5 Year Old Is NOT a Morning Person

I used to get my daughter up 15-30 minutes early so she could lie on the couch and wake up before she had to get dressed and ready to go. That helped keep mornings much calmer.

Good luck!

My first ideas are the obvious. More sleep, more time to get ready. The only other thing I'd change is your routine. Silly, I know but I wake my boys up for school by my singing silly songs, changing up the words, making them laugh. While they're "stirring" I always talk about some great things that are going to happen that day but say, "if you can get up in time, we can do ..." Make that thing something he loves to do, i.e. help you cook, get a snow cone after school, watch some show after he gets ready. Just change the routine. Good luck.

I'm 27 with ten years experience and I've never been a morning person. Coffee makes me tolerable and I probably still shouldn't answer questions on here before noon.

My middle daughter, who is 9 years old, has always been the same way. She has the added bonus of having Autism and associated issues so it's extra fun for us to get ready for school every morning! Whoo hoo!

What makes it easier? Routine. She's desperately reliant on routine so I take advantage of that fact. Once she begins her morning routine she has no choice but to follow through to the end even if she doesn't want to. It's rather amusing to watch, actually. Even as she's getting her shoes on by herself, she's crying, "I don't want shoes! I will frow school in the garbage can!" yet she's stuck in the routine.

We recently added chamomile tea to her morning routine because a.) she loves hot tea b.) chamomile is caffeine free c.) chamomile is a natural muscle and mood relaxer. She won't usually eat breakfast but she'll drink a hot drink before school. Sometimes I can get her to munch on dry cereal or her favorite yogurt.

On the impossible days, I have bacon. I have been known to cook up some bacon, put it on a dish, and wake her up with the dish waving under her nose. She then wiggles her hands out from under the blanket with her eyes closed looking for that bacon and I let her take a bite, but tell her she has to come downstairs for the other three slices. It works. She gets to have them with her tea.

Some mornings it's pancakes, one of her other most favorite foods. She loves pumpkin pie too, so I'll put pumpkin pie spice in her pancakes. Sometimes I'll put cinnamon in her pancakes. When I add those spices I add a tiny bit of vanilla and sugar, and she's in heaven.

I've also discovered that I'm perfectly fine with letting her wear her clothes for the next day to bed if it means she's picked out her own clothes that she's comfortable and happy with and they're clean, even if they're wrinkled. And it saves time. And she doesn't complain that she's too cold. And she doesn't fight and kick me in the gut. She doesn't complain that I picked out the wrong clothes.

I also make sure to turn her socks inside out. She hates the seam of the socks touching her toes. Such a horrible mistake if I forget.

You don't say what time he goes to sleep, if you are night owls areyou keeping him up too late?

sounds like he is just tired, make sure he gets enough sleep

My 5 yo son is the same way. Mr Crabby Pants in the morning. I literally have to make up and sing funny songs to him to get him moving. They run the gamut of topics, from the pets to his baby sister. Usually to tunes like jingle bells or something else easy. After a song, he is in much better humor. Anyway, this is what I do. Hope it helps!

If your son is fine when he walks out of the house, he can be fine when he's in the house. From now on, whining and arguing will have to have unhappy consequences, and being at least agreeable, if not cheerful, will need happy consequences.

What your boy is doing sounds like a habit or a game to me. You don't have to play his game.

Once you have decided what a just consequence is, you can speak to him in a friendly but firm tone. You can say something like (I've picked a consequence out for you), "Ryan, the whining game is over. Since we all have to get up in the morning, we need to get up happy.

"So be ready: the first bit of arguing or complaining or I-don't-wanting tomorrow morning, and your bedtime is five minutes earlier tomorrow night. The second bit, and it's moved up another five. Do you see where five minutes is on the clock? *That* much earlier for every time. I'm telling you now so you can think about it, because you sure don't want to have bedtime before supper tomorrow night."

If you choose this consequence, one result will be that you'll be able to find out if a little extra sleep helps him in the morning. You're wise not to have him make decisions; that can come later.

Be consistent, but patient; you and I know that it takes a little time to break a habit. Have a friendly manner about it, because he is changing his morning habits because he *needs* better ones; it's not about keeping Mama happy. Once he is whine-free for a few mornings, you could announce a little "happy consequence."

Of course, you'll have to keep track of his new bedtime each night and make sure he's in bed in time. That could be a hassle for a while if it changes every night, but it's do-able. And, of course, you and your husband have to model this by not complaining or whining either in the morning either.

I agree with Elaine B and I want to add. Our daughter and I are also not morning people.

We do NOT like to be given directions or asked a lot of questions in the morning. We are grouchy..

And so our solutions that work for us is to set our alarms 15 minutes early.
Snooze 5 minutes, snooze, 5 minutes, maybe get up. Snooze time to absolutely get up.

And so I would walk into our daughters room and say, 5 more minutes? she would either get up without a word or say 5 more minutes. Again 3 minutes later.. repeat till OK it is now time to get up.

Later when she was in 1st grade she had an alarm clock that was located across the bedroom. If she was not up after 15 minutes it went off.

No questions about breakfast, "what are you going to wear? here is a list of things I need you to carry to the car.."

We had everything decided the night before. Clothing laid out. All items next to the front door. Lunch already decided and breakfast already decided.

All of her years from preschool through 12th grade was handled this way..

Now convincing my husband to not intervene with his cheery questions, wanting a big hug and kiss and sappy smile in the morning! Poor dear.. Thank goodness he loves us so much.

My daughter , now 10, is the same way. A few years ago, I got really sick of it and just laid down the law. Basically told her this is what you need to do in the mornIng (get dressed, go to the bathroom, eat, brush teeth and hair). DO it with minimal attitude or go to the bus stop in your pj's and no breakfast, your responsibility. It pretty much worked. I wouldn't sat she is cheerful, but she gets out the door with only the occasional reminder. Your son is maybe a little young to get ready 100% on his own, but you can have a talk with him about his attitude, that it is unacceptable to whine and complain. And it won't be tolerated or given in to. It may help to make a very simple and most basic chart or list of this is what you need to do in the morning. Teeth brushing, dressed, etc. Keep it simple, try to just supervise as much as possible. Those kinds of kids like having more responsibility (percieved control) as possible. They behave much better. Don't take any lip either. Be firm, but of course loving, and kiss him goodbye. Good luck. Set the foundation now for dealing with this. It's not going away, lol!

My 3 yo son is inexplicably cheery in the morning, but he wants to dawdle and explore and play, just like any toddler would. And, he likes to joke and tease in the morning too, which is a little time-consuming. The night before a Monday or any other morning that I think is likely to have a time-crunch, I just put him to bed in whatever socks and t-shirt he's going to wear the next day. Just two less things we need to do in the morning.

Kids are trainable. They aren't born night people or morning people. That develops over time. I found this out by accident. My kids were limp noodle, sleepy, whining, and grouchy in the morning. Then I discovered the wonders of Melatonin. We go through the bedtime routine, take a melatonin, then happily singing and reading fun books and talking about all the fun things they will get to do at school the next day. Then in the morning I wake them up with singing and hugs and kisses and tickling and they bounce out of bed laughing and happy. There is no more stress in the mornings. It is pleasant and happy as long as we get up early enough not to be in a rush.