What age did you stop getting up with your kids in the morning for school?

[lovetoscrap]

Okay, I will admit to being a bad mom. ( according to my mother)


I am NOT a morning person. Never have been, never will be. DH is a morning person and my girls--ages 9 and 13t ake after him. They are both up between 6-6:30 every morning (including weekends ). I set my alarm for 7am, but I just leave the radio playing and usually sleep through it!

DH is up while DD13 is getting herself ready but he leaves around 6:45. Both of my girls are extremely responsible and independent. They get dressed, eat breakfast, make lunch if needed and know exactly when to leave to catch the bus. DD13 leaves around 7:10 and she comes up and tells me good bye. I usually open one eye to be sure she is dressed appropriately and give her a kiss and tell her to have a good day.

I try to get up around 8am ish but I have some health problems and if I have a bad night I may not get up at all before DD9 leaves at 8:30. Sometimes DD9 will come up and snuggle with me after she is ready for school and watch TV in my bed. Some mornings she just stays downstairs, and comes up to give me a kiss when she leaves.

The last few mornings I have been up around 7:30. The interesting thing is that my girls actually don't like it when I get up! I get all "Mommy" on them and start nagging about breakfast, hair brushing, teeth brushing, homework, and all that stuff they do on their own anyway! If I am not up my girls get along great and share the TV time and help each other fix lunch and breakfast etc. If I am up then they tend to fight and that sibling rivalry for Mom's attention shows up. DD13 and I tend to butt heads so mornings are really a lot smoother if I stay out of her way.

She gets home from school an hour earlier than her sister so that is our "special time" each day. And DD9 loves her hour to snuggle with me in bed in the morning. They both get lots of my attention and time after school.

My mother says I am a terrible mom. I should be up making bacon and eggs and pancakes each morning (funny, I don't remember her making that stuff for us!), and I should be making their lunches. But neither of my girls are big breakfast eaters and they want to make their own stuff--even when I am up they do it all themselves, and often make me a cup of coffee too!

My girls have never missed the bus, never starved to death and we have found what really works best for us. So if you call me at 8am I may still asleep. In fact, sometimes if you call me at 9am I am still asleep!

 

[SC Minnie]

I guess I am a bad mom too.

DD15 started getting up in the morning by herself around 8th grade. If she isn't up by the time I get out of the shower in the morning I will check to see that she is at least awake. She knows what time she has to leave the house and knows how much time she needs to 'primp' and have breakfast. She makes her own breakfast and lunch. If I have the day off I don't get up. DH is up and sees her off. DD will come in and tell me goodbye though.

 

[SaraJayne]

I've always gotten my kids up for school, watched them eat breakfast , and given hugs and kisses on the way out the door. They are 12 and 8.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[rie'smom]

When our sons graduated high school, I stopped getting them up in the morning. Our daughter is in high school and her dad gets her up at 5:00. I get up between 5:30 and 6:00 because I take she and a couple of her friends to school each morning.

 

[SydSim]

Funny how things get interpreted as being a "good mom or bad mom" type of thing. That was not my intention at all.

Different strokes.......I just wanted to know what people do, not judging people because they didn't do one or the other Why do we women have to do this to ourselves

And for the record, I never questioned the independence of kids. I wasn't trying to find out if we, as parents, did everything for them to get them off to school. Just wanted to know if the parents actually "got up" with them in the morning. As i said, I just do it to keep DD company - has nothing to do with her independence.

 

[taximomfor4]

I am ill right now. For the 2nd time in a week, I woke up at 9 or 10am, and the kids were all gone already. THe last to leave each day are 7yo and 9yo. SO I guess I can't vote in your poll, none of the age choices fit.

BTW, I have been training them to get themselves out the door...I don't know what our morning plan will be when I finally find a job, who will be here with them till they leave. WHen I DO get up, I just give little reminders (brush your teeth) and put 7yo dd's hair into a pony tail. My 9yo watches the clock and makes his 7yo sister leave on time.

Beth

 

[SC Minnie]

Funny how things get interpreted as being a "good mom or bad mom" type of thing. That was not my intention at all.

Different strokes.......I just wanted to know what people do, not judging people because they didn't do one or the other Why do we women have to do this to ourselves

And for the record, I never questioned the independence of kids. I wasn't trying to find out if we, as parents, did everything for them to get them off to school. Just wanted to know if the parents actually "got up" with them in the morning. As i said, I just do it to keep DD company - has nothing to do with her independence.

No offense taken what so ever. I said 'bad mom' more tongue in cheek than anything!

 

[minniebeth]

I smiled when I saw this thread, when I get up in the morning with my kids and it has been so cold and dark, I wonder the same thing!

My oldest, DS, is a freshman in HS now and his school is 23 mis. from our house. His bus stop is almost 4 miles away. If he misses the bus, it's me who has to drive him the rest of the 19 miles to school in traffic, so yes, I get up with him to drive him to the bus stop and make sure he gets there on time!
I am NOT a morning person, but I've learned to be smiley and positive makes the morning go well for the rest of our non-morning group. I do make DS breakfast, since it's a long time between 6am and noon for a 14yo. who eats nonstop anyway! I ususally make pancakes and muffins, etc. on the weekends and then freeze them for school mornings. He is much less grumpy when I make eggs and the like for him.

As soon as I get back from driving him to the bus stop, I get my 7th and 2nd grade DDs up and make breakfast before getting them on the bus since I'm up anyway.
They can do the routine by themselves, but it just makes the morning run much smoother when I'm up. I love this thread because I'm always curious about others' routines!

 

[mjkacmom]

DD13 and I tend to butt heads so mornings are really a lot smoother if I stay out of her way.
!

DD13 and I are both NOT morning people, so when we pass each other in the morning, our conversations go like this: "hey...whatsup...". Before we got the keurig coffee maker, since she got up first, she'd make the coffee - that was great! I find I'm totally cranky until my walk back from walking the others to school - fresh air and all.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Funny how things get interpreted as being a "good mom or bad mom" type of thing. That was not my intention at all.

Different strokes.......I just wanted to know what people do, not judging people because they didn't do one or the other Why do we women have to do this to ourselves

Sorry, I think I said it first, but I should qualify that I am a Bad Mom according to my mother ( I will edit my post). Things work just fine for us so I don't feel I am a bad mom. If I did, I would be getting up with them!

No offense taken what so ever. I said 'bad mom' more tongue in cheek than anything!

Me too!

 

[HM]

You didn't put in a selection for my answer.

My kids are in high school and I still wake them up, make sure they have breakfast, make sure they have everything they need, and drive them to school.

Their school starts at 7:30 and they have to be there around 7:15. Waking up at 6am is hard for anyone...and nearly impossible for two teens...even with 9 hours of sleep.

They will obviously have to do for themselves in college....but I don't think they'll have to be up before dawn at that point and will be able to do it on their own.

 

[Acklander]

around junior high, I start making the kids responsible for getting themselves up, and ready. If I happen to be getting up as well, that's fine, but I consider it their personal responsibility. Also, around the same age I do away with a set bed time - again, it's their responsibility. If they stay up to late, they suffer the next day. While I'm perfectly capable of doing this for them, this is about the age I start adding personal responsibility each year, i.e. doing their own laundry, not harping them about cleaning their room, adding them into the rotation of being responsible for cooking meals, responsible for making sure their homework is done etc.... so that by the time they are ready to go out on their own they've been self sufficient for many years. It seems to work for us.

 

[NMAmy]

DD has never been a morning person. I have to be at work by 7:30 so while we were up at the same time, I learned to keep my distance.

When she was in 5th grade, I bought her an alarm clock and let her be responsible for getting herself up and ready without any nagging from me. Our morning life got much better after that.

She's really a lovely girl the majority of the time--she's just cranky in the morning. Now she's at college and she can grump at her roommate.

 

[punkin]

You didn't put in a selection for my answer.

My kids are in high school and I still wake them up, make sure they have breakfast, make sure they have everything they need, and drive them to school.

Their school starts at 7:30 and they have to be there around 7:15. Waking up at 6am is hard for anyone...and nearly impossible for two teens...even with 9 hours of sleep.

They will obviously have to do for themselves in college....but I don't think they'll have to be up before dawn at that point and will be able to do it on their own.

Ditto for me and my girls (except only one is in High School and the other is in Middle School). My mother did this for me also. It is hard being a teen and this is one small way I can baby them that they don't resent and actually appreciate.

 

[JessicaR]

My kids are 12 and 16. I get up at 5:45A every school day morning with them. They get themselves organized and ready but I do make them breakfast.

For the kids sake I wish school started a little later. OK, mine too!

 

[luvmy3]

I will probably continue to get up with my kids until they are done with HS. Obvioulsy I won't have to, but I'll want to.

 

[krcit]

I get up with my kids. My oldest gets up at 6:30-DH wakes her and while she's getting dressed, I stumble down the stairs and watch TV for 5 minutes. Then she comes down and I fix her breakfast and while she's eating I make lunches for all 3. She leaves at about 7:10 and then I wake the other 2 at 7:30 and make breakfast for them(is pouring a bowl of cereal making breakfast?) Then they are off at 8. I will admit to sometimes gong back to bed for an hour but most days, I go walking with a friend for 90 minutes. Oh, I forgot to say that my kid are 14, 11 and 8. I think I will get up with them until the end of high school, it's a nice quiet time for us to chat a little.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Err....my parents didn't get up to be with me. They got up to go to work. The fact that they needed to head off to work at the same time I was getting ready for school was just a coincidence. Although I must admit, they're now retired and still get up pretty early.

 

[MushyMushy]

DD has never been a morning person. I have to be at work by 7:30 so while we were up at the same time, I learned to keep my distance.

When she was in 5th grade, I bought her an alarm clock and let her be responsible for getting herself up and ready without any nagging from me. Our morning life got much better after that.

She's really a lovely girl the majority of the time--she's just cranky in the morning. Now she's at college and she can grump at her roommate.

That was me when I was younger! Mornings were so miserable because my dad seemed to take personal offense at the fact that I didn't want to speak in the mornings and he'd almost always pick a fight with me. On the mornings he just left me alone, or if my mom was off work (she wouldn't let him bother me when she was around) I was perfectly fine keeping to myself and I'd be cheerful by the time I left the house.

My DS ended up getting that lovely morning personality from me, so I just don't speak to him unless it's necessary. My husband started going through a phase like my dad where it ticked him off that DS was so miserable in the mornings, but thankfully he wasn't as bad as my own father was.

 

[carone0318]

I never got up with my kids (who are currently 8th grade & 3rd grade). I'm up and out before anyone gets up. I wake dh around 6am when I'm about to leave and then he does whatever. I never knew/know the morning schedule, but everybody is where they are supposed to be in the afternoon when I take over, so I guess everything is alright!