Thursday, March 10, 2011

The early bird gets the worm . . . whatever.

The early bird gets the worm. Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Who said that junk? Seriously, who likes to get up early? I know, my grandfather, who was a farmer, did more before sunrise than most people do all day, but he also ate dinner at 4:00 p.m. and was in bed at 8:00 p.m.. That’s just not normal, besides, he missed all the good television shows! He would tell us he’d be up at the rooster’s crow, but I am not so sure the rooster was actually awake. In fact, I believe he went out and woke the rooster up and the rooster was probably saying the same thing I say now, “What are you doing up so early?!?!”


Now, if you are one of those people who gets up early every morning and watches the sun rise, I am impressed, in fact, I may envy you just a bit (a very small bit). Unfortunately, my wife and I aren’t exactly what you would describe as “morning people”. The only reason I get up before dawn is because I need to do it to stay employed and my wife, doesn’t really get going until she has that first cup of coffee.

Years ago, when we were newly married, we loved our Saturdays as they were reserved for sleeping in and eating a late breakfast. Then we had kids. Now, don’t for a second get me wrong, we absolutely love our children, no hesitation or doubt about it. I just have the ability to show them how much I love them a little better AFTER 9:00 a.m.

When they were first born, their sleeping habits were all over the place, and that is to be expected. I mean crying babies at 3:00 a.m. are something we were prepared for with newborns. The good news is, cribs today are generally created to prevent children from escaping. Which means, on any given Saturday morning, when a child in a crib wakes up pre-6:00 a.m., you can simply wait them out until they fall back asleep. Unfortunately, they eventually figure out that if they scream, “MOMMA!” for long enough, that someone will come (interpret “someone” as momma).

Also, somewhere along the line, the child outgrows the crib and moves into a bed where we, as parents, can no longer cage them in. This is when problems can develop for parents who prefer to sleep late. Our son, was a prime example. When he figured out his new found freedom, we had a 5:00 a.m. visitor to our room several days in a row, singing, “Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, to you and you and you!” (oh how I regretted teaching him that song!). Finally, a tired mother laid down the law - nobody gets out of bed before the sun gets out of bed. I think that is a policy that the whole world should adopt it. The world would probably be a happier and more peaceful place to live if we did.

Nonetheless, our children are consistent breakers of this policy. We’ve tried everything, including letting them stay up late the night before, in hopes of getting them tired enough to sleep late. Nonetheless, their little biological clocks tick on and they wake up happy excited to tackle the day. Maybe like my grandfather, they’ll get more done before dawn than most get done all day. Maybe they’ll get that proverbial worm . . . but then, who really wants a worm that early in the morning anyways?

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