Waking Up

The 7 year old here has HUGE difficulty functioning in the morning. He also has difficulty getting to sleep at night. I was thinking about this, as he was coming out of bed at 1030 pm and sleeping till 830 or later if allowed. I was thinking there are two problems here, one is he is not tired enough at night and the other is we can't get him to do anything in the morning without complaints. I thought up a plan. This plan is to help this child get physically tired so that he is tired at bed time and so he sleeps easier and quicker, thus running out of sleep earlier and waking earlier.

This plan has two parts. Firstly waking him up early and going for a walk. It is a pity it is nearly winter because it means it is dark and not remotely inviting to get up. Also there is huge potential for rain. This will help him function in the morning while getting ready for school, help him eat his breakfast since he should be hungrier for it, and be awake earlier so that he is tireder at night. 

The second part of the plan will happen after school and will involve going for a walk or ride to the beach or a park and a play that will include running and climbing and other physical activity. Swimming at the indoor pool will also be happening on days when not much else is available due to rain. This will hopefully make him physically tired so that all he wants to do at night is to sleep. 

This was my plan in Campbelltown, to make my 4 yr old charge tired enough to sleep in the day and at night. It would have fallen through if I had kept at it much longer because he was getting fit. By the time I left he could walk 3 or 4 kilometers before lunch, have a sleep, then swim for an hour. Therefore one more bonus, if we keep this up, is that we will all get fitter and able to do more things.