Alarm clocks

I am trying a new strategy in helping Jonny get up in the mornings. We have had ongoing issues with alarm clocks, waking up, getting ready for school; basically the whole morning schedule before the bus comes. He is right now the only one with this problem and it is getting really frustrating. Josh is completely over it, as they share a room and Josh gets up on his own every morning without a ounce of help for good ole Mom. Jonny, on the other hand, needs me to walk him through the whole morning routine.

As of Friday, 9/8/06, I will start making notes of when he gets up, how long it takes him to get ready and so forth. We will then discuss it at his next therapy session. David (therapist) is hoping that cold, hard facts will help him understand this type of behavior in the morning does not help anybody and it only makes for a poor start of the day.

Jonny's struggles could be blog in itself; everyday is trying and hard. For myself, it is picking the battles and sticking to appropriate consequences. For Jonny, it seems to be how can I make this day about "ME". Completely self-absorbed, he spent way too many years in survival mode to really be able to think about anyone else. Turning 13 this year has NOT helped! Having spent 14 days at Valle Vista (acute psych. facility) seemed to only strengthen his need for control. I really spend most days with Jonny in management mode, keeping him in sync with the real world, as best possible and showing him that family does matter.