Do You Wake Your Kids or Let Them Sleep?

OMG let them sleep! Both my kids (4 & 1 yo) slept in the other day. I got up, took a shower, had a cup of coffee, did the dishes in the sink and had a normal conversation with my husband before they woke up and the mayhem began LOL. I can't remember the last time that happened. Probably before I had kids! And who knows when it will happen again. If they are sleeping then they need it. Let them sleep!

I let them sleep. They're 10, 12 and 15, and I remember VERY CLEARLY how much *I* slept at those ages. I always HATED being woken up (which didn't happen often, luckily), so I try let them sleep in. They have from September to June to wake up at the crack of dawn.

unless there was something going on for which they needed to get up, everyone's allowed to sleep when they want to.
i hate other people telling me when i should sleep or get up!
khairete
S.

When I have a chance to stay home with my daughter I let her sleep until she wakes up. This is because I don't have to wake her up. She gets up between 7 and 8. I wish she would sleep longer on days we don't have to get up. Good for you Moms that get to sleep longer. I'm jealous!!

Oh my gosh I refuse to read these!! Well, maybe later...Let them sleep!!!!! Summer comes and goes so quickly and I work in schools -let us work with the cranky ones you wake up during the school year!

I let my kids sleep as long as they want. Sometimes, I even encourage my son to go back to sleep if he wakes before 8am. My daughter will get up between 9-11am. She is always hungry so it doesn't mess with meals. My one year old's wake up time sets his schedule for the day as he goes down for a nap two hours after waking. This is what we do year round since I homeschool my daughter and my son goes to school in the afternoon.

Definitely let them sleep in, unless we have plans. It hasn't been an issue with my son. He's still on school time and wakes up pretty early. Thankfully, he's pretty self-sufficient and will entertain himself until the rest of get up. My daughter will usually sleep in later, and there have been a couple times when I wondered if I would have to wake her up in time to get to her swim lesson. The kids almost always have breakfast together, but it's whenever I'm awake enough to get it for them.

Not having to wake up early is definitely one of the best things about summer vacation. Love it!

Exactly GammaG and Lovinglife--why wake the little ones or the teens. Age has nothing to do with it. Sleep is required for growing bodies.

I can clean in peace, shop, run errands and then talk to him when he rolled out of bed at 1:30. (He's adult now--but I still recall).

Also, I liked looking at how at peace he was asleep (at all stages of his life).

I only wake them up if we have somewhere to go, which is 2-3 days /week. Otherwise we all sleep in :)

I only wake them if I need to, otherwise they can sleep in and get themselves breakfast when they get up. Their usual wake up is 8:00am and they rarely ever sleep past 9:00am, so it's no problem.

Let them sleep, unless there is somewhere they need to be.

DD is almost 6 and unless we have someplace we need to be, I let her sleep as long as she wants. She is usually up by 7 anyway, so sleeping in for her is 7:30 or 8. She's my only, so our schedule is fairly loose and I don't have any other kids we have to coordinate meals, activities, etc. with. We have had some pretty busy active days this summer, and a few late nights, and I figure if she is sleeping longer than typical, it's because she needs it!

She's usually up before us so she is the alarm. But I will let her sleep as late as possible if she doesn't wake up on her own because she obviously needs the sleep. Of course, that's within limits of getting to school/ camp on time.

I let the oldest ones sleep in. However, if we have to go somewhere, I will wake them an hour before we leave.

I do wake my baby, though.

My dd is only 3... If she is willing to stay asleep, I let her sleep! She usually wakes up around 9, unless she is in a growth spurt or sick.

In my family, we were able to sleep in during break as much as we wanted, unless we had something going on that we needed to get ready for. We were pretty much responsible for feeding ourselves breakfast and lunch, so it wasn't a hassle at all for my dad. We knew that dinner was at 6:30, and we would be expected to eat what we were served. We also knew that bedtime was at 9, with lights out by 10 even if we weren't tired. It was a pretty good system, IMO. We learned firsthand that it really sucked sleeping in until noon, only to have to lay in the dark for hours trying to sleep. Lol.

When I lived with my grandma for a while, she would wake us up by 8 every morning and put breakfast on the table. She prepared and served lunch at noon, and dinner at 6, with the same bedtime rules as my dad. It was also a good system.

I think the best way is whatever works for your family. I know I LOVE getting chances to sleep in, so when my DD is older she will most likely be allowed to sleep in as late as she wants.

Let them sleep. I have two teenagers, one with a job and the other in sports, so they have to get up on their own, when nothing is going on they will sleep until noon or so. I have a six year old as well, I let him sleep in too, they stay home with daddy when he's not working, or to my parents, but will go right back to sleep there.

When we get closer to school starting then I try to get them back on schedule.

If we don't have any plans I let the kids sleep in. I enjoy those quiet hours in the early morning to get stuff done. I also enjoy sleeping in too.

Its summer, my kids can sleep until they want unless we have some time schedule.
But, no matter what, my kids just wake up at a certain time in the morning, regardless. It is just their own body clock.
So, they wake in the morning on their own anywhere from 6:00am and latest 7:00am.

We are very casual with breakfast. And we all just eat, when we eat. We do not all sit down and eat breakfast all at the same time or the same place. And my kids can make/prep their own breakfast too.
Except during the school year, it is more planned. And I make breakfast.

if the kids are having issues with being going to bed when they need to or being crabby then I step in but as a general rule I have always let sleeping kids sleep as long as they can in the morning. If you need to GO somewhere in the mornings and they are having problems being able to do that then you may have to keep them on a more strict schedule. Also some kids wake at the break of dawn no matter when they go to sleep, and in that case they need to be asleep the right number of hours before that. This is why my kids went to bed at 7 pm until they were at least 10, cause no matter what they woke up no later then 7 am and they needed those 12 hours of sleep every night or they were crabs.

Since I don't "work" we all sleep in, them later than me. But when they were younger we usually had somewhere to go by mid-late morning so we never slept too late. Now that they're teenagers they get themselves up to go to work and to other commitments.
Also, breakfast has always been casual for us. I can't stand to eat until I've been up and about for at least a few hours and my kids are the same way. Our breakfast, or the first real meal of the day, doesn't happen until around ten. During the school year they take a bagel and fruit, or yogurt, or scrambled egg and cheese on a toasted english muffin, and eat it at snack recess, or "brunch" which is what the morning break in middle/high school is called.
My husband does the same thing, he leaves for work at 6:00 or 6:30, but doesn't eat until late morning, at work, when he has either a granola/energy bar or a cup of soup.

On the weekends we sleep till we wake up (usually between 7 and 7:30), on the weekdays the kiddo gets woken up cause I have to work. She's 6 and it's been this way for a few years.

When she was a baby, she was on a fairly strict sleep schedule and got woken up, from naps and in the morning. Even on the weekends because I didn't want to throw off her sleep schedule for the weekdays.

I don't eat breakfast, so if I didn't have to work I doubt I'd wake her up to eat together.

More often than not, my kids are the ones waking me up! But, I only wake them if we have somewhere we have to be (camp, plans with friends, etc). Sometimes I'll even let them sleep if we have camp. I don't ever wake them if I don't have to!

2 of my 3 kids are up by 6/6:30 every day, even in the summer. If one of them wants to sleep in, Deo Gratias! Unless someone is sick, all the kids will be up by 7:30. They are all fed by 8 am, which gives a nice general structure to our day since I know they'll be ready for lunch by 11/11:30.

So, in short, if they normally wake early, I'd let them sleep in til a reasonable time so that it wouldn't interfere with the rhythm of the day.

Well If we have plans,yes,but if we are not doing anything then no.When my daughter falls asleep,I put her in her toddler bed and let her sleep for a LITTLE bit.I wake her up because she will keep me up all night.

Our son's 14.
I let him sleep later than during the school year but only by about 30 or so minutes (about 7am).
We like to walk but it gets hotter the later it gets, so it's good to get it in before it's 90+ degrees outside - late enough so that the mosquitoes aren't biting but early enough to be about the coolest part of the day.
He can always take a siesta in the afternoon if he gets sleepy.
If it's raining I'll let him sleep in as long as he wants.
He's not usually very hungry in the morning but he'll get his own bowl of cereal or toast if he wants something.

Usually DD is up by 8, no matter what I do. I will have to have her in her summer program by 8:50 starting soon so if she's not up by 7:30, I will wake her. If we have nowhere to be? I'll let her sleep as late as 9, though she rarely sleeps that long, even when she crawls into my bed for a second snooze. When my sks were younger, they went to their mother's for the summer and all schedules were out the window. When they were with us, we had to take them to camp or daycare and wake them as necessary (til they got old enough to stay home).

For me, if I let DD sleep much past 9, it throws off my day (getting work done while getting her breakfast) and it also can make her not sleepy at the end of the day when I need her to go to bed.

Little kids, I let them sleep...they obviously need it but they never really sleep past 9am, which has hardly ever happens, it's usually 8a at the latest!

Teenagers, I let them sleep til 10a & then I wake them...I do not let them sleep the day away... It throws off the whole days meal timing when they sleep later than 10a!

We love our sleep, so unless there is an appointment or something else we need to be on time for in the morning, Kiddo can sleep until 7:30 or so. I might wake him if it gets much later, just so he'll sleep well that night. Otherwise, I enjoy a few quiet moments to have a cup of tea and wake up myself before he gets up.

We start our lives out on schedule and end it with taking medicine and meals at prescribed times. We live by harsh bells ringing throughout the school announcing the start of our day with time to work, time to play and when we can go home. We work 9 to 5, take 45 minute lunch breaks and spend a good portion of our day commuting. Attendance at Sunday church services is down because we are just too tired to give up our Sunday mornings. I have raised two generations and am facing the "empty nest" for the second time. The biggest pleasure I have is that I do not need to meet a schedule. The extra moment for a second cup of coffee, time to read a book or taking a walk are precious to me. The biggest joy of vacation or retirement is not having to wake up at a certain time. Your children will have the rest of their lives to live on schedule and compete. Allow them to wake up to a bird singing outside their window. Allow them to lay around in their pajamas and give them an extra hug and smile as you appreciate the beautiful summer mornings. Stay inside on a rainy day and play UNO or Monopoly all day in your pajamas. I promise you these will be the days you will remember and these will be the days when you bond with your children. Structure is very important in raising children but so is appreciating the moment. I now give my granddaughters those moments when they stay with me. We have an agreement: "what happens at Grammy's, stays at Grammy's".