I am having issues getting DD who is 6 y/o up and dressed in the morning. She is a heavy sleeper, usually sleeps through her alarm and I have to spend 10m waking her up. Her latest thing is to lay in bed for 20min complaining about getting dressed or going to school or VERY slowly putting her clothes on. This morning I found her talking to my mom, who we live with. I try not to engage in a power struggle, just tell her that if she doesn't want to get dressed she can go in her pjs or that she won't get her reward on Fri if she doesn't get moving. She gets a reward on Friday for not getting any reports home from school all week and I have added getting out the door without tantrums/fights. We having been making it out w/out fights, but we are still rushing (which she doesn't like and gets grumpy) or late (which I don't like and I get grumpy). Looking for sugguestions so we are happier ppl in the morn!

I tried changing her normal bedtime to 7:30p instead of 8p, but most nights by the time I am off work, pick her up and have dinner we aren't finished until 6:30p -7p and then there is a little homework (most times she does it while I am cooking dinner), bath every other night, & our bedtime routine. It is a stretch to get that in b4 7:30.

I get everthing ready the night b4 so what needs to be done is dressed, breakfast, lunch in book bag, comb hair, shoes/coat, leave. I get her breakfast ready, she just has to eat it. I get up at 6:15 eat breakfast then get DD up at about 6:30. I usally have to go back in 10m later b/c she layed in bed and dozed back off. We need to leave the house at 7:20a. Lately she has been eating breakfast at school a couple mornings just so we are on time, but she spends more time talking to the kids there then eating breakfast which creates problems in the classroom b/c then she is hungry.

I thought about getting a second alarm clock that goes off 5 or 10 min after the one she has and set it to a radio station that she has to get up to turn off. The one she has now beeps and will go for like 3 min and turn off. So she has a "Warning" alarm and then a "Get Dressed Now" alarm. Maybe even setting the "Warning" alarm to 6:15a and the "Get Dressed" alarm to 6:30. Am I expecting too much thinking that she should be able to get up and get dressed w/out so much prodding, reminders, & consequences?
Any other ideas?

This is what works for my kids. None of them are morning people! 30minutes before it is time to get up (6:30am), I open the blinds and turn on the hall light. 20minutes before time to get up I turn on their bedroom light. 10minutes before time to get up I go in and talk to them quietly saying like good morning it is almost time to get up and I turn on their radio quietly. Then when the alarm goes off at 7am, they have already stirred and know it is time to get up. So I have to go in like four different times, but for me it is okay because I get up earlier than them so I am already ready and breakfast is started. Plus it makes it easier for them to get up.

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Sounds like you're doing quite a bit right already (like having things ready the night before, etc). I like LJGZsmom's idea about going in multiple times. I would just like to add make sure you don't leave her alone in her room until she's up. I am NOT a morning person and I struggled with waking up my entire school career (I still do). We had a 2-story house and my mom would yell up to me to get up. I'd yell back 'ok'! Then she'd yell up later, 'are you awake?' I'd yell back 'yes'.... the whole time half asleep and still in bed. Then she'd come up later when time to leave and be surprised that I was still sleeping! I'd say maybe go in early to give her the warnings, but then when she needs to be up make sure you don't leave till she's up and out of bed. (If you don't already do it this way) Maybe have her wash her face first thing to make sure she's up and alert.

Also instead of a weekly reward is there anything that you could do for a daily reward? I ask becasue my sisters kids get dressed while watching cartoons, but they can be slow about it. She had decided at one point to instead make the cartoons a reward (i don't know if she did or not but..). So when they're completely dressed they can watch cartoons while eating breakfast. If they don't get up and are slow then they miss out. I think with her kids this is probably enough incentive to get up and out of bed. Maybe a daily reward (although I don't know what) would be something that would get her up and going! HTH!

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Oh, hey, another idea that might work might be a beat the timer type game. Maybe set the timer for 5 minutes and she if she can get dressed and downstairs in that time! Or race her yourself. Maybe playing games like that in the morning would help!

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Well, I know for me...I'm not exactly hopping up and raring to go in the mornings, so I'm really sympathetic to my kids about it. Mornings can be a drag IMO! LOL!

My older son has an alarm clock, it goes off and he gets up on his own...no problems there.

My younger son is a much heavier sleeper and very slow to wake up. Like someone else mentioned, I turn on the hall light and a lamp in his room about 20-30 minutes before he needs to get up. I also set his alarm to classical music...so it goes off and it's not super loud, so it gradually wakes him up instead of a jarring loud sound (which he really doesn't like and I don't blame him!). Sometimes I go in and sit on his bed and talk to him quietly...just about the weather outside, what I'm doing that day, what he's doing etc It's just what works for us. The alternative is not pleasant - rushing him along makes him crabby and it's just not a good start to the day for anyone.

Depends on your child if a timer would work. For my kids...it would just aggravate them and I know for myself, I wouldn't that either. You just have to figure out what works for your kids.

I have trouble getting my dd up in the morning also. Her alarm will be SCREAMING in the morning and she's still dead to the world! I don't know how she can sleep through all that noise!

I'm going to try this for my dd.

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I go in at 6:30 (we leave at 7:45) and rub their backs and talk or sing (very poorly I might add) quietly to them. After about a minute I leave. I turn the tv on in the living room and wait , 9 times out of 10 they'll come out and snuggle on the couch with me. If they don't get up in 10 minutes I'll go in and open the blinds and tell them what time it is. At 7:00 the tv is off and they are to get dressed, eat breakfast, etc. At 7:45 I tell them to grab their backpack and put their shoes on. We're out the door by 7:50. For my kids (ds 8 and dd 6) they like cartoons and snuggling with mommy, if they don't get up they miss that time. Sometimes my ds will say come get me at 7:00, but most mornings they get up and join me for "wake up time". It works for us!!
Good luck!

My DD (6) is pretty good about getting up once I wake her up. She likes for me to rub or scratch her back in the mornings, which you would think would relax her back to sleep, but she's just like me...That invigorates me!!

My sister has two boys, now aged 12 and 10, and for many years now this is how she wakes her boys up in the mornings...She turns on some loud dance music in the house!! She says whatever it takes to get them moving!! And it seems to work with these boys, who would otherwise be crabby and hard to wake up.

Some kids need a "gentle wake up", and others need to be "jolted out of bed", like my sisters' boys.

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I have a 6-yr old, too. Just based on what my 6-yr old is like, I'd say your DD is having trouble less because she's tired but more because she misses you. She gets all of a few hours a day with you and most of that time is spent doing chores like dinner, homework, bathes, etc. I know as a single working mom you're horribly busy. It is stressful for both of you. I really applaud you for wanting mornings to be stress-free.

My advice: Get up at 6am and get completely dressed and ready. Eat breakfast WITH your child after you have helped her get dressed. That time together in the morning will benefit both of you. You're doing so many things right. A small change in schedule can make a big difference.

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Bunch of ideas here that I am going to try. Thanks! I am not the best at getting up in the morning either, so I know where she gets it from.