Teach Me Time Clock

I don't actually have much natural feeling of authority, so sometimes it doesn't even occur to me that I can require something of the children. So, it has been almost five years now that I've woken every morning when the children wake me up. Because, you know, a mother gets up when her children need (want) her--no matter what time!

I discovered only recently that many parents do not let their children come out of their bedrooms until such-and-such reasonable time in the morning. How embarrassing that such a thing never occurred to me! Well, we work with what we've got, given by God and formed by life's circumstances!

Now, our children can't tell time yet, so I pondered the various ways to communicate the time to them before implementing this new plan. On a recommendation, we purchased the American Innovative Teach Me Time Talking Alarm Clock and Nightlight.

John was particularly excited because he had recently had several instances of waking in the middle of the night and thinking it was morning. He'd get dressed and go downstairs, only to discover it was pitch black and I wasn't down there. Unlike Mary, who has no worries about wandering the house alone in the middle of the night (ah, sweet freedom!), doing so makes John really anxious, so he'd ask me at bedtime, "But how will I know when I wake up if it is morning or the middle of the night?" I told him that this clock was on its way in the mail and he was so relieved!

Last night we used our clock for the first time. We set it and taught the kids how to use it. They can push a button to hear the clock "tell" them the time. We changed the settings so the yellow nightlight is on from 7:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., and it turns to green at 6:30 a.m. "Green means go! Go downstairs!" When the light turns green, the children are allowed to join me downstairs. I explained that the baby often wakes early, and she's too young for me to force her back to sleep, but even if they hear me downstairs with the baby, it doesn't mean they may come down. Their bodies need more sleep and they need to stay in their rooms, where they may read books or play with toys or go back to sleep.

This morning was a great maiden voyage with the clock. The baby was awake for the day at 4:33 a.m. (and people wonder why I pass out at nine at night?). Soothing her and then proceeding to ignore her in the pitch dark for an hour while she alternated between cooing, babbling, and crying, did not help her fall back asleep, so I waved the white flag at 5:30 and took her downstairs. Normally my stealthy creaking along the wooden foyer floor would cause the children to wake or, if already awake, they would leap from their beds to follow me downstairs. But today they knew they had to stay in bed until the light was green!

I got to have a whole hour to myself, to wake up slowly with coffee. At around 6:20, I could hear the pitter patter of little feet upstairs. Would they stay or would they come down? Chris, who was still upstairs, reported to me that he could hear the children obsessively checking the clock, pushing its "talking" button (as we know they will until the novelty wears off):

six-six-six-six-six twenty. six-six-six-six-six-twenty-one. six-six-six-six-six-six-twenty-two.

And at 6:30, I heard feet pounding down the stairs and they burst into the kitchen, shrieking with joy, "The light turned green! The light turned green!"

I highly recommend this clock. Features are: A light tells the children that they may leave their bedrooms. But if they're still asleep, the light change won't wake them. There is a teaching feature to teach children to tell time, with five different levels of difficulty. John already loves level 1 (easiest). The clock talks to tell the time, plus displays time in analog only, digital only, or both. The clock has an alarm clock feature and serves as a nightlight. The clock has three bezel colors from which to choose: blue, pink, and yellow.

FTC statement: I am sharing this item with you because I really like it and have not received anything from the company.