so now that the sun is rising earlier so are my kids. They used to sleep until 730 or even 8 if I let them but now they are waking up at 6am. I do not need to be up intil at least 7 so 6 is just too early. I am completing my degree work online and do most of my work after my girls go to bed. I end up going to sleep around midnight or 1am. So 6 does not work. Does anyone have any reccommendations of Black Out curtains or another way of keeping the room dark? My girls go to bed at about 8pm and keeping them up later makes them cranky at night and doesn't make them sleep in. I have tried to tell them it is not time to get up but that doesn't work very well. Thank you!
When I was in college one of my professor's who had 3 kids while earning her master's degree gave me the best advice ever! I went to bed when my kids did (8-9) and arose at 3 a.m. to do my homework. It took some getting used to and I had to give up some of my favorite tv shows but what a difference in my parenting and homework quality! It is the quietest time of day and the kids were in a solid sleep!
I hear ya! Same thing was happening with my younger son waking up earlier with the time change. He has bamboo blinds on his windows plus Navy Blue curtains but because the blinds have so many holes the light was still coming through. I went to Lowes and bought black curtains and hung them up behind the blue ones and it TOTALLY made a difference. It's nice and dark in there now. Good luck with your degree work! That's awesome!
I use to work nights as a nurse and before I bought black-out blinds from Home Depot (looks great but, very, very expensive) I tacked up a dark colored flannel flat sheet. It didn't match but, it was very dark and I slept like a rock. When I needed light, I used a hair clip to hold the rolled up sheet. And since the sheets covered the entire window, there wasn't any sun peeking thru. I have black-out curtains in 2 rooms and the sun peeks thru a little at the edges. JoAnn Fabrics also has heavy, white, plastic backed material that is used for black-out curtains.
Joann's and most fabric stores sell black out material for around $3-5 a yard. It is a thick white. It is wonderful. I have hung double rods on all my windows and I sewed a hem at the top of the blackout material and hung them on the inside rod. The outside rod was the curtains. I clothspin them together and tuck the sides in next to the blinds. Not a stitch of light comes through! I have it in my son's room and mine. It is great to take a nap during the day and feel like I am in a dark cave! He sleeps great! Good luck!
they sell black out shades thru amazon. They are kinda like black versions of the temporary blinds that they sell at home depot, but are made of black thick paper. They adhere to your wall with a non damaging adhesive, and they REALLY WORK to block out the light. The down side....they are REALLY ugly/kinda trashy looking.....but oh well. I just took mine down cuz they were so ugly....but now that it is SO LIGHT SO EARLY....I am thinking about getting some more. 1 package of them is good for 6 windows or so.......
Two thickness of black plastic trashbags will work as blackout curtains and they're cheap. Put any kind of regular curtains on the inside of the room so they are not looking at black plastic trashbags. Aluminum foil works too. Tape it to the windows.
Congratulations to you on having the determination to finish your degree.
I bought black out curtains at Bed Bath and Beyond. However, if you can find them at Target or somewhere similar you might get a better deal. I remember the curtains I picked up to be pretty spendy.
Also, there is this neat-o little clock that not only helps kids learn time, the parents can program it to signal when they can get up. I think the colors change clock from yellow (stay in bed) to green (ok to get up). It might be worth looking into!! Good luck!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019IHE8I?ie=UTF8&t...
I'm having the same issue with my 8 month old.
The ladies in this website told to get th blackout curtains at Target for $15. They are "RE Style" curtains which is a specialty brand sold at Target. They are in the curtain section of the store but are actually called Kids Room curtains
Since I wanted to try it out myself first before buying it, I put 2 dark bed sheets and it really blacked out the room. It hasn't completely worked my baby, but at least he "knows" it's still dark out there and he should go back to sleep.
Good luck
you should get burgundy curtains i have burgundy curtains and they work perfect i dont even want to get up in the morning to work that would help
black out roller shades under drapes can work.
Stores such as Fred Meyer, Sears. J.C. Penney or any store that sells window shades have black out shades. I use the kind that are on a roller and pull down. If you mount them on the outside of the window you can tape the edges down. If you mount them inside the window frame, have them cut to fit closely and they will catch on the frame. You can get inexpensive ones or pay more for sturdier looking ones. I bought the middle of the line ones 20+ years ago and I'm still using them tho they look a bit grungy.
Blackout curtains really did the trick for us! We got some reasonalby priced ones from Target (ordered them on amazon.com w/ free shipping). They were called Eclipse and they also regulate the temperature from outside the window. I believe they were $25 for each panel and come in great colors. We got lime green that matched our nursery perfect. Good luck!
Home Depot has some inexpensive, easy to install roll-up shades that work well. Just be sure you get the thickest, highest level of darkness otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose. They're not pretty (white plastic, basically) but because they're installed inside the window frame, when rolled up you can't seem them behind our more decorative window shades. You don't know just how much it helps until you have it!
My 7 year old knows not to wake us up. He just gets some cereal and puts on cartoons. I work nights so on the mornings when I am home I probably didn't get to bed till the wee hours. I tell him, just watch tv until we get up. Sometimes he just reads or plays in his room. When he exhausts his own resources, then he comes to get us. Honestly he is not a morning person either so often it is up trying to get him up. Maybe if you talk to them, that would help.
Hi J., Remember just because kids are awake does not mean you have to let them get up. you said you have told them it's not time to get up but it doesn't work very well, if that is the case you need to just tell them they are not to get up until you tell them they can get up. A friend of mine trained her twin girls with an alarm, it was set for a certain time during the week and then a certain time on the weekends and they knew unless they had to go to the bathroom they didn't get up till the alarm went off, and she started training them this way at 3 it worked perfect for her. You can get the dark shades like some of the moms suggested but that won't teach your children anything about obeying you. J.
Putting up darker -- not blackout, just darker -- curtains helped my 18 m.o. sleep in, and it also helped his afternoon nap. It hasn't helped my 4 y.o. though. He gets up at 6:15-6:30 and comes to our bed where he dozes a bit and I try to tell him that when the 6 on the alarm clock says 7, that's when it's time to get up. Sometimes he's patient, other times not. Good luck to you!
Hello!
I've had great results with Nighttime Nursery Blackout Drapery Liners(comes in a two pack). I purchased online from One Step Ahead and would highly recommend them...both the liners and One Step Ahead!! Hope this helps :-) C.
My son's room has blinds on the windows and curtains over the blinds. Well, the same thing happened when the time changed so I had a family friend sew a navy blue sheet on the back of his curtains. Its now super dark in his room even when the sun is shining in!
