Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

I am sure everyone has a few of these. I have a toddler and am seriously appreciating ones I come across :)

Want to share?

My favorite is from my mom and I was reminded by reading the stocking thread. Her rule was that on Christmas morning you could wake up whenever you wanted but parents couldn't be woken until after 8. Before eight you could play with whatever was in the stockings so my brother and I always each had a new movie. That bought at least three hours of entertainment in the mornings and depending on how many other cousins were visiting would buy more time. :giggle:

Re: Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

My mum used to play 'hibernating hedgehog' with us. She would go to sleep on the sofa and my sisters and I would cover her with blankets and sprinkle 'leaves' on her, and then be very, very quiet so that we wouldn't wake the hedgehog before winter was over.

Re: Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

:giggle2: Awesome.

With regards to Christmas, my brothers and I always exchanged presents on Christmas eve after dinner. And, oddly, we ALWAYS gave each other board games. Which conveniently kept us occupied for the rest of the evening.

My sister and I each got 2 stockings: one in the living room and one at the end of our bed. We could take the ones from our bed into their room to open slowly while they woke up. Kinda funny now!

Re: Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

Hehe, I'm enjoying these :-)

This is a really good idea!

Re: Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

Your mom is a genius!

Re: Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

Our kids can tell when it is 8am.

We have a new rule we recently put in force. If you wake up before your clock says 8am, you need to stay in bed and be quiet. (which isn't actually as big a deal as it sounds, they typically wake around 7:45am)

After 8am, you may get up very quietly and play quietly with books or play doh until mommy and daddy wake up (usually around 8:15am).

We always hear them calling to each other from their beds in their bedrooms (our house is small, and all 3 bedrooms are right next to each other) like inmates in prison or something... They'll open their door as quietly as they can and then scramble back in bed and then whisper loudly "[Sister] Are you awake?" And she replies "yes [brother] I'm awake! It's almost 8 o'clock!"

:giggle:

It buys us about 30 mins to half-sleep while we listen to them.

Re: Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

We do this too. Except it's 830 and the kids usually get up around 8. They frequently "talk" to each other through the doors. We started it when DD was 6 months because DS would get up and yell and bang things and wake her up, making her cranky.

For Christmas my parents used to let me play with Santa gifts until my mom got home from work, and my dad would nap in the chair in the living room. As my mom stopped working 3rd shift, we'd get up early do presents, then have nap after all the presents had been opened and we had breakfast.

Re: Ingenious child wrangling tips
 

We have an alarm clock in their room, and they are allowed to come out of their room before it goes off, ONLY to go potty, then they have to go back to their room. They may play in their room until the alarm goes off. It buys me an extra 30 to 40 mins in the morning usually.