As many of you know, I have a teenage daughter at home. She’s a brilliant, happy girl who brings sunshine into this house and fills her father and me with great joy.
Waking that kid up is one of my least favorite things to do in the entire world. Worse than scooping the cat box, worse than laundry and far worse than a root canal. Over the years we’ve looked for various ways to wake her up. We bought her an alarm; she simply reaches over and turns it off. We’ve threatened her with earlier bed times, being splashed with water, and the loss of privileges. While it might work for a little while, it never holds for more than a couple of days. Then we are right back to square one.
Beloved has had stern words with her and she always promises to do better and she does… for a day or two. But Beloved isn’t here in the morning, I am. Apparently, even though I think I’m a BIG, BAD, MOM, I do not carry as much parental weight as the Daddy does. (Anyone else have this problem?)
Our typical morning runs something like this:
7:45 – Alarm blares/she turns it off/I holler, “Good morning Honey!”
7:50 – Standing in her doorway, “Your alarm went off, get up!”
8:00 – “I’m serious! Get out of bed!”
8:15 – “Get up right now! You have school, you have chores, get up!”
8:17 – “If I have to come in here again, I’m bringing water!”
She gets up, throws a crabby glance at me, and flops onto the sofa.
She’s always been hard to wake up and I have great fear that she’ll never survive in the outside world (which means she’ll be living with her father and I until the day I DIE!). It’s my fault, I’m sure it is, but I just can’t take it anymore. There must be a way to make the kid get out of bed on her own!
I had just about given up all hope when I came across this over at Spoon Sisters:
If you’re favorite song is “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” then make room on your night table for Clocky. Clocky gives you ONE chance to get up. If you choose to snooze, believe it or not, Clocky will jump right off your night table (up to 3 feet) and wheel around your bedroom looking for a place -- far away from your bed -- to hide, beeping all the while, before sounding his alarm again. And, yes, you WILL have to get out of bed to silence his alarm. The snooze time can be set from 0-9 minutes, so if you set it at "0" Clocky immediately "runs" away. If you want Clocky to be just like every other alarm clock on the block, and stay put on your night table, simply disable his wheels. Moves on wood or carpet. Comes in Almond, Aqua, and Coco - a rich chocolate brown. Takes four AAA batteries; batteries not included. Measures 5-1/2" L x 3-1/2” W x 3-1/2” D. Click Select Style below to choose.
Price $50.00
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Isn’t this fabulous! I mean seriously! The aqua color even matches her room!
Ladies and gentlemen, I am in love!
And while you’re over at The Spoon Sisters: check out their other fun and fabulous items and don't forget that Father's Day is June 15.
Bonnie Spoon (thanks Bonnie!!) has partnered with me to give away one Clocky (almond color only) to one lucky reader.
So, here’s the skinny on how to win:
1. Post a comment on this blog
2. Send me an email (amfriedrick@msn.com) describing an experience you’ve had trying to get one of your children out of bed. Make sure to include your name and a valid email address ! SORRY THIS CONTEST IS FOR US RESIDENTS ONLY
3. Contest ends at midnight, Friday, June 13, 2008.
4. Our panel of judges: Beloved, the sleepy Miss C and I, will chose one winner.
5. The winner’s story will be posted on my blog on Monday, June 16, 2008.
6. Winner will receive one almond colored Clocky (batteries NOT included) delivered by USPS.
Non-Bloggers are welcome to enter – simply email me. Sorry, no snail mail folks!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get a kid outta bed!
Click here to go the The Spoon Sisters store.
12 comments:
There are some truly brilliant people in the world. A runaway clock! Wow!
This is awesome! My husband gets up way before I do, but hits snooze for an hour some days before ever getting up not realizing it keeps me away the whole time! Thanks for the info.
must have clocky! I'm the ONLY person in my house who springs forth from the bed! Everyone else...like pulling teeth!
What a cool find...thanks for sharing Annie!
I need this! Waking my oldest up is just like waking your beloved daughter!
I am SOOO going to get a few of these! lol Waking up my oldest does include water - has even included bringing the hose through the hose to spray her in ice cold water. ROFL
My kids would appreciate this more than my last ditch efforts to wake them- singing. Sanjaya is better than I am. William Hung is better than I am. There are mummies in Egypt who are better than I am, even though they've been dead for centuries. They asked me to stop the last time I was in a karaoke bar.
Priceless! I need one of those for my son. I'm typing up my entry right now!
I wish I had that when the kids were growing up! It would have been a wonderful for oldest daughter who couldn't seem to get out of bed to save her life when she was in her teens. I'm going over to Spoon Sisters and see what else the have.
OBTW, I tagged you for a short meme so if you're interested come by and get it.
I have had horrible problems waking up in the morning for most of my life. I had several sleep studies done which showed that I was in stage 4 sleep (the deep one) during what most people think of as a normal wake up time. 3 things have been very helpful for me. I have an alarm clock that gradually lights up in the morning to mimic a sunrise, right next to my face. I also keep a glass of juice - apple or orange - next to my bed and drink it as soon as I wake up the first time. I've done this for years now and it has really helped.
But probably the best thing has been thyroid medication I now take at night and in the morning (I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism 2 years ago). The small dose I take at night allows me to wake up like a normal person. Makes me realize that I wasn't stubborn or lazy - there was a real problem there. Maybe some of these things will work for her. Good luck!
Now that is a great discovery - tahnks for sharing! So cool.
Yahooo! This would be great to have!
I too have a sound sleeper son, he slept through a championship baseball little league game on the bleachers, cowbells ringing, screaming thru a tied inning...I knew we were in trouble...now at 21 it's still a challenge, so I finally let him sleep through, can't help him forever, and logical consequences seem to teach best...my dad had the all time great wake up on Saturday mornings... alarm clocks? who needs them...he would put the William Tell overture on, and crank it up, then he would come in and rip the covers back off the bed...if we didn't get up, and get to breakfast, he would start emptying the dresser drawers, just dump them out on the floor, cruel, I know, but I can tell you, when we heard William Tell, we knew we better start getting up or we would be spending the day cleaning the room...it sucked, but it worked, and I have no trouble anymore, I wake up without an alarm clock every morning at 6:30...my body clock hasn't ever forgotten... cute clock, hope it works for you, have you tried bribing her???
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