I have a confession to make. Up until recently, I was the one who woke J up every morning so that she could prepare herself for school.
In other words, I was her alarm clock. I had to wake up before her and when you get older, it’s no joke to wake up early and it can take a toll on your health. You can’t really get back what you lose from sleep deprivation.
On April 28th this year, I handed over the job back to J and it’s now entirely her own responsibility to wake up in the morning. At the same time, I resigned being a human alarm clock. I free myself from the duty and only act as a backup should J fail to wake up after an intolerable number of snoozes.
You guessed it right. I bought her an alarm clock. J was thrilled with it. She plays with it, turns it around, tries out the settings, and turns on the amber backlight – pretending it as a toy.
Being nice to play with is not important. What’s more important is the new gadget must be able to replace me and works seamlessly to achieve one thing: wake J up.
It’s been almost 2 months since J got her first “serious” alarm clock. But only last week (and this week too), that I notice, she works like clockwork and is receptive to the annoying sound of the clock and is able to wake up without any big problem. She even wakes up before me.
I have successfully found a replacement. And finally I can sleep longer and regain my health. An extra 30 minutes of sleep can make a hell of a difference in your health.
Not only that, what is even more important is J has learned to take ownership of waking up on time for school – which used to fall entirely on my shoulder.
This is one important step in becoming more independent. The plain-looking alarm clock has done a tremendous job for me. As time goes on, I will delegate more tasks to J so that she can be more independent and self-reliant.
For more tips on raising independent children, check out my book “The Nonconformist’s Guide to Parenting.”
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