When my kids were babies, I would sing songs to wake them.
Soon we found that my daughter had no trouble getting up in the morning. She would pop out of bed and start her day, sometimes way earlier than we were ready. My son has always been a sleeper so waking him has been a chore from day one. Since he is entering his “older” years, it’s worse. Let’s say; we’ve had to take a different tack with him.
As my son grew, simple, sweet lullabies turned into disco tunes (hello KC and the Sunshine Band!) We needed something more upbeat, so singing progressed to made up circus music. Headlining the circus was Mr. Ticklebug dancing on my son’s feet, hands or head because they were outside of the covers.
In the past several years, I’ve sunk to the lowest of lows.
My son’s one remaining stuffed animal has had “accidents.” Beary hops just out of reach around my son, announcing that he has to go. It’s a fact that Beary’s zipper on his bear-suit gets stuck. As a result, he usually can’t get his zipper down soon enough in the mornings, so he wets his bear-pants. This bear has been known to take a dump on my son’s head too. Don’t judge. This appealed to my son’s then, 10-year-old sense of humor.
It’s fun to see what will get him out of bed though. He is the kind of kid that wakes up in a good mood, so creativity is well received. He doesn’t like it when you tickle under his arms, even though that elicits a response from the dead in no time. Taking off all the covers in the middle of winter borders on mean and makes for a mad guy, so that only happened once. Sorry again, bud. A lot of times my attempts though well received, end up in grunts and him settling in to go back to sleep.
Sometimes, my daughter helps, by singing a song he loved when he was little, even though he isn’t little any longer. Other times, our dog will hop up on the bed and deposit a toy within reach in case he wants to play with her.
My harassment days have come to an end.
Lately, my son gets out of bed the first time there is any mention of “it’s late.” Plus, by now my son knows that if he doesn’t get up, I’ll come up with something that is sure to annoy him.
I have grand plans for future wake-up procedures if necessary. Some ideas involve live snapchat video, Halloween masks year-round, and violin playing. He shouldn’t worry because I don’t own a violin.
Thank you, my boy, for having a sense of humor for all these years. Now, get out of bed.
More in Parenting
