My son is starting school in a few weeks and his classes start at 10.30am. I'm trying to get him to wake up later than his usual 6-6.30am time with little success. We've tried putting him to sleep later, reducing day naps, etc but nothing has worked. Do you clever mummies have any other tricks youve tried?

I’ve read this nifty trick shared by another mum: http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/kids-waking-up-too-early/ Details can be found in the article but here’s a quick summary. You will need a digital clock, a piece of paper, tape and a marker to do this. First, decide on the timing that you want your child to wake up at. Write the hour of the timing on the piece of paper with the marker. Tape the paper over the minutes part of the alarm clock (as shown in image). Show your child the clock and tell him that he can only get out of bed with the number on the clock matches the number on the paper. It will take some time for your child to learn and adapt to the idea. In the initial weeks, simply bring your child back to bed and repeat the instructions. You can go in at the stipulated timing to wake him or to get him. Praise him for staying in bed till you went to get him. I think it’s worth a try. Sounds novel and interesting for a child. ;)

Putting him to sleep later might actually be counterproductive! There are some tips here, but one of the causes mentioned for early rising is too late of a bedtime: "Skipping naps and putting your child to bed later will cause early rising-I know it’s not logical, and you and I would never do that – but it is true!" http://sleeplady.com/child-early-rising/rise-shine-the-early-waking-toddler/ I liked the tip on keeping the room dark in the morning :) When my daughter wakes up and sees sunlight, she blinks a few times, looks around the room, smiles at me, and just like that -- she's up!

My daughter was still on 6.30am wake-up when she started school. She was 2.5 years at that time and I found that she lasted well through the day. However, if you feel your child needs additional hour of sleep or a later wake up time, then installing blackout blinds to keep the room dark and help him sleep longer. I also delayed my daughter's bedtime just by half an hour at night and found that it kept her in bed an hour longer.

I normally play with her a little bit later. Entertain and talk to her more. I consider it is quality & bonding time as well. However, if she stay up and go to bed later she might not have enough energy to do thing next day.