So, we are back to routine, are you screaming for your teenager to get out of bed yet?

So, we are back to routine, are you screaming for your teenager to get out of bed yet?

Well you know that you’re not on your own with this, parents of my clients complain about this regularly.

As adults we find it hard to get out of bed, but the bills and the mortgage payments and the boss gives us the motivation to get up. What does the teenager have hanging over him to make him get up on time and conquer the day…?

His assignment on music production for modern theatre, no he’s got that covered because he believes he can get the guidelines emailed to him instead of attending first period/lesson. Also Lucy who sits next to him said she can help out with that!

The fact that he will be marked down as late on his attendance record…no he’s just going to come up with some doctor’s appointment, bus broke down routine, he’s got that covered.

The fact that mum will be totally p****d off with him and she will do that silent, only answer in curt sentences thing and tell everybody how much she does for everyone else. He’s thought about that and he’ll offer to take the dog out and tell her tea was really tasty.

The knowledge that if he doesn’t get himself in gear and work really hard that, he will be bottom of the heap in terms of job prospects…

Of course not, that would require your teenage son or daughter to consider consequences and think long term. Something that brain science in adolescence says is very unlikely to happen as they live in the emotional part of the brain.

So what can we do to make this situation better?

·       When your teenager is in a good mood, ask him/her what would help to get them out of bed in the morning.

·       Allow them to sleep in at the weekends to catch up on their sleep, but only 2 hours more on Saturday and 2 hours more on Sunday. Naps in the afternoon are going to disrupt sleep at night. If they insist on a nap in the afternoon, its probably best to limit it to 40 minutes.

·       Cut down on the caffeine, this effects sleep up to five hours after drinking concentrated doses of caffeine.

·       Remove the phone at 10.45pm, if they insist they need it for music to get to sleep. Give them a radio alarm clock. Inform them that this is the old-fashioned version of streaming, on demand music and a chance to broaden their musical taste.

·       Get up half an hour earlier and put bacon or sausage in the grill for a sandwich, the smell and the thought of nice food might encourage them to rise.

Think about how much it means to you, for your teenager to be up and ready to leave the house on time. If him being late disrupts your commitments then you could consider financial incentives (yes, its bribing) but re read the start of this blog, your teenager is two steps ahead.

Avoid the arguing about getting up and ready, this contributes to the over blown generalized view that you are always getting at them. Keep in mind that this stage will pass, just like all the other stages, its just adolescence lasts longer than the others.