None of my children have ever been “morning people”. Don’t be jealous. It is a mixed blessing. It is true that I get a good bit of quiet time alone in the morning to read my bible, exercise, and get myself ready. But, when they do join me at 8:30, they are grumpy and slow moving. The joy of my morning is quickly sucked away by their negativity. I have just dealt with it over the years, mostly by trying my best to ignore their grumpiness.
This year, I am wondering, do I sit down with them and come up with a system and a plan for them to make over their mornings or do I just start later and adjust the daily schedule so that we begin later when they are more awake and have a chance to get the grumpies out? The almost 10 year old is in bed around 9 on school nights. The 14 year old is around 10/10:30, which cannot be changed do to her ballet schedule most evenings. The 17 year old is a non issue now as she has a job and will be taking college dual credit classes. Her schedule is dictated by those things, not by me. Which I love, by the way.
I have mixed feelings on both options. I feel that for their futures it might be more beneficial to insist that they become better at mornings and start even earlier. However, I have tried that in various ways before with little success. I want joy and peace in our home more than I care about some arbitrary schedule. My 19 year old works and goes to college full time. He was never a morning person, but as a young adult has forced himself to be at work by 6:00 am and he is surviving.
Curious if others have struggled with this and if so, would you be willing to share how you worked through it?
