and everyone else in our house is a definite owl... One of the teachers spoke up and said, "I keep telling everyone around here that I'd rather have my first class at 1:00 AM - that's when I'm at my best". I had the sudden relevation that not only are we making all of these teenagers work against their natural clock (nightowl to the max) - we're doing the same for some of the teachers. Maybe I'm wrong, but this makes absolutely no sense to me.

Our high school moved to a 8:45AM arrival time three years ago. It has helped tremendously as difficult child can sleep until 8:15ish. The main thing that works for us to wedge difficult child out of bed is to is put his pet Cockatiel Whistler on his shoulder. Whistler is definitely a morning person and he serenades difficult child with loud whistling until difficult child irritatedly sends him flying :smile:
 

susiestar

Roll With It
my mom is awesome at creative kid motivations. She once painted my bro's toes with tuna juice and locked the cat in with him. The sheets got messy, but mom didn't care - she made us do our own laundry!!

He got up that morning and from then on all we had to do was put the cat in his room. She would always go sniff his toes, that was enough.

Later, when he was at home after leaving the dorm, and I was in high school, he used to PAY ME to pour cold water on him. I kept a jar of water woth ice cubed in the fridge and used it every morning. And got PAID!!!!

Susie
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
So, the (not so) little snot has gotten up before me every day since school started. And last night he was awake until almost 3am and he still got up on his own! I know, I know...it's a good thing that he's getting up to his alarm, but I have all these really good ideas just going to waste. How am I supposed to entertain myself if he won't cooperate?!! :devil:

I'm going to have to get up at 4:30 to beat him to the punch. Rotten kid. :smile:

It's nice to see some maturity kicking in.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I had the sudden relevation that not only are we making all of these teenagers work against their natural clock (nightowl to the max) - we're doing the same for some of the teachers. Maybe I'm wrong, but this makes absolutely no sense to me.
</div></div>

I've had to work against my natural clock for 27 years! My high school starts at 7:15. :thumbsdown:

During the summer I am a night owl and stay up to 2:00 a.m. and get up around 10:00. Then the school year starts and wham ~ I have to get up at 5:30.

So I certainly sympathize with my students. I always tell first period that they have to remember that I'm not fully awake yet. Sometimes I can't add 2 + 2!

The SD tried to change the high school start times to a later time and the parents in the SD went nuts because they wanted the teenagers home to babysit for younger siblings. They were also concerned that it would intefere with jobs and sports practices.

The idea was shot down because of all of the complaints. I was so hoping that it would pass!

~Kathy
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
Kathy - I don't know what county you're in, but Cobb County Schools have it right. High School starts at 9 a.m. and elementary starts earlier. I graduated from Cobb County schools and it was like that then - still is - so it's been in place for a while.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I'm not in Cobb county but have friends that teach there. I also have friends that teach in nearby Forsyth county and they also have the high schools starting after the elementary and middle schools. I wish my county would do that but like I said, when it was proposed, it got shot down by a parental outcry.

Wyntersgrace, I sent you a PM.

~Kathy
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
It would get shot down here, too. Yet the pediatricians say the kids are chronically sleep deprived. It doesn't make sense.
 
K

Kjs

Guest
I agree. When the kids are younger they get up earlier(atleast mine did). But once they hit their pre-teen, teen years you can't drag them out. so why does elementary and middle school start at 8:30 and high school at 7:30?? difficult child is in last year of middle school so he thinks THAT is early. Just wait until next year!
 

SRL

Active Member
Our school district got a committee together to study school start times. They recognized the high schoolers need to sleep in but early start times got shot down due to after school sports, as it meant those students would have to miss more school for events and stay later for practices.

So instead, they backed down the HS start time to make it earlier. :hammer:
 
Top