Toddler Alarm Clock?

[coquelicot]

I waited until just recently to do this with my 4 1/2-year-old, but I went the super-cheap route. Just took an old alarm clock, turned the volume quite low, and had the alarm go off at the desired time while playing a radio station. DD knows that she can't come out of her room until she hears the radio. If she's that tired, she'll sleep through the alarm (and if it's not a school or church morning, I let her sleep). She loves the idea so much that if I forget to set her alarm and come check on her the next morning, she tells me to turn on the radio, leave the room, and shut the door so she can come out on her own. Not sure how well this would work on a 2-year-old, but it could be a "first try" before having to resort to something more expensive.

[EmilytheStrange]

Originally Posted by SaraElise We have this one http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS.../chrisficti-20 my kids love it, but unfortunately when we were first trying to implement it, my then 3 year old thought it was hilarious to get out of bed and unplug it then yell for me to come in and fix it. The clock resets and you have to reset the time and the alarm every time it's unplugged so it quickly became a very very annoying game and we stopped using it. Now that they are a little older (4 and 5) I'm thinking of getting it back out again since they get really confused with the sun coming up so much later in the winter. I would definitely put it in a place there they couldn't have access to the plug (which we didn't have at the time)

the new ones of this brand also have a battery. The battery controls the analog clock and the toddler light alarm feature, but the digital clock seems to get messed up if it gets unplugged. So, you can just use a battery if you want, but we use both just in case the power goes out or whatever.

Originally Posted by coquelicot I waited until just recently to do this with my 4 1/2-year-old, but I went the super-cheap route. Just took an old alarm clock, turned the volume quite low, and had the alarm go off at the desired time while playing a radio station. DD knows that she can't come out of her room until she hears the radio. If she's that tired, she'll sleep through the alarm (and if it's not a school or church morning, I let her sleep). She loves the idea so much that if I forget to set her alarm and come check on her the next morning, she tells me to turn on the radio, leave the room, and shut the door so she can come out on her own. Not sure how well this would work on a 2-year-old, but it could be a "first try" before having to resort to something more expensive.

the only thing with this is that I would not want an audible alarm. The little light changing is the earliest she's allowed to be up, but if she's not up when it switches, it doesn't wake her up. This is rare, but does happen on weekends when the diesel truck across the street doesn't wake her up before her little light changes to 'wake up time'. The few times she has messed with her clock and turned on the audible alarms, it has woken her up, freaked her out and then we have a crying 2yo.. lol..

[SaraElise]

Oh I so wish we would have had one with a battery! I would have mounted that thing on the wall and had no issues!

[EmilytheStrange]

Originally Posted by SaraElise Oh I so wish we would have had one with a battery! I would have mounted that thing on the wall and had no issues!

yeah, when I researched it, a lot of people were complaining about the lack of a battery and the kids unplugging it. Sounds like the manufacturer listened, which is a good thing, so they do come with that option now.

now they need to listen to the people who want something covering all the controls on the back so little hands don't mess with the dials.

luckily, DD stopped playing with it after a couple weeks, but an older child would be more devious - as yours were.

[MotoMommaNH]

You ladies are awesome! Thanks for all the suggestions!

[mariamommy]

great thread! I need to get something like this for my two older kids who share a room, ages 5 and 7!

OP, I bet your child would love it!