Major Schedule Change Approaching....

Sadly, summer is almost over and the school year is already about to begin. In just 2.5 short weeks, the real world starts again!

We've had a *very* loose schedule over the summer. Little guys have been going to bed as late as 9:30 (falling asleep around 10:00), sleeping til 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning, eating a late breakfast, a late lunch, taking a late nap, eating a late dinner, and again going to bed late. It's been great! However, in just a few weeks - they will have to be up by 6:15ish M-F - which will obviously mean an early (7:30/8:00) bedtime. So, I'm wondering - how far in advance should I start this schedule? What do you think will be enough time for them to adjust so that at least when the schedule shock happens and they are having rough mornings b/c they are away from home and mommy and daddy again - they will at least be used to waking up early and going to bed early. I don't want to fight that battle at the same time I'm dealing with separation anxiety and just general exhaustion at the start of the school year.

Any tips you can provide will be MUCH appreciated!

Thank you!!!

 

:hug: Transitions can be so hard!!! We keep the same bedtimes all year round except special nights that may include fireworks! Since you have only 2.5 more weeks left, I'd probably start getting them up earlier when the 2 week mark hits. That way you can gradually get them used to the new schedule and you have time to iron out any 'hiccups' along the way!
That is early for school to start around here. Wow! We still have 1.5 months left of summer break!

 

Yeah, I didn't intend for the bedtimes to get so much later. The month of June was pretty close to our regular schedule - then they started sleeping later when we had been out of town and staying up later at the grandparents' house, which meant everything (including naps) got pushed later, and then they were going to bed later - and the cycled continued. I admit, I haven't been eager to change it as it is really nice sleeping in til 8:30 when I know in just a few weeks my 5:15 alarm will be sounding! :laughing: I am soaking it up!

But, I started getting nervous last night about the shock of waking up early for them (and heck, for me too!).

Thanks for you advice, Jackie. And yeah, it is early - August 11th - but we were done May 26th. Guess it all works out evenly in the end.

 

5:15? You pansy. Try getting up at 4:30 with the rest of us.

I would suggest waking them earlier by 15 minutes each day, so say you get up at 8:30 now, make it 8:15 for a day or two, then 8:00, 7:45, 7:30, 7:15, 7:00, 6:45, 6:30, then hopefully by 6:15 for a few days before school starts back. You start moving the mornings back and hopefully everything else will start to fall into place, including bedtime. I would let them stay up until normal time for a few days though, just wake them up earlier, so they get that built up "I'm starting to get tired" in them before they go to bed.

 

I agree with the others. I would go ahead & start gradually waking them up earlier & putting them to bed earlier so that it won't be such a shock. If you start adjusting their schedule by 15 minutes or so on both ends every couple of days, you should be able to get them ready for the new schedule without too much fuss. That is certainly an early end to summer, ours really just started! But then, the kids didn't get out of school here until June 29th.

 

I agree with this.

The roughness of transition is one reason we stay fairly close to our school year schedule. One DD puts her self to bed around 7/7:30 so we kept to that schedule since it worked.

We travel often though and switch time zones, I do what hte PP says and shift wake up by 15/20 minutes over the course of the trip and then do the reverse when we get home. It works out well and their bodies adjust slowly instead of a big shock.

 

I agree with pp's, I would start now and change it slowly. That way they won't even notice the difference and you'll be all set by the time school rolls round.

It's so odd to me that you're almost going back-we haven't even broken up yet (they get out this Thurs/Fri)!

 

Thanks, everyone! I will start the process by this weekend. I think we were so sick of such a same old, same old over the school year - it felt good to just let loose and let the schedule fall where it fell. I'm sure next summer we'll stick to a closer schedule!

Thanks again!

 

Good luck getting back on schedule. Phase in the time changes. And you could try some fo the other things the week before starting back. Hope it goes well.