Daddydoit would love to brag about some magical formula for overcoming daybreak tween-negative-inertia. It'd be great to report some mechanism for motivating my sleepy-head kid to spring out of bed every morning with a smile. But I'm a complete failure in this department. My daughter has won that battle. She squeezes every last minute out of her warm bed, even if it means aggravating her dad, foregoing breakfast, and nearly missing the bus every morning. (My son does okay.)
There are only two days left of school until summer break, so this will soon be a moot point for the school year.
When she was seven years old (she just turned eleven), I employed a neanderthal fathering tactic to get her going in the morning. I would say, "Well, if you can't get yourself out of bed, then I'll help you." I'd enter her room and lift her, brush her hair, put on her shoes.
She, of course, hated this. It bruised her little ego to have her father hefting her through her big-girl routine. Both of us hated it. I did this only twice.
To get me off of her back we both agreed to modify the "get up" criteria. All she had to do was sit up in her bed. Then I'd go away. I'd peek in once in awhile and know that she couldn't fall back asleep unless she laid back down. (Kids can't sleep sitting up with their eyes open, right?)
Still, almost every morning these past few years, I entered her room at a quarter after eight. I lifted Bolt (her favorite stuffed animal) from her sleepy little angel face and asked if she wanted to sleep a few more minutes. Every morning she released a weak nod, and I went away until eight thirty. Then I came back in and required her to sit up. By a few minutes to nine every morning, I was prodding her to hurry because she was going to miss the bus.
This fall I will mount a new offensive. I will employ a completely new tactic. It's the Twenty First Century. Technology is the new religion. I'll get her to use her alarm clock.
I won't be there at her college dorm to lift Bolt off her face and get her going, so I have to start getting serious.
copiwrite B.A.F.
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