My coworker Anya can count on one hand the number of times her older daughter, now 9, has slept past 6am. "She's been like this since she was a baby," Anya says. "No matter how early or late she goes to bed, she always wakes up at the crack of dawn."
When her daughter was an infant and toddler who needed constant supervision, Anya and her husband traded off getting up with her in the mornings. But once her daughter was old enough to read or play in the other room by herself, they started experimenting with letting her do her own thing until a more respectable hour (like, say, 7am). There was only one problem: she'd wake up hungry, as kids do, and one of the adults would have to get up to make herbreakfast.
So Anya started setting up a cereal bar for her daughter: she'd set out a spoon, a bowl of plain cereal covered in plastic, another small bowl of dried fruit for sprinkling, and would put a sippy cup (or, as her daughter got older, a small, covered pitcher) of milk in the fridge on a low shelf. When her daughter got hungry in the early hours on a weekend morning, she could help herself to a bowl of cereal, which both allowed Anya and her husband to sleep in, and also helped strengthen her daughter's sense of independence.
Anya started doing this with her daughter when she was about 5, but each kid is different—you'll want to gage the independence level and individual development of your child. Here's how to set up your own cereal bar:
1. Before you go to bed, measure out one child-sized serving of cereal.
Put it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap—or if you'd prefer to use a bowl that has a specific cover, like a portable one that you'd take for lunch—go for it! Place the bowl on the dining table or a low kitchen shelf, where your child will be able to reach it.
2. Measure out a single serving of milk.
Pour this into separate child-friendly cup or other container that's optimal for pouring and spill-safe. (Place the cup ofmilkon a low shelf of the refrigerator, one that your kid can reach.)
3. Go to sleep, and in the morning, let your kid take care of the rest!
When your kid wakes up at the crack of dawn, he or she can simply take the cereal bowl from the low shelf, retrieve the milk, pour it over the top of the cereal (or, if they're too little for pouring, just sip it while they eat their cereal), and enjoy!
这个技巧是一些超级简单的,但它可以赢得你some extra minutes of sleep on the weekend, or it can help hectic weekday mornings be a little less hectic. If your kid can accomplish one part of the morning routine independently, it's just one less task you have to scramble to get done before work and school.
If you want to make things slightly more elaborate (and add nutrition!) try these add-ins:
Berries or Fruit
Wash berries, or cut up other fruits and put them in another container with a lid or covered in plastic wrap. Place this on a low shelf of the refrigerator next to the milk. You can also set out baggies of dried fruit, like raisins, dried cranberries, or apricots. Kids can add this into their cereal, or eat it as a healthy side.
Offer Yogurt Instead of Milk
Instead of measuring out milk that your child can pour over the cereal, scoop someyogurtinto a bowl, cover, and put that in the fridge. Another grain-free option would be to set out some cut-up berries and the yogurt in separate containers and place them on low shelves for kids to reach and stir together in the mornings.
Set Out Materials for a Morning Snack
If you prefer to all eat breakfast together when you wake up, you can simply set up a snack bar with a little something to tide your kids over before breakfast. Peeledhard-boiled eggscovered in a bowl work great for this, as well as cheese sticks that you place on a low shelf of the refrigerator. You can also set out plastic baggies of dried fruit, cereals, and nuts for a pre-breakfast trail mix snack.
