How-To Guide: Ok to Wake Clock
TL;DR: This post is for all of us (myself included!) who are struggling with your kids waking up early (sometimes WAY too early!) in the morning and looking to reclaim your time and sanity by implementing an “Ok to Wake Clock.”
What is an “Ok to Wake Clock”? These clocks, sometimes standalone units or integrated with other features (like a noise machine), are set by you to change colors to indicate and reinforce a desired behavior from your kids at a certain time. At a basic level, this means when the clock turns green, it’s ok for your kid to wake up and leave their bed or room. Sometimes these clocks have additional features you can choose to implement (e.g., yellow means time to wind down for the night), but for the purposes of implementing this for the first time in your house, we’ll start with the basics.
Here’s your how-to guide to introduce an “Ok to Wake Clock” in your home to reclaim your mornings for YOU:
Research your options. There are tons on Amazon or comparable sites. There are lots of great options at all price points. This is the one we have in our home which is pretty basic and does the job.
Talk about it. Before you set up the clock, talk about it with your kid(s). The younger your kid(s) are, the less details you need to share about this. It can be as simple as “when this turns green, it’s time to wake up and mommy will come get you!” or more detailed for older preschoolers or young kids as “This clock turns green at 7 am. This is when it’s wake up time for you. If you wake up before it turns green, you can play quietly in your room until then”.
Set the time. If your kids are waking up roughly within 30 minutes of your desired time, set it for your desired wake up time. More than 30 minutes early? Start by setting it 15-30 minutes past their current wake up time and if they consistently follow the clock for a few days, push it out by increments of 10-15 minutes every few days until you reach your desired wake up time.
Figure out if/what reward. A reward is not necessary for the clock to work as intended, but it can often be incredibly helpful at least while you’re introducing it (e.g., sticker chart or small daily rewards). Also, rewards don’t necessarily have to be physical or monetary (though those work well too!); in our home, the kids come and cuddle with us in bed in the morning but can only do so if they stay in their room until the clock is green.
Start! I find it’s helpful to be very excited and positive about the clock to help your kid(s) get on board if they are hesitant. Remind your kid(s) when you’re putting them to bed that they’ll need to wait until the clock is green to get out of bed / their room and remind them of the reward (if you’re planning one).
Consistency is Key. Expect that it may take a few days or more for your kids to respect this new boundary. Calmly and with minimal interaction intervene as necessary (e.g., if your kids come into your room, remind them they need to wait until the clock is green and escort them back to bed if needed). Expect that boundary testing will happen even months or years after the clock is implemented, and decide how closely you want to enforce this boundary (or not, which is totally fine since we’re all human!).
That’s your game plan for introducing an “Ok to Wake Clock” in your home. I’d love to hear from you - how did this work for you? Anything you learned or have questions about? I’m here to help.
