I have an almost seven year old son as well. We use the egg timer, we use it for everything - homework, brushing teeth, baths, getting dressed. If he 'beats" the timer he gets a sticker for the day. If he earns one for each day of the week, he gets to pick a weekend activity (ie: park, movies, get a new book, anything I can think of that wont break the bank) it seems to really work. I also try to race him in the morning (can you get dressed faster than me?) As you can probably tell he is extremely competitive, as most boys are.

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I have a 7 year old too, but mornings aren't a huge struggle for us. Partly because he gets up an hour and a half before he has to leave and partly because he gets to watch TV while he eats breakfast.

He's never happy to get up when I go wake him up. I'm not surprised at that since his dad is exactly the same way. They both need a few minutes to wake up before physically getting out of bed.

I go into his room, lay down with him, and gently cuddle with him - the gentle wake up seems to work better than an alarm clock for him (and his dad). I make him give me a hug or kiss before I'll leave the room. Making him physically DO something seems to be enough to jolt him out of sleep mode. At this point, I go make his lunch, but I leave his bedroom door open with the hall light on.

He gets up within about 5 minutes most of the time. If he doesnt' get up after 10 minutes, I turn the TV on loud enough that he can hear it. The thought of missing his favorite show usually gets him up.

His whole morning routine has gotten better since we had him start fixing his own breakfast. He gets yogurt, a small glass of orange juice, and a bowl of dry cereal (he doesn't like it with milk). Then he sets up his TV tray and eats breakfast while watching TV. Several things have gotten easier once we gave him the responsibility for doing it himself.

At this point, I leave for school, so I can't vouch for how easy or hard the rest of the morning is. But my husband says it goes smoothly when he doesn't yell or get angry. I really think having extra time in the morning helps a lot. Not only are we less stressed about the schedule, but he has time to wake up on his own.

Both my son and I have ADHD, so routines are important in our house. He seems very comfortable with routines and can stick to them for a very long time. I, on the other hand, need to shake things up every month or so. Don't get me wrong, routines are comforting...but they're also boring. So, I understand why certain things lose their novelty for your son.

Since I have ADHD, I love lists...here are some thoughts that come to mind about mornings:

1) Shake it up at least once a week - have something unusual for breakfast or go for a walk before school.

2) Work backward from the deadline in your schedule. If he has to be at school by 9, when do you need to leave the house? Knowing those times can help you relax a little if he's dragging his feet.

3) Pad those times a lot. I am habitually early for everything because I give myself way too much time to get ready. If you know you have to leave the house by 8:40 at the absolute latest, plan on leaving at 8:20.

4) Keep a box or bag of stuff to do in the car so he doesn't get bored when you're early. If you can, let him run around outside at your destination. Once you're there, it's a lot easier to relax about physically entering the building.

5) Do as much of the morning prep work ahead of time as you can. Lay out clothes the night before or better yet, lay them out for the whole week on Sunday. You can do it or you can let him pick them out - whichever works better for you. Pack lunches and lay out as much of the breakfast stuff as you can the night before. Get his backpack and anything he has to take to school together and set it in front of the door. Having all this done ahead of time helps you feel prepared and gives you both less to do in the morning.

6) Make sure he goes to bed early enough. It's never easy to get them to go to bed when everyone else is still awake, but it's a LOT easier to wake them up when they've had enough rest.

Let us know what you try and how it works out!

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Thanks guys! I too am an Adhd mom. My son and I were diagnosed a month a part from each other. It was a relief for me (now I know why I am the way I am LOL), but it's still so confusing for my son. I took a year off of work - to work from home just so I could help him get his brain wrapped around things. The medication and behavioral therapy are working to the degree that we all aren't ready to kill each other....LOL However these mornings just started. This morning I actually poured droplets of water on his head to wake him (shaking my head). However, I will try the suggestion of cuddling with him first thing in the morning so see if I can stir him out of his sleep gentley. Once he's up he's good to go, it's just to get him up. :o) I am going to try a check mark for every day he gets up without conflict. Then reward him at the end of the week with some thing special that he might want to do. I think this will give him some control over the situation and it also give he and I some quality time together over the weekend (through the weekend it's so hectic), aside from overseeing his homework routine through the week. We'll see what happens. :o)

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You sure aren't alone in that struggle. The ADDitude website has some good articles about Morning Help for ADHD Kids:

Morning Routines for ADHD Children

Happier Mornings for ADHD Families

Hopefully these will provide some useful suggestions. Dena

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I like to give my 7 year old son a little nudge and kiss while letting him know that he doesn't have to get up yet, but he needs to start waking up and I will be into get him in a few minutes. Then turn on the lights and I either turn music on or just start being noisy with getting coffee going ect. We also love Melissa & Dougs magnetic responsibility chart, (I found it at Toys R US) he has to get up, brush his teeth and get dressed to earn his morning magnets, then we also include the ones you can write on for meeting his contract at school. They have a bunch more to choose from (varying from behavior goals, stop whining, keep hands to yourself to actually helping out around the house) and they get to put smiley magnets on for reaching their goals each day. If my son gets most of his magnets for the week, we let him earn a reward. I like that he gets instant gratification by putting the magnets on the board, but delayed gratification for an actual reward.

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I liked Bonnie's suggestions. I will look for that Melissa and Doug chart! I've seen a bedtime routine chart in a magazine (One Step Ahead?) and I've been thinking about making one for mornings. It looked like a set of cards with pictures on them (like a toothbrush, and clothes, etc) and the words said "brush teeth" "get dressed", etc. Whenever your kid finishes a task, he can turn the card over. The back of the cards have a big check mark and words like "good job," and "that's great!" I think they are on magnets or hanging on a clothes line, or something.

I can tell you some things that DON'T work... NO morning TV, period. It's too hard to get him away from it. Also, he is not allowed to play with the cat until he is completely finished getting ready. I tried breakfast in bed last year, but that didn't work out too good. That just allowed him to stay in bed way too long, and sometimes he would fall back asleep without eating any breakfast.

My son usually wakes up super grumpy and super hyper. It helps to wake him up briefly about an hour or half-an-hour early so he can take his medication. Then I will let him "snooze" while I get myself ready. This lets the medicine kick in before he has to get up, and gives me a chance to get ready without having to constantly direct his every action. I recently put a radio/CD alarm clock in his room. (He's seven, and now that he has a real alarm clock he feels like a big boy.) Waking up to his "good morning" CD is alot more pleasant than a loud beep, and more effective than me rubbing his back and saying wake up. (But I still do that too!)

My son is pretty helpless in the mornings...I still have to dress him and help him rinse the shampoo out of his hair. (I would let him take his bath at night, but he still wears a Pull-Up and when he wets himself, it smells...) I'm trying to get him to be more independent in the mornings, which I think will help, but it's still a struggle. I'm glad you started this post! It's been interesting to hear all the great suggestions!

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No one has mentioned whether their child takes medication in the morning, so I'm not sure if this is appropriate. We struggled with awful morning routines for a long time until I mentioned it to my son's doctor. She advised us to gently wake him enough to give him his pill (about 1/2 hour before he needs to be up) and let him go back to sleep. Now, when I open the door and call him, he sits right up and is generally ready to meet his day.

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The response has been fantastic! Thank you everyone! UPDATE: This morning I tried him with a clock radio turned up full blast. It woke me, but not him....LOL He slept clear through it. So I went back to rubbing his back and kissing his cheek to wake him. I've also started putting him to bed earlier than his normal 8:00 PM bed time. Last night he was in bed by 7:30. See, I'm a parent to an ADHD child, but I have it as well. So for me to use charts, takes real effort. I do have to say though - hubby and I have been getting very good ant recognizing my sons efforts as opposed to focusing on the negative. Especially hubby. They have been getting a long much better too (we have a blended family). So, for mornings - I'm going to start getting him up earlier with the cuddles and kisses. Hopfully this will work for a while before I have to find something else....LOL

The other issue now is his hitting. He doesn't strike out on purpose and for no reason. He has to be provoked (irritated, annoyed, angry, frustrated, taunted, teased, etc). I've been teaching him that hands are for helping not hitting, and that if another child is doing something that makes him angry, annoyed etc...he is to tell his teacher, me, hubby, or what ever adult is around to mediate the situation. The other day he was sent home with a note from the school for pushing a little boy and telling the teacher off for not listening to him. He had his toys taken away for a day with an explaination of why, and what would happend if this happens again. He seemed to understand. He's generally a happy go lucky kid. However if he's provoked he will act out. I remember as a little girl doing the same thing. I didn't stop until I was in grade 7. My mom use to get calls from the school all the time, and I use to get the same speeches all the time. My fav. one was " you're going to lose all your friends if you don't stop bullying them." Yet at the same time, she always defended me to the school or other parents. She always wanted to hear both sides of the story, and was quick to inform other parents (especially when she knew I was telling the truth) that their child was just as much at fault as I was. I didn't get away with it, but she didn't make me feel belittled in front of others either. I'd like to think I do the same thing doe my little guy. :o)

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I get my 7th grader up early every morning to do homework (that's his best time of day). We have found that if I get up 30 mins prior, give him his Adderall and then we both go back to bed for 1/2 hour - not only is his med already working when we arise to do the homework, but it is much easier for him to actually get himself out of bed! Good luck :)

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