Alarm Clock Dilema

I recently bought a new alarm clock and it is by Emerson and it is a smart set clock. It has the option of setting 2 different times. One for the weekend and one for the weekdays. It has a gradually increasion in volume beeping. I got it at Target over in the electronics section.

Honestly, it sounds as if maybe your 7 year old should go to bed earlier since she's having difficulty waking up in the morning. Have you read the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child by Dr Marc Weisbluth, he's a sleep expert and I can't recommend this book enough. If you can avoid waking up your 4 year old, that'd be ideal. I like the idea of the 'light' alarm clock. Good luck!

Yes, if there is an alarm clock in the room both of them will be woken up. If the seven year old has a hard time waking up, it may only wake up the four year old.
Some people are just harder to rouse than others. You might use an alarm that plays music, but it will still not wake the hard sleeper as easily as the other one.

We have one that lights up and does beep with a gradual increase in noise and they can snooze on thier own - something like this one sort of:
http://www.amazon.com/American-Innovative-Teach-Talking-N...
(there is also a cheaper version that doesn't talk)

I would suggest hypnotic suggestion.

People are much more susceptible to suggestion than anyone would ever guess. It depends on your situation.. but:

So... after they're asleep (or before they're awake) you can open the curtains in the room. With the oldest, you can talk about lightness and alertness (even in really different contexts, it's surprising what is effective), being awakened by light, or the noise of other people moving around in the house, or some of the things that she's missing out on in the early hours... while you talk to the youngest about sleeping until she's had enough sleep, ignoring the light, etc.

It's reasonably helpful to talk to each separately because one message will dampen the other, and that makes a mess.

I suspect that the elder is feeling ripped off for 'having' to get up, because going to sleep late and getting up late are 'cool' on this part of the planet. If her sister can do it and she can't, she's going to be angry --angry people don't wake easily.

While I do NOT dispute that some kids sleep harder and are harder to awaken (I have one like that and one early happy riser... just different dispositions)... it does sound as if maybe the 7 yr old could use some more sleep. You didn't say what time she goes to bed. For my kids to be rested they need close to 10 hours of sleep each night. My 8 yr old can wake up happy with a little less (8 1/2 hrs on occasion but not on a regular basis) but my 11 yr old needs a lot more. Really. Always has. I would shoot for 10 hours at night if you can... see if that makes a difference.

FWIW, when our kids were under the age of 8 (both kids) they went to bed no later than 8:30. It was hard because of after school things and church on Wednesdays, and eventually we decided church on Wednesdays had to go because it was too much. The kids didn't make it into bed until after 9:00 that night if we went, and then had a hard time settling down and actually going to sleep... and it was too late for them to be rested for school the next day.

5 or 10 minutes before you want the 7 yr old to get up, I would go in and open up any blinds or curtains, too. The natural light will help her body to awaken more naturally.

I've seen alarm clocks that use a light that gradually get brighter and brighter to imitate the sunrise. I've never used one but it might work.

I agree with Bonnie S. She is not getting enough sleep. I don't know what time she goes to bed, but even if she is getting 8 hours....it sounds like she needs more. I would start changing her bedtime in 1/2 hour increments, until she is waking up with no problems.

Years ago I had an radio with an alarm that also had a pillow speaker. You put the speaker under your pillow. I think that you can buy the pillow speaker separately. You could try using it along with setting the alarm to play music. I wake up gradually if I have the radio set on soft music.

However, I suggest that perhaps she needs more sleep. At 7 she should probably be getting around 10 hours of sleep.

When I was in middle school I had a difficult time waking up and my mother would come into the room and wake me 2 or 3 times. I'm not saying that is a good thing to do. She got tired of it and told me that she would wake me once only. I was late to school a few days but I did learn to get up when she called me the first time.

I agree sounds like she needs more sleep.
With my never gets enough sleep no matter what I've tried 8 yr old I have to wake her earlier than what she needs so she has time to get her body going in the morning. Sometimes it takes 20 mins of going back in , pulling covers off, tickling , etc to get her up.

My son is 8, and we tried using an alarm clock with him unsuccessfully. He would forget to turn it all the way off, and would forget to set it the next morning. He came up with his own solution- a battery powered doorbell. When I want him to wake up, I press the remote and it beeps in his room. If I don't hear him moving around, I press it again. I can let him sleep a couple extra minutes or wake him up early depending on how the morning is going. And he has an incentive to get up immediately so I don't press the buzzer again.

My husband wakes up later than I do, so I try to be quiet when I wake up. I have an alarm that gets louder the longer you let it go, so I turn it off quick and leave the room without turning the light on. I try to have my clothes picked out the night before and get dressed in another room so I don't wake him up.

I think she needs more sleep. Although it varies and everyone is different, a 7 yr old generally needs 9 - 10 hrs of sleep.
I don't think an alarm clock will work the way you'd like it to. I saw a show awhile back that was questioning the effectiveness of smoke alarms. Kids (up through teen age years) have this thing where when they are asleep, they can't hear most sounds, or they just don't react to them. They filmed the reactions of 4 children (toddler through 16 yr old) when a smoke alarm goes off in the middle of the night. Most often the kids pulled the blankets over their head, rolled over and go back to sleep. Pretty scary if the house was actually on fire. They then tested an alarm where a parents voice was recorded to tell the kids to wake up and get out of the house. The reactions were much more effective. Kids startled, woke up and got out of bed.

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/70460?promo=search

If you can shield your four year old from the light, you're all set.

Look for an alarm clock with a vibrating attachment. They are generally used for the deaf. You can turn off the hearing alarm & just have the vibrating part wake her up. They have them on e-bay.