What if We'd Like Our Kids to Be Early Risers?

Sometimes when I write a post about our typical unschooling days, a reader stops by and says, “Oh, Sue, your mornings sound delightful! I wish my family would get up early so we could get a good start on the day. I can’t get my kids out of bed. They just grumble and roll over and go back to sleep. What can I do?”

Now, this might not be you, but if it is, what do you do? Perhaps you do nothing.

I’m describing our typical unschooling days. They suit us. We get up early so we can enjoy running along our bush tracks in the cool of a summer’s morning. There is nothing quite like being out in the Australian bush just after sunrise. We think it’s worth getting up while most people are still in bed. And it’s not hard for us to do this because we’re morning people.

But you might be night owls, who enjoy staying up late watching movies or chatting together. Or maybe someone in your family arrives home from work late in the day. You might want to do things together as a family at a time when we’re thinking about going to bed.

Does it really matter what time we get up? Only if we have to be somewhere at a certain hour. Or if there’s some other reason for rolling out of bed early. Apart from that, we’re free to go to bed and get up whenever we like, at a time that suits us best.

But what if you disagree. You might think it’s good for your kids to get up early. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise.  You might want to change your night owl children into early risers. Is there anything you can do?

Well, you could insist and risk getting into battles.

Or perhaps you can get up early yourself. You could issue a casual invitation such as: “In the morning, I’m going for a walk before breakfast. Anyone want to join me?” If someone does want to join you that’s good. But if no one rolls out of bed at the required hour, don’t worry. Go by yourself. And keep getting up early. If it’s really that important to you, you will want to, even if no one else is interested in adopting this habit.

Whenever we want our kids to do something, whether it’s getting up early, helping with the chores or something else, it needs to start with us. And we need to persist even if our kids don’t respond as we hope. If we give up, our kids will get the message that early rising doesn’t mean much to us after all.

So if you like the sound of our early mornings, you can have them. Get up early. See the sunrise. Run or walk along a track. Come home and enjoy your breakfast. Get a good start on the day. Will your kids join you? Will they want to be early risers too? I don’t know. They might, especially if they can see a reason for doing it. I guess it’s up to them.

I wrote this story three years ago. Since then, our sleeping and rising habits have changed a bit. I still get up early to go running. My day is just the same. But now that most of my girls are working, they’ve adjusted their days. Some mornings, they get up early to run or go to the gym before going to work. But on the days when they don’t need to go anywhere, they might sleep in longer. They relax and enjoy having a slow morning. Unless, of course, there’s something they really can’t wait to get up and do!

Something Extra

When we were making music videos, we had to get up early, very early, so that we were at our filming location just before sunrise. The first light of the day is beautiful. It’s perfect for photography and videography. After we’d filmed our videos, usually we’d have a breakfast picnic before coming home.

These photos are from the Safe and Sound music video shoot. (Hasn’t Gemma-Rose grown a lot since then?!) Here’s the video in case you’d like to watch it!

So, are you a morning person or a night owl? Perhaps you rise early when you have to and sleep in on other days? Do you find that, in general, everyone in your family syncs their sleeping and waking habits? Or does everyone have a different sleep pattern? (Could that be frustrating?) I’d love to hear your story!