Health & FitRude awakening? How to get your kids ready for the first day of school alarm

It's a question that resurfaces every year for parents of school-age children: At the end of summer, should we let them sleep in and squeeze every ounce out of their fleeting freedom? Or should we guide them toward earlier and earlier bedtimes and wake-ups so they will be better adjusted for that first day of school alarm?

© Getty Images stock young girl rubbing eyes in bed

Does it even make a difference? Some parents have strong opinions on the matter.

"My parents took the tactic of incrementally putting me to bed earlier and waking me up earlier, and I resent it to this day," said Julie Wargo, now the mom of two teenagers herself. "Especially in this era of mid-week and half-day school starts, their little body clocks figure it out. And it's not like there's going to be a calc test the first week of school."

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Being prepared for going back to school can really make you feel scared, frustrated, upset, or maybe excited, but once when you have everything planned out before that day comes, you won't have to worry about anything. After a long day of planning out your stuff for the first day of school .

Practice getting to school If a bus ride will feature in the school day, getting ready for that trip is an important step; some kids worry about it, and You could also let kids plan a celebratory meal for the first day of school . When the big day finally arrives, do yourself a favour with a little forethought

© Courtesy of Sarah Sharpe How parents get children ready to go back to school-year sleep schedules.

Julie Biggs, a teacher and a mother to two elementary school children, said she firmly believed in the gradual transition.

"I want the first day of school to be less chaotic. As a teacher, well-rested children are better received," she told TODAY Parents. "We started last week putting them to bed 30 minutes earlier each night until we reached the desired bedtime of 7:30 or 8."

"We started transitioning them last week," said mom of four Sarah Sharpe of Lake Mary, Florida. "And we are back to our 'no electronics during the school week' rule too."

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Back To School Middle School Vs. High School ! - Продолжительность: 5:23 Rclbeauty101 17 078 018 просмотров. 10 Types of Kids at Back to School !

Looking amazing on the first day of school will help you to kick off the year on the right foot and Visit a makeup counter for good skin care options for your skin type. Set your alarm and ask your About four days before school starts, start waking up early, going through your morning routine, etc

Sharpe posted a picture of her son Lincoln on Facebook after she woke him up early in preparation for his first day of school. It included a quote from him: "Waking people up for 'practice' is rude," he said. "Really rude."

Other parents said that while they aim for a gradual, incremental transition ahead of the new school year, they mostly end up practicing the "rip off the Band-Aid" method by default.

"We used to gradually go back to a normal bedtime schedule, but then we went on vacation one year that had us returning home the day before school started, so we weren't able to use that approach," said Shell Roush of Jacksonville, North Carolina. "We found the 'rip the Band-Aid off' approach worked just fine, so we kept doing it for subsequent years.

"None of us enjoy the school year early bedtime/early wake up routine, so we might as well get the most out of our lazy summer days as we can," she said.

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Aliza Friedlander, a mom of two and freelance writer from Pikesville, MD, has her daughters' morning routine down pat. And though she usually gets the kids up and ready for school every day, the duty fell to her husband, Brad, when she had an early work meeting one morning. While Aliza admits that her husband is perfectly capable of holding down the fort, hilarity ensued when he accidentally sent their 3-year-old daughter Brooklyn to school in potty-training underwear.

How to use rude awakening in a sentence. : surprising and unpleasant discovery that one is mistaken He thinks he can get by without doing any work, but he is in for a rude awakening .

The kids got up super early for the first day of school . Klai was up at 6 am making lunches for her and Rykel. We wake everyone up & Shae is happy, Wyatt is moving slow, Rykel is already dressed and reading her book, Cora is grumpy and Evee is ready for the day!

And Renee Saur of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, told TODAY Parents she doesn't take the incremental transition route with her three children "because we can't get our lives organized enough to get to bed early."

Still other parents said they deal with the issue by keeping a school year schedule throughout the summer. For households with both parents who work outside the home, sleeping in isn't necessarily even an option for kids.

"Our schedule does not change in the summer. We work, so we have to get up in the morning, and our son has to go to day camp," said Maine mom Zsofi McMullin. "So no late nights or sleeping in. For those maybe two weeks of actual vacation, we do allow later bedtimes, but that's not enough to have to retrain us for the school year."

Child development expert Dr. Deborah Gilboa told TODAY Parents neither method is superior, and parents will ultimately decide what works best for their children.

"Like so many other aspects of our kids' personalities and health, there is not one right answer for adjusting a sleep schedule," said Dr. Gilboa. "Moreover, try as we might, kids who are in or past puberty often simply can't fall asleep before 10 or 11 p.m. no matter what time they have to get up."

"My advice is to ask yourself what you know about your child and your family's patterns and schedule, and do what works best in your home," she said. "A little good news: most children and teens can catch up on sleep on a weekend in ways that adults can't. So one piece of advice is to refrain from overscheduling Labor Day weekend to allow for some sleeping in."

This story was first published on August 7, 2017, and has been updated.

Princess Madeleine: Awakening in the New Home

Princess Madeleine's new home, Miami, has not been as well-behaved as it has been.

© pps.at

Swedish Princess Madeleine and her husband Chris O'Neill and their three children have been living in Miami for about a month. But only a few weeks after the move, the 36-year-old faced the first difficulties in her new home. 1 All kids sick: "It was a dilemma" 1 As the magazine Expressen reports, are just before the annual "Thank You Gala" on October 3, should the Madeleine from Florida

to New York should have jetted , ill. 0 According to Margareta Thorgren , the spokeswoman for the Swedish royal family, Leonore (4), Nicolas (3) and the only seven-month-old Adrienne were all in bed with a high fever.

Away from her family and friends in Miami , Madeleine was apparently unable to cope with the situation. "She really did her best, it was a dilemma," told

Thorgren . Finally, the princess was even forced into her

participation in the charity gala of the "World Childhood Foundation ", which was launched nearly 20 years ago by her mother, Queen Silvia of Sweden to cancel last second. 0 © Anna-Lena Ahlström / kungahuset.se H.K.H. Prinsessan Madeleine / HRH Princess Madeleine / Mr. Christopher O'Neill / Mr. Christopher O'Neill / H.K.H. Prinsessan Leonore / HRH Princess Leonore / H.K.H. Prince Nicolas / HRH Prince Nicolas / H.K.H. Prinsessan Adrienne / HRH Princess Adrien

Madeleine had no choice but to ask Queen Silvia to join the USA and represent her at the event. She also promptly traveled the long distance from Sweden to help her daughter.

A little later, the situation dissolved into pleasure: The fever of the children had dropped and Madeleine could still make the trip to New York yet. And since Queen Silvia was ever in the USA , she accompanied her daughter to the gala.

"Miss my family" At the event, Madeleine confessed that "homesickness" was an issue.

"It's hard, luckily there are phones and we can keep track of FaceTime , I really miss the family and my friends in Sweden ", told them at the gala, Expressen said.

Nevertheless, despite the difficulties she was glad to have moved to

Florida . "We've only been here for a month and feel very well," the princess mollified. "The children are very happy in their kindergartens and everything works fine." Less pleased with Madeleine's move to the USA , however, seems to be her sister Princess Victoria. The finds it says "terrible" that Madeleine is now so far away again.