I’ve been doing a lot of research lately because our three-year-old likes to pop out of bed as soon as she hears the tiniest of sounds in the morning (aka my 5:20 alarm so I have 30 minutes of alone time to exercise). Needless to say, this has undesirable consequences for everyone.
The thing is, when she gets up early (or at her much later wake up time if 6 am) she is fully prepared to face the day with a smile. She gets a decent afternoon nap and is in bed by 7:00 – 7:30 pm most nights. Her routine has been pretty fixed for a while and I am not ready to give up a daytime nap, nor do I think she’s ready. So, the only solution I can see is to push back her bedtime.
There have certainly been times where she has gone to bed much later than that and still risen with the dawn. However, we have never made it a consistent switch.
I’m not sure I’m prepared for the emotional warfare that will commence if she’s overtired and cranky. But 5:20? Really?? Why won’t she just stay in bed?
So we will attempt to slowly move back her bedtime and see what that brings. Are we crazy? We shall see!
