How to Use an Okay to Wake Clock
An Okay to Wake Clock is a tool that you can use with children who are toddlers and/or older. It is used to help them know when it is time to go to sleep and wake up. If your child understands cause and effect, they may be ready for an Okay to Wake Clock! It’s really great for giving visual cues, reminders, and reinforcement.
Okay to Wake Clocks use different colors to prompt if it is time to sleep or wake up. We recommend using Okay to Wake Clocks with children who are 18 months and older. For the younger toddlers (18 months), it may be helpful to just use one color to differentiate between “on” means wake “off” means sleep. Just like everything with sleep, being consistent will help them understand how it works!
It doesn’t hurt to introduce one early (as far as the concept goes) but that doesn’t mean they’ll grasp it quite yet.
Okay to Wake Clocks can help with common sleep troubles such as: time changes, early mornings, night wakings and quiet time!
Time Changes:
Is it Daylight Savings Time and your child out of bed time is 7:00am but they are waking up at 6:00am? Using an Okay to Wake Clock, will help keep your child in bed until designated out of bed time. This will help their body clock transition to the new time and help their circadian rhythm learn as well!
You can do this in 15 minute increments every few days to help shift their schedule.
Early Mornings:
This is when a An Okay to Wake Clock is used the most! It can be used to help children know when it is OK to get out of their bed and start their day! If you have a child who tends to wake early, this will help train their body clock to wake later by not exposing them to sunlight/regular light when they first wake up, their body will know it’s not time to be awake and they’ll have an easier time going back to sleep in those early morning hours.
Night Wakings:
If your child wakes up in the middle of the night and needs to use the bathroom, have a drink of water, or something else, the Okay to Wake Clock will let them know that it is still sleep time and they should go back to their bed and go to sleep.
Quiet Time / Nap Time:
Having an Okay to Wake Clock in place before transitioning out of nap time will be a great tool to help your child learn when it is time to sleep, time to stay in the room and leave the room. Having rules set in place “Red means sleep, yellow means out of bed and green means out of room” is great for the child is transitioning between 1-0 naps! If your child is in the transition of 1-0 naps, offering your child time to nap before quiet time is important. The clock is a great tool to help your child know when they should be attempting to sleep before playing quietly in their room.
Okay to Wake Clocks are a great tool for giving your child some autonomy and even some control!
The best way to use them are having your child part of the process. Depending on your child’s age, you can have them choose the color for sleep and the color for wake. Or you can choose the colors and have your child help make a visual to explain what each color means.
For example, in our house, we use a STOP LIGHT. Red = sleep, Yellow = out of bed, Green = out of room. My son helped create the visual of a stoplight, he colored in the stoplight and helped me draw him sleeping, playing and out of the room. This allows them to be part of the process and also helps them remember what each color means!
It is most important to be consistent with the clock from the very beginning! If your child walks out of their room and their clock is set to sleep, walk them back to their room and refer to the clock’s color. Stay consistent and keep at it! It may take some time for your child to learn how it works!
If your child is potty trained for sleep, remind your child it is OK to leave their room if their clock is set for sleep to use the restroom, but the clock is there to refer back to in order to know if it is time to sleep or wake.
A pro tip is to take baby steps when using the clock. For example, if your child’s out of bed time is 7am and they are waking at 6am, slowly get to 7am, by having them wait only 5-10 min each day! We want them to get to the reward of being able to see the clock change color and get out of their room!
Favorite Okay to Wake Clocks:
Hatch Rest
Lectrofan Kinder
Mella Little Hippo
Kidstible
I hope that was helpful in getting you started with using the okay to wake clock with your toddler! If you’re struggling with implementing it, make sure you set up a basic chat and we can create.a plan together.
