How do you help your teen wake up in the morning? (neighborhood, public school)

[Yankeesfan]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

I agree about the high school start times. I realize that they are a throwback to when teens worked after high school. The need to get out of school by 2:15 was important. And then you have all the afterschool activities that go on for hours after school, so an early dismissal is beneficial.

When my kids were young, they were NEVER late sleepers. Most little kids are not. They didn't start elementary school until 9:15 and they were such early birds. THEY should have been the ones starting at 7:15 a.m. Heck, they were ready for a morning nap about the time their school started.

In Fairfax County it's primarily because of the bus schedules. The buses need to make three runs; it's high schools first, then middle, then elementary. It seems like it would be worthwhile to get more buses and cut it to two runs, but it's hard to find enough bus drivers to staff the schedule as it is. And yes, there has been discussion about flipping the schedules but then you would end up with the youngest kids out in the dark. Plus, as you said, there's the matter of enough time for afterschool activities and jobs. Plus older siblings who need to be home in time to babysit younger siblings while the parent(s) work. It's an ongoing debate in Fairfax, one of the most heated issues in the school system. I personally don't have a strong feeling on any of it but I can understand the perspectives of all the constituencies involved.

[slowlane3]

Most of you people sound very behind the times, or must not have teenagers. Personal electronic gadgets of all kinds, are in fact extremely addictive and have ruined the current generation and reversed their sleeping and waking cycle. Many of them behave like the main character "Jeremy" in the "ZITS" comic strip in the Washington Post. Any attempt to take away their cellphones at bedtime makes them paranoid that you will see and read their messages which often have filthy language or promiscuity. Their gross misuse of technology the year-round makes me wish sometimes we were Amish.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

I agree about the high school start times. I realize that they are a throwback to when teens worked after high school. The need to get out of school by 2:15 was important. And then you have all the afterschool activities that go on for hours after school, so an early dismissal is beneficial.

Teens don't work after school anymore?

[car54]

In an old Three Stooges short....Ma is downstairs and she pulls a rope that cause the bed upstairs to flip over and dump Larry, Moe, and Curly onto the floor.

Think something like that might work?

[Jayess1]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

Hmmm....my coworker still calls her 22 year old son and wakes him up every morning so he won't be late for work.

Priceless!!!

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by smarterguy

Have them play a sport. Sometimes I'd fall asleep as soon as I got home from practice, wake up at 2-3am and do my homework.

I know everyone family and each individual is different, but at some point they have to take responsibility for themselves...

Yes and yes! Better yet, have them play three sports.

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

Hmmm....my coworker still calls her 22 year old son and wakes him up every morning so he won't be late for work.

Wow. That's incredible. 18 year olds used to get married, have jobs of their own and raise families. Now "adults" stay on their parents healthcare plan and need to to be awakened.

Originally Posted by jillybean720

I see plenty of discussion of how to get your child up in the morning, but you mention that he gets sleepy at school, too. There is a LOT that goes into energy levels/sleepiness besides how many hours of sleep you get at night. The first thing I would try is changing his breakfast. What does he normally eat? In most homes, it's something along the lines of cereal, oatmeal, a piece of fruit, frozen waffles, Pop Tarts or other breakfast pastries, muffins, etc., sometimes accompanied by a glass of juice. First thing in the morning is when our bodies are most sensitive to carbohydrates, triggering an all-day cycle of insulin and glucose fluctuations that can cause major dips in energy levels (even if you don't have any actual hypoglycemia or diabetes types of issues). If this is the case in your house, try switching him to something like eggs and bacon (or any combination of eggs, meat, cheese, and non-starchy vegetables) for breakfast for a week and see if that helps. If there's too much of a time crunch for cooking, you can make things like crustless breakfast quiches in muffin tins ahead of time and just nuke in the morning.

I agree! I am not Vietnamese, but I think Pho makes great breakfast (warm, filling without a lot of sugar or calories and with a healthy amount of protein from the beef and beef broth).



The spice alone will wake up your kids too.

By the way, I am sure everyone is aware that teenagers need a lot more sleep than adults do. So it's essential that they go to bed very early. Electronic devices are particularly hyperactivity generating for the brain. They need to be shut off early. Have your kids read books or listen to music (or have a conversation) and then go to bed early. There really is no magic.

[car54]

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan

...It seems like it would be worthwhile to get more buses and cut it to two runs, but it's hard to find enough bus drivers to staff the schedule as it is.

You can forget that. One of the main problems with driver retention now is lack of hours....so lopping off a third of what they currently get would cause a mass exodus.

As far as more buses....they aren't even replacing the ones they have! The average age of a school bus is over 10 years. I drove one the other day with 260,000 miles on it. They used to buy 100 new buses every year, but have only bought 20-some new buses since 2009. Apparently buses are the first thing to go when the budget gets tight...

[lucknow]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

Most of you people sound very behind the times, or must not have teenagers. Personal electronic gadgets of all kinds, are in fact extremely addictive and have ruined the current generation and reversed their sleeping and waking cycle. Many of them behave like the main character "Jeremy" in the "ZITS" comic strip in the Washington Post. Any attempt to take away their cellphones at bedtime makes them paranoid that you will see and read their messages which often have filthy language or promiscuity. Their gross misuse of technology the year-round makes me wish sometimes we were Amish.

Ah Ha, I guess you could text them to get them up. LOL

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

Most of you people sound very behind the times, or must not have teenagers. Personal electronic gadgets of all kinds, are in fact extremely addictive and have ruined the current generation and reversed their sleeping and waking cycle. Many of them behave like the main character "Jeremy" in the "ZITS" comic strip in the Washington Post. Any attempt to take away their cellphones at bedtime makes them paranoid that you will see and read their messages which often have filthy language or promiscuity. Their gross misuse of technology the year-round makes me wish sometimes we were Amish.

I find it funny people blaming teenagers "these days", as if it was any different years ago, when I went to highschool we had TV, video games, computers, I went to high school from 1996 - 2000, and it was the same way back then, there were articles in the Washington Post back then about teenagers naturally having a later schedule than younger kids, luckily I didn't have to catch the bus until 7:10 and it was across the street from my house because I attended TJ, and that area was served by a direct bus to TJ. After my parents bought their house it was in a different area where I had to take a bus to Hayfield and then another bus to TJ, and I had to do the same as the OPs son, wake up at 5:45 to take the bus at 6:30, and yes I was always tired at school. I was always out of the house before anyone else had gotten up.

I remember reading articles about melatonin levels and light, the current theory is that blue light promotes wakefulness, and absence promotes sleep. Since the sun doesn't rise for hours after your children wake up it messes with their body clocks, so I suppose you could try buying lamps, LED lights and electronic timers and try to simulate the sun rising earlier, but that seems like overkill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/he...pagewanted=all

[jillybean720]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

I find it funny people blaming teenagers "these days", as if it was any different years ago, when I went to highschool we had TV, video games, computers, I went to high school from 1996 - 2000, and it was the same way back then,

Concur - I was in high school those same years. I grew up in a teeny tiny town in New England, though, and my daily morning bus ride was about an hour long because the town was large but not densely populated - I rode a short bus not for the reason that immediately pops into people's minds at the term "short bus," but rather because my bus route included dirt roads and 3-point turns that a larger bus wouldn't have been able to handle.

I don't remember what time I got up or what time school started (I do believe first period started at about 7:30), but I do remember standing out in the dark waiting for the bus, and I do remember that my mother never EVER had to wake me up. Alarm went off, I might procrastinate for a few minutes, but then I dragged my butt out of bed. If I was running late, it was MY fault - I NEVER expected my mother or anyone else to get me up in the morning even though my mother was home.

Maybe if you stop waking your kids up, they'll figure it out, but it could be tough if you've already helped establish the habit/routine of him relying on you in the morning.