Early waker "Lark", activities needed

[yeknomyeknom]

Morning all,

My 2 year old wakes at 6am. This has now become 5am due to the clock change. Believe me, I've tried adjusting his routine to get him to wake up later but he has woken at the same time for over a year now, regardless of what we do. The problem im having, is finding activities to go to with him that are open early. Museums etc (inc Horniman) don't seem to open until 10. I obviously don't expect somewhere to open super early, 9am would do. Anything that could occupy him before his 11.30am nap. I've looked at EdTots but the time appropriate activities don't suit. Does anyone else have a Lark (natural early bird)? Do you just wait for after their nap to do fun activities outside the house? We do Borough market at the weekend which is fun. Any other ideas like this?

[melbourne groover]

Think the Beckenham soft play opens up early?

[patt1980]

I found quite a few of the stay and plays started at 9am - Ivydale, Ackroyd and Besssemer do I think and I used to take my early bird to one of those when she was that age. Or I'd just head out to Goose Green Playground or to cafe nero for a much needed coffee for me! Horniman gardens are open early and the cafe is from 9:30am so can always grab a coffee and have a play before the museum opens. Peckham pulse softplay is from 9am too and jelly tots soft play cafe in herne hill opens at 9:30am i think. I found we couldn't venture anywhere that far/exciting in the mornings if I wanted her to sleep at home to be honest though unfortunately!

[????]

my 9 year old still wakes up at 6am, my others later, so you may need to get used to this long term!

[patt1980]

Ha ha yes I was also going to say my 3.5 yr old is still up at 5:30am regardless!

[SE22mum]

yep, we have a 5 year old and an 8 year old at 5:30 here! Though I suppose school does start at 9...

[yeknomyeknom]

If left to my own devices, I would wake around 10am. Just 10+ years of early wakings to go then....

Might need a few more activity ideas if I'm going to make it!!

[Bellenden Belle]

Our 2.5 yr old son used to wake at this time every morning. It was ok in the summer when Goose Green playground was his own personal fiefdom at 7am but at this time of year it's very hard.

In the last few months though we bought a gro-clock for ?20 from Tesco and it's really worked for us. It comes with an (awful) story book that teaches him about animals sleeping and how to wait for the sun and, by and large, he does wait till the sun comes up on the clock before calling out. Sometimes he wakes a little before but is allowed a small number of toys in his room to occupy him until 7am.

After breakfast and stuff it makes the morning more bearable than sitting in the dark at 6am!

It might not work for everyone but for ?20 might be worth a try. Good luck.

[SE22mum]

yes, but now that it is light at about 5:30 then how can you tell him it is dark til 7?

[yeknomyeknom]

We use blackout blinds

[SE22mum]

aha!

[david_carnell]

Exactly. We used blinds in the summer and had dropped them. Once the clocks went back he was waking before 6 again. Once the blinds went up he's now ok till 7. We've tried pushing our luck at weekends by changing the setting to 8 but there are clearly limits to how long he'll obey a stupid clock for!