alarm clocks for kids

[Anonymous]

Anyone like me, and need help with alarm clocks?

DS8 has used an alarm clock for the first time this year. But, he doesn’t seem to hear it. It has been blaring and he’s still asleep. He asked me why we stopped using it, and I answered, because it wasn’t waking him. He said it was.. (he was so unaware, he has no idea that he was dead asleep). Suggestions?

DS6 has never used an alarm clock to wake. I think he’s still too little (new kindergartner, turned 6 in late summer). Also.. he walks himself over to our room lately. Almost every night/morning around 4-6 am, he ends up at the foot of our bed, sleeping. So placing one in his room may or may not work.

Right now, DH and I wake the boys up. I’d love to transition out of that.

(My oldest 12 is not in ES, wakes up and gets ready on her own. She uses an alarm, and in addition her starter low-capability phone rings from our room with an early alarm, and she always gets that too.)

[Anonymous]

We've struggled with the same. There has been no one solution, but we found that both light and sound were more effective than sound alone. So we bought an alarm clock with a light that turned on when the alarm went off. We also put DS's floor lamp on a timer to turn on in the morning. The key for us at least, was to have it turn on like 15 minutes before the time we needed him awake. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

We used the Hatch light until age 8 or 9, both as a wakeup and an ok-to-wake signal. I agree with PP that light is helpful.

My kid has a standard alarm clock now at 10, but we are still going to her bedroom to get her up/out. It's a sweet part of the morning.

[Anonymous]

Wish I had a good solution for you. Just keep using the alarm. Eventually mine start to hear it.

DD was a very sound sleeper. We once had our fire alarms hard wired and the electrician was testing them. The thing is right outside her door. She slept through it. I tried the alarms that gradually got lighter or louder, the vibrating ones, one had some sort of shock. Finally I gave up and just left the regular alarm clock in her room. The only person that got up was me. But then I would wake her.

Sometime mid Soph year she finally started to hear it.

[Anonymous]

If it’s blaring and he’s not hearing if it means he needs more sleep. He needs to go to bed earlier.

[Anonymous]

Mine has always slept like a rock once she’s asleep. Like, sleeping through the house alarm solid (but that’s a different worry!).

She uses an alarm clock with a daylight-toned light that gets gradually brighter for the half hour before the actual alarm goes off. Even with room-darkening shades, her room feels like full daylight by the time the alarm beeps.

She’s only missed the bus once in two years of high school, and she leaves the house before DH and I are downstairs most days (by her request—she has ADHD, and does better if nobody talks to her or messes with her routine until her meds have kicked in). So it seems to be working for her. But she does know she has to prioritize sleep, and tries to get to bed on time and not sleep in on weekends.