Wow, these early morning times are killing me. Night owl here, and mom to a 5th grader who doesn't have to be at school until 8:45. I know what awaits in the years ahead - ugh!

DS is in 7th grade. He gets up by 6:30 (alarm clock), showers, dresses, has breakfast, some quick cleaning chores, out the door by 7:15. I'm not involved at all except to remind him to do the chores. I also leave at about 7:15 so I'm busy with my stuff. He's been self-sufficient in the mornings since at least 5th grade. DD in 5th grade is the same.

K-12. Parents woke the kids. 6th-12th kids made their own breakfast, lunches, left the house own their own, etc.

My DD (8th grade) sometimes gets up on her own...other days, she will sleep to 10 if she could. I get her up at 6:05. She goes and gets her breakfast ready, and gets dressed. I shower and get ready for work. I drop her off at the bus stop on my way in. If the weather is bad, I will wait with her.

8th grade girl. I make everyone's lunches at night. She gets herself up and gets herself dressed. She showers at night. I usually make a batch of oatmeal for the week. So if she wants that, she microwaves some for herself. If she wants cold cereal, she fixes it. If my husband is making eggs for himself, he will ask if she wants some and make some extra for her if she prefers something hot.

6th grade boy. Constant struggle to get him up out of bed, dressed, have him eat breakfast, and get out the door by 7:20.

He does get dressed by himself and gets his own breakfast, but mostly not without a parent urging him on. He'd sleep in until 8 every day if he could.

And yes, we do try to get him to go to sleep sooner. It takes him a long time to unwind at night.

Yes, I wanted to move away from waking my middle schooler up several times, functioning as the snooze button. We got her an alarm clock and allowed her to learn via natural consequences a few times. She now gets up herself, gets ready and if she wants something to eat or drink she fixes is. I do make her lunch, otherwise the kitchen is trashed.

My goal for my kids was that when they started sixth grade, they would get themselves us with an alarm and get themselves ready and out the door independently. I started working with them around fourth quarter of fifth grade. They were all more than capable of achieving this. I always chat for a few minutes with each of them and we always say good bye before leaving. But, we're all sort of doing our own thing.

My 5th grader gets up before his alarm most of the time. If he doesn't, he almost always gets up when it goes off. He makes himself breakfast and then gets dressed. I do sometimes have to get him to brush his teeth and get ready to walk out the door.

I have twin boys in 6th grade. I have to pry them out of bed, tell them to get themselves dressed 6 or 7 times, tell them to eat something several times, and make their lunches.

Some kids are much more capable than mine and I think girls this age are usually more mature and self-directing.

6th grade DD feeds and clothes herself in the morning. I have to get her up at least an hour before she leaves though, as she is poky. She then walks to school alone.

I wake them up and get their breakfast ready, but they dress and organize themselves. Out the door by 7:40am. Then I drive one to school while the other car-pools. DW usually bumbles down just before I've got them out the door.

My 6th grader is very conscientious but not independent. I wake him up and set out his clothes. He gets dressed then pours himself cereal or gets some other simple breakfast (yogurt or a banana) while I make his lunch. Then he's out the door. It's all over in a flash.

Mine gets himself up, out of bed, showered, fed, lunch and back pack packed by himself, and out the door before 7:00 AM.


Took us about a semester to get to this point.

Does your Middle Schooler get up and get breakfast ready on his/her own, or do you do it for him? Do you generalize supervise your child getting ready for school or is everyone doing their own thing? My DD will be in 6th grade next year (middle school in my county) and I plan on going back to work then. Right now, I wake her up, fix breakfast for her and hang out and chit-chat a bit in the morning. I know that when I go back to work I will be busy getting myself ready in the morning as well so I won't be able to do this. Of course my daughter is more than capable of fixing herself a bowl of cereal - she generally gets breakfast for herself on the weekends as it is now. But I guess I'm wondering what the typical before school scenario is like in families with middle-schoolers. Especially families with two parents working full-time.