Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Breakfast in Bed - Surprise Your Kids!



My youngest daughter is a sleeper.  She loves nothing more than to throw on a pair of pjs and to snuggle up in the nearest blanket and take a nap.  In the early morning hours, she has been known to wake, eat and then hop right back into her bed for another sleep. 
Sometimes, the thought of her Hashimoto’s crosses my mind, but to tell you the truth, she has always been like this – even when her thyroid is in perfect range. 
It is just part of her personality.
Now, the challenge is managing that behavior when she is supposed to wake up for school.  Since we live almost directly across for our elementary building, I often let it slide.  She needs only to be at school by 9:00 a.m., which means that she can safely sleep until 8:30 a.m..
A few days ago, we were getting perilously close to missing that little window of wake-up time as my youngest daughter just flatly refused to get out of her bed cocoon. 
I didn’t feel like starting a battle, so I came up with another plan:  breakfast in bed!
Instead of forcing her out, I loaded up a tray with pre-measured Chocolate Chex and Soy Milk and half a banana smeared with peanut butter.  I totaled up the carbs and headed upstairs. 
The look on her face was priceless when she saw her very own breakfast in bed tray.  While she was admiring her feast, I quickly tested her bg and bolused her.   She happily (and quickly) ate everything up and then jumped out of bed, excited to get to school to write in her journal about breakfast in bed.
A small paradigm shift = A happy mom and daughter.
Grumpy crisis fully averted and I highly recommend it to you in case you also find yourself parenting a sleeperJ

3 comments:

Marjorie said...

Wow, they don't have to be to school until 9am. The doors to ours opens at 7:45. Amy's alarm clock goes off at 6:00, so she can be out the door by 7:20 to catch the bus. I aim for her to be sitting and eating by 6:30, next teeth and hair, a few mins to play then off to school.

Scott K. Johnson said...

Love the picture!

I'm a sleeper, too, so I can totally relate. Maybe my kids will surprise ME with breakfast in bed one of these days! :-)

Naturally Sweet Sisters said...

Our elementary is great with starting at 9:00. The ironic part is that the little kids usually wake up the earliest. However, our district progressively starts earlier and earlier for middle school, junior high and high school. By high school, the kids that NEED to sleep in are starting at 6:00 a.m.. Who planned that?

And yes, Scott, by nature, I am a snoozer too. It is one of the things I miss most about becoming a grown-up:)