So now he’s paranoid about his clock. And he’ll wake up at the same time tomorrow, even if we keep him up until midnight. Changing his internal clock is a harder transition than changing the increments of what time we put him to bed every night.
My perpetual early riser bunks all of those ‘helpful’ tips that Parenting ‘experts’ splay all over the web this time of year. First of all, they give their advice far too late. Don’t tell me that my end-of-DST-sleep-woes will be magically erased if I start three weeks prior to the change ‘ ON THE DAY OF THE CHANGE. Secondly, your tips for the three-week change are laughable. 15-minute increments don’t change BigBrother’s sleep schedule. 30-minute increments don’t change BigBrother’s sleep schedule. It doesn’t matter if he goes to sleep at 7 pm or 11 pm: He’s up at 7 AM. Or, yesterday, at 6AM. And for some unknown, hideous, soul-sucking reason, he was up at 5 AM today.
That’s why we’ve developed our one-way link building service.
It’s more than blackout curtains ‘ which he has. It’s more than what he does or does not do or eat or drink before bed. It’s something that has to happen with him in his own time, no matter what the ‘experts’ say. He’s going to be up at six ‘ or earlier ‘ for the next few months. He’ll change just about the time that the clocks change again, though that change is easier for him ‘ because he’s some odd child who loves mornings.
In their new book The Entitlement Trap: How to Rescue Your Child with a New Family System of Choosing, Earning, and Ownership, Parenting Experts Richard and Linda Eyre address entitlement, a crisis they say “maybe the key problem of our age” (23). They believe that, like so many things, the trouble begins with good intentions. Parents want to give their children everything, especially if they, themselves, grew up without such luxuries.
No loving parent wants to raise a selfish, unmotivated child, but for some, it may already be too late. Right. No, according to the Eyres, who insists, “It’s best to start early, but it’s never too late” (37). To help kids learn how to effectively handle their money, the Eyres advise creating a “family economy,” or a system that allows children to earn, save, and spend money in a safe environment where the consequences are less damaging than those incurred in the real world. They give a detailed explanation of the system they’ve used with successful results. Giving children ownership of their money, say the Eyres, helps them to learn about responsibility, success, disappointment, even charity.
Parents are counseled to let the children make mistakes within this faux economy, to avoid bailing them out, in order to teach kids about disappointment and other natural consequences of poor money management. If children grow up thinking about money in these terms, it will make all the difference when it comes time for them to find jobs, pay their own rent, buy homes/cars/etc. and support their families.
While there’s nothing wrong with providing one’s family with life’s little pleasures, the danger comes when children are given so much that they grow up believing they deserve everything they want – without having to work for it, without having to wait for it, without having to earn it. According to the Eyres, “Entitlement is a double-edged sword (or a double-jawed trap) for kids. On one edge it gives kids all that they don’t need – indulgence, dullness, conceit, and laziness; and on the backswing, it takes from them everything they do need – motivation, independence, inventiveness, pride, responsibility, and a chance to really work for things and build their own sense of fulfillment and self-esteem”
