I mentioned in yesterday's post that one of the things that I'd like to work on that "Shopping for Time" talked about was rising earlier than the family.
I've always had a "night owl" schedule, apparently since I was an infant, and yet, I have worked jobs that have required me to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning too. Since becoming a Mama, I have always gotten up with my child/children. During the pregnancy with Justus and his first few months, King Jo spoiled me and got the kids up and fed them breakfast so I could sleep in until 7:30a.m. But ever since his injury I've been back to getting up with them.
I've heard from lots of books and blogs that it's a great idea to get up early before the family to have a quiet time/prepare for the day but it has never worked out for our situation. I have been pregnant or nursing for 5 consecutive years (until last month when Justus would no longer nurse at all.) In addition to just being tired and wanting to sleep in until the last possible second there has been the dilemma of living in tiny homes where if you just breathe funny, the kids hear it and wake up. So, when I have tried to get up early for yard sales or something, it inevitably wakes the kids too, defeating the purpose.
So, because of how things have been for our family, I understand that at different stages, this may be a great thing for the homemaker and for other stages, an awful idea to try. If you're in an exhausting phase of either being pregnant or staying up late chatting with your teens, perhaps it's better for you to get your sleep and be a happy mama instead of trying to get up really early and be a crabby mama.
I feel that I need to at least EXPERIMENT with rising before my kids. Justus is finally at a stage of sleeping 7-8 hours and thus I'm getting more sleep and feeling healthy. I love experiments, as you can probably tell from our pioneer living experiment we did recently, reducing our toys and clothing. I am going to experiment with rising before the kids for 3 weeks and see how it works out. If it is a huge blessing to our family and I am able to organize the day, pray, read my daily Bible chapters, and make hot breakfasts more often, than I hope to make it a habit. But, if it ends up causing the kids to rise earlier and causes me to lose needed sleep, I will give it up and decide that getting up WITH the kids is what works for our family right now.
If you would like to join me in this experiment, I'd love to hear what you are doing in this area. Please join in by sharing your comments every Tuesday, as I hope to post on this topic on that day of the week for the coming weeks of the experiment.
So far, according to my sidebar poll it looks like most of you mamas get up with your kids but a good amount of you get up before them too. I'd love to hear how it works out for you and what time your kids go to bed.
Our kids go to bed at 7 p.m. This is when they naturally get really tired and they've always had this schedule so I hesitate to keep them up late just so they will sleep in longer for me. It's nice to have that whole evening free to spend with my husband or go to a Women's Bible Study or run to the grocery store.
For my experiment, I won't be using an alarm clock. I'll be praying that God would get me up (if you haven't tried this yet, it works!) and will be trying to break my late-night streak and go to bed earlier than normal. Because Justus sleeps in a Pack n' Play in our room it will tricky to get up without him waking. He may need an early morning bottle and then perhaps I could put him back to bed and then have some quiet time alone.
The Mahaney women have a 5 a.m. club and they even call each other to wake each other up and hold one another accountable. My early rising will definitely not be 5 a.m.!!! Since my kids usually wake at 7:30 a.m. I will be shooting for 6:30 a.m. The term "early" varies based on your life schedule.
7 comments:
I will contemplate the early morning experiment! (I love experiments too!) WHen I have tried in the past, the kids have just woken up with me. But with heading into summer, I am sure their 7pm bedtime won't hold, so maybe I will have a chance!
On a sad note, my 22 month old's naps have been getting shorter. And shorter. I am afraid a "sleeping" nap will be gone by age 2. Maybe he will sleep in a little though!
I will let you know if I am going to do it!
Oh, Mrs. Jo, I love your blog. I admire you so much and love how much you share with us.
Rising early has been a desire of mine for a long time. I just have a hard time following through with it. I have 4 children, ages 18 months up to 7 and they rise around 7:00ish. I get up at 6:30, but that's just to get in the shower and get a little ready.
My ideal would be to get up at 6:00, ride my exercise bike at a strong pace for 10 minutes (2.5 miles, pain the whole way, so that's enough!), do some sit-ups, shower and do devotions before 7:00am.
Let's do it! Count me in for 6:00am. It's *only* 1/2 hour earlier than my current wake time so it shouldn't be a big deal... but it is! Thanks for the challenge!
I am more inclined to be a night owl also. Early rising has never been my "joy"! However, I have found that I've really been blessed with WONDERFUL days when I've been able to get up before everyone for the quiet time & planning. Sometimes I've awakened too early & think "Now what - it takes me forever to go back to sleep & then it's time to get up & I'll miss my quiet time." So sometimes I just get up & read my Bible at 5am & then go back to bed. Then I still had my quiet time plus a little bit more rest. Not as good, but better than nothing! We seem to go through phases though. Oh, and yes, God is so good at calling to us in the morning - so cool!!
On that note..good morning!
I try to rise before my kids, this gives me time to get showered and ready for the day. Get things in order, and do little things that take time away from the family like throw a load of laundry in, or unload the dishwasher, the best...washing the floor without saying the floor is wet a million times! I am blessed that my kids are pretty hard sleepers, and they sleep with fans on in their rooms so this tends to drown out noise. Which lets me not have to worry so much about being too noisy. I also spend this time in prayer, and thinking about our plans for the day. I sometimes try to do meal prep for dinner as well, and if I am doing really well I get my exercise in on the elliptical!--Although exercise in the morning has been rare since #2 has been born simply because with nursing and raising two I am more exhausted--call me a wimp!! The only reason I have been doing this is simply because I feel better when I have a jump on the day. Also, I feel like I can spend more quality one on one time with my kids when that stuff is out of the way. Lainey takes a morning nap, and at times I have gotten ready during that time. However, if I am ready before then Dawson gets more "mommy time" which he loves! But I would say--listen to your body, and pray about it. Try it out, and see what God has in store for your schedule. My kids tend to sleep in until 8 or 8:30, and they got to bed between 7:30 and 8:00.
I get up about 45 min before the babes. I love it, however, I do have to have "white noise" in my kids room. Once they hear something in the kitchen or living room they are up immediatly. So I turn on a fan in their room when I go to bed, this helps a ton. I love having time in the morning to pray, collect my thoughts and just wake up before I am bombarded with 10000 questions.
It will be great to have you join me Phoebe!
3 22nds,
Bummer about the nap thing! That's always a sad day when one kid stops napping (or in your case, all 3!)
Rachael,
Good idea with the white noise thing! I hear you about being bombarded with ?s!
Tasha,
Wow! You are a really efficient woman! I think it's great that you mentioned how you prepare yourself earlier in order to have more time with your kids. That's one of the big reasons rising earlier is so good for us.
Stacey E.,
That's a neat idea. I'll remember that if I'm ever up for a 4 a.m. feeding (like last night) and can't fall asleep again right away.
I think that this is a great idea and will experiment with you. I have felt recently that I really need this as my baby who is 9 months is so buy all day even though he can´t walk yet. Unless my husband is at home I can hardly get anything done and I really need this quite time.
I have this problem and if any one has any advice please help me. You can comment on my blog if you prefer. My little on has never had good sleeping times. Since birth he has not taken good naps and would wake up every 2 hours at night to nurse until he was 8 months old. Thankfully now the nights are better since he usually nurses 2 times. What I need ideas for are nap times he may sleep for 1/2 hour (1 hour max on a few days) in the morning and if it is a good day 1/2 hour in the afternoon. He goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm usually closer to the later one and wakes up at 6 am on the dot. On the days I get up earlier he wakes up with me. How does he survive on so little sleep? Especially when I always want an afternoon nap? I usually spend ½ to 1 hour trying to get him to sleep after nursing and his nap or bedtime routine.
So I do want to get up earlier and have a quite time and if possible shower and stuff. Any ideas on how this can happen and if it does how I can get an 1 to rest in the afternoon?
Please be praying for me as I am dreading the walking stage. (He has a walker and I am forever chasing him and saying no).
Ms. Jo if you have any ideas from being a mother of three please share them.
Looking forward to having this accountability time on Tuesdays with you ladies.
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