Mornings in my house are a total battle. My 3 year old hates waking up for daycare. He gets cranky, refuses to get dressed, and sometimes just lies there whining. I feel bad forcing him up, but we have to be out the door at a certain time. I don’t want to start his day off in a bad mood, but I have no idea how to make wake-ups smoother. How do you guys get your little ones up without the drama?
My kid acts like I’m ruining his life every morning when I wake him up. I’ve tried everything, letting him sleep in a little longer, waking him up earlier so he has time to adjust, but nope. Still a grumpy mess. I swear he’s fine once we actually get to daycare, but those mornings are ROUGH. It makes me feel so guilty, like I’m setting him up for a bad day. Do you notice if he’s worse on some mornings vs others? Like, does sleep amount or bedtime make a difference?
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Why is it so hard?? My little guy is the same. I feel like I need a full-on strategy just to get him out of bed. Like, do I go in super cheerful? Do I try to wake him slowly? Do I carry him out like a sack of potatoes?? Because that’s basically what I end up doing half the time lol. And forget about getting dressed, some mornings, I have to just take him in pajamas and change him at daycare. Have you tried music? I thought maybe a fun song or dance party in the morning would help, but so far, mixed results. Maybe some kids just aren’t morning people??
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I totally get this struggle, but I promise it gets better! My daughter was like this for months, and I thought we’d never have peaceful mornings. One thing that really helped was making wake, up time feel like part of a fun routine instead of a command. We started using a special wake, up light" (one of those that gradually gets brighter before wake-up time), and it made a huge difference. Also, I started giving her a little job in the morning, something she could feel in control of, like picking her own outfit or helping me “make breakfast.” She still has her grumpy days, but way fewer meltdowns now. Hang in there, it won’t always be this hard!