A few weeks ago, I bought James an "Ok to Wake" clock off of Amazon.
The idea is that the parent sets what time it is okay for the kiddo to get out of bed. When the clock reaches that time, it turns green. You teach your child that green means go! Before it is time to wake up, the clock is yellow:
When it's okay to get out of bed (or leave the room), it turns green:
Prior to bringing this lovely invention into our home, James' wake up times kept getting earlier and earlier. He used to wake up around 7:30 am. PERFECTLY reasonable. Then it was 7 am (quasi reasonable), then 6:30 (too early), and when he came in our room a few mornings at 6:10 am (FOR THE LOVE...), we decided to do something about it, before it moved into the five o'clock hour (insanely early).
After researching options like this, ordering it online and waiting for it to arrive, I gave James the clock as a present. He loved it. He carried it around all that day. We talked about how the clock was yellow, but in the morning, before he gets out of bed, he has to wait for it to turn green. I set the clock time to show him the yellow vs green colors. (we're still learning colors) That first night, I reiterated the instructions. The next morning, I was eager to see what happened. Of course, at 6 something, he comes barging in to our room, carrying his new clock-best-friend. I asked him if it was green yet (it was not). I gently reminded him that he needed to go back in his room until it turned green. He hung his head, so very sad, and went back to his room. You should've heard the excitement in his voice when it did turn green. He busted out of his room saying "It's green! It's green!"
The next morning, he stayed in his room until it turned green. I would say MOST mornings since then (almost a month now), he has waited for it to be green. I set it for 7:10 am. I realize he isn't necessarily sleeping until 7:10 am, but at least the rest of the household can get a few more minutes of sleep while he waits for "green means go."
This clock also has a nap timer on it. Every day at nap time, I set the nap timer for 2 hours. He needs to sleep/stay in his room until it turns green (after 2 hours). Sometimes he takes a while to fall asleep and then sleeps right through the green time. After a set amount of time, it turns back to yellow. You can adjust this time. I make it stay green for an hour, just in case he sleeps for a while. I like those features, both the nap timer feature and that I can tell it how long to stay green.
Why I think this works for us:
-James is 3 years old (almost 3.5). If he was a two year old (like Reese), I don't know if this would work or not. Reese is still in a crib, though, so no leaving the room unassisted for her...yet.
-His personality works with this. Some kids are going to do what they want to do, no matter what.
-He is not night-time potty trained yet. He still sleeps in a diaper. If you have a child who leaves the room to go potty at night or early in the morning, I don't know if this would work for you.
This gadget has allowed Scott, Reese, and I to get a little more sleep, which really benefits the whole family. :)
Have you found a gadget or some technology that has improved your quality of life??
**This is not a sponsored post. I purchased this clock. It was not provided for me to review. All opinions are my own.**
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