How can my teen wake up on her own?

[almostmom]

DD does not wake up to her alarm. It can be dinging/blaring over and over right next to her head, waking up everyone else in the house, and she is sound asleep next to it. Radio, same thing. She tried putting her alarm clock across the room, but then she still didn't wake up and the rest of us had to deal with it!

I know at 13 (almost 14) and in 8th grade, she should be responsible for getting herself up in the morning. But alarms don't seem to work (though I'd like to know if there are others I should try). When they do wake her up, she turns them off (she used to snooze sometimes, but often fully turns it off without realizing). Now I have to go in and wake her up (and inevitably it's later than she'd like, as I am dragging myself out of bed to do it). And then I go in a second time to make sure she is up, as she has usually fallen back to sleep.

It's not really a sleep thing, at least mostly. She naps some days after school (both my kids do - they love napping). She is a night owl, and goes to sleep probably around 10:30. And her alarm is set for 6:30. On the weekends she sleeps until 10 or 11. Some days she goes to bed much earlier, like 7 or 8, and sleeps through the night. Even then, I have to wake her multiple times in the morning.

Once she's up, she's fine.

Any suggestions on alarms that could work?

Thanks!

[Melaine]

I would try earlier bedtime. I think that's late for a 13 year old who is having trouble getting up. My 13 year old girls have lights out anywhere between 8 and 9 depending what we have going on. And if she is napping ever, my guess is she is not getting enough sleep.

[almostmom]

That's a nice idea, but it's not going to happen. She is most awake from 8-10 (11 if we let her) every night, always has been! Most nights if her lights went out at 8 she would lay there for hours awake. Except those nights when she decides to make a nap starting at 7pm merge into nighttime sleeping...

Next year high school will start later, and her brother will drive her, so she'll be able to sleep until 7:45 which will be great. But she still won't wake up on her own, which I'd like to help her do. I wouldn't wake up on my own until at least 8 (or later), so I get that! But alarms work for me.

[mommy111]

Get her an Alexa

[almostmom]

How does that work as an alarm?

[SnuggleBuggles]

No way would an earlier bedtime work here either. Heck, my kiddo is rarely home before 9:30 most nights after activities!!
I bet the nap could be messing with the sleep. Maybe try skipping those for a bit and see what happens.
Otherwise, I would try one of those wake up light alarms- starts getting brighter about 30 minutes before the alarm goes off.

[almostmom]

The nap does sometimes mess with her sleep if it's too long, but those are maybe once a week realistically (unlike my 10th grader who naps almost every day after school and goes to sleep around 10:30 or 11 easily). I could try the light up alarm, but light doesn't seem to wake her up on the weekends (she doesn't have light blocking shades). But it might help during this dark season. But I still think I'd need to go in and get her up...

[ang79]

No way would an earlier bedtime work here either. Heck, my kiddo is rarely home before 9:30 most nights after activities!!
I bet the nap could be messing with the sleep. Maybe try skipping those for a bit and see what happens.
Otherwise, I would try one of those wake up light alarms- starts getting brighter about 30 minutes before the alarm goes off.

I was hoping a daylight alarm would help my 11 yr. old, but so far it hasn't. It starts to get light 30 min. before her wake up time, then she wakes up to nature sounds at 7 am. She wakes up enough to turn the alarm off then snuggles under the blankets until I go in and drag her out of bed. She is totally like my husband, just does not want to get up in the morning and will put it off until someone makes her. On weekends she likes to sleep til 8 or 8:30, then read a bit in her bed before she gets out of bed. We aim for an 8 pm bedtime most nights, and she usually falls asleep within a half hour of getting into bed, so she is getting plenty of sleep, and she still doesn't like to wake up. If you find anything that works for you, I'd love to try it here!

[gymnbomb]

When I was around 10-12 and had trouble with alarm clocks, my parents got me one that was this style. It was super loud and always woke me up.
https://www.amazon.com/Peakeep-Twin-.../dp/B072QDD4CS

[MaiseyDog]

This sounds exactly as me as a teen and young adult. I have always had to set multiple alarms and have them set up around the room. Note one alarm set with multiple times to go off, but i actually have 4 alarm clocks that are set up around my room. I need different sounds or they are too easy to tune out. I am much better about getting up with just two alarms now, but as I teen if would take all 4. I could usually sleep through the first one, but it would disrupt things enough that I was more likely to hear the second one. Usually by the third one I was a wake and the fourth one would be the one that I would actually get up for. It's not pleasant for anyone having to share space, but it worked for me. I also saw recent alarm clocks that have a vibrating thing that you put under the pillow, It wouldn't be enought to wake me up, but I wonder if it would be enough to disrupt deep sleep so that it would be more likely to hear the next alarm. Just a though.