Is there a cure for grumpy kids?

[twowhat?]

Particularly those who are grumpy in the mornings? Mine are grumpy, and only on weekdays.

It is not a sleep issue - I actually let them sleep until they wake up on their own on weekdays even though it's very hard on me when it comes to work, and we push for early bedtimes. So I know they are getting plenty of sleep (they also do not sleep in on weekends, which confirms to me that they are getting plenty of sleep).

The reason I think they are grumpy is because they don't want to go to school...since on weekends they wake up at the same time (and often earlier) in a GREAT mood since it's the weekend.

They love their school, so I am not concerned about that. Once I get them to school they are happy and excited to see their friends and teachers. They would just RATHER stay home with me and they give me a super hard time in the mornings with whining, tantrums, stomping, pouting. They move so slowly that I force them to eat breakfast in the car which makes them even more angry (but eating breakfast at home is not enough motivation for them to pull it together because the bottom line is that they'd rather stay home).

Any ideas?? The only times I can get them to not be grumpy on school mornings is if there is a special event happening at school that day that they are excited about.

Oh how I miss the days when they couldn't tell the days of the week! LOL!

[AJP]

Mine do the same some mornings. They also love their school once there, but they will act grumpy and even have tantrums about some desperately important-to-them issue as we get in the car. I just give extra love and hugs and try to remind myself not to get triggered by or feed into the tantrum.
For us, me rushing them is bound to end with grumpy resisting and tantrums about getting ready. I try to have everything planned ahead or else I'm saying hurry up all morning...I know I hated to feel like I was running late for everything as a child and don't want to put that anxiety on them.
I feel so bad if they go into school sad or still teary eyed because they started their morning grumpy. I know it's because they miss me or being home. I try to remind them of something fun we will do after school like painting something etc. It doesn't always work, but most days their teachers and friends put a smile in their faces instantly. I'm hoping this gets better next year because they will go to K 5 days with no "home" days between.

[Indianamom2]

For us, the grumpiness is caused by anxiety about school. The weekends are always much better...and Sunday night/Monday morning are the absolute worst. It's a vicious cycle.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

my ds is sorta the same way. he's NOT a morning person and usually wakes up in a bad mood. first off, he takes after DH and love sto sleep in. when i have to wake him up (most of the time i do, i have 7:15 as my limit!) he is often pretty pouty and whines that he doesn't want to go to school. i mostly ignore it and get dd ready and do other things. by the time we're in the car he's totally fine..and then when he get to school he's skipping along to the classroom. he too loves his school and teachers. it's just a hassle getting to that point (and getting him dressed, getting him to eat breakfast, etc). i takes me an hour to get both kids ready when i'm by myself.

anyway, not sure there is anything you can do. i've just assumed it's par for the course especially for this age. and heck, most mornings *I* don't want to be awake and be getting ready for work. so i figure, i can hardly expect a 3yo to be all chipper in the morning. i told ds the other morning that he can get to do arts & crafts (he loves it) at school to which he replied "But i wanna do arts & crafts AT HOME with mommy" LOL. talk about a guilt trip. but i remind myself that last year when i DID stay at home with him, and did tons of arts & crafts, there were plenty of other things he found to whine about :)

the only thing that i've found out that works (only sometimes) to perk him up in the mornings is to put a tiny treat (like 2 or 3 small fruit snacks) in his lunch and tell him about it, so he is excited about it the whole day. but that doesn't always work. i found that just ignoring him and letting him lie there curled up in a ball for 15 minutes or wahtever and him watching me get dd ready usually does the trick. and as AJP said, i try not to get to anxious about being late and having to hurry as they can really sense it and that makes it worse. this week DH was gone and i was really chill about getting ready in the morning (twice i got to work right before 9am!) and they tended to do much better than before.

oh and yesterday i let DS have his breakfast at school. i usually put out his breakfast in one of those small Sistema containers, and if he doesn't finish it, he just takes in the car and then eats it at school. i do it for dd as well. the TJs breakfast bars are great.that way there is no rush to eat. i know i wake up and don't always wnat to eat first thing, and i hate eating in a rush so i figure they may not want to eat right away either.

[hillview]

ideas
wake up earlier (get to bed earlier)
eat something sooner
make the morning as simple as possible (post chore charts etc)

good luck!

[rlu]

I'm a bear if I don't eat enough, and first thing in the morning. Perhaps feeding them first thing might help?