Help with waking up/parenting

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

Our 14 yr old is rather stable within the OCD right now. The meds have

given some relief and he is in CBT and the summer sun sure helps.

We have one puzzling issue, however. This is our son's inability to

get awake and get out of bed in the morning. We have tried all these

suggestions: rewards, great breakfasts, multi alarms, breakfast in

bed, etc. No cigar. He wants to get to school, but is missing many

many classes and 1/2 days. Of course the school stress mounts and this

is a stressor that ocd feeds on.

Now our son DOES occasionally make it up....for eg., he had a caddying

job this weekend and made it up at 7:30am. There are other motivating

things where the pain (?) of getting up is outweighed by the perceived

benefit. But generally he just can't get awake and get up till

10:30am.

And so this creates a parenting dilemma for us. We think that he has

rituals going on in the dream state or just below the conscious point

in the morning. He can't explain it, but indeed we do believe that it

is certainly OCD related. So we have trouble denying him extra

curricular activities and fun times out if he doesn't make it to

school frequently. On the other hand, the world would not tolerate

this behavior and he would fall hard. If the OCD isn't his fault and

he is working hard in therapy and is generally a responsible kid,

should we penalize the " not getting up " ? OR perhaps let the natural

consequence of school problems, social problems that ensue, run their

course without rescuing him?

Input greatly appreciated,

[Guest guest]

Question - how many hours is he sleeping altogether when he " sleeps

in. " Is this any different than when he's up at 7:30 to caddy??

in N.C.

> Dear All,

> Our 14 yr old is rather stable within the OCD right now. The meds

have

> given some relief and he is in CBT and the summer sun sure helps.

>

> We have one puzzling issue, however. This is our son's inability to

> get awake and get out of bed in the morning. We have tried all

these

> suggestions: rewards, great breakfasts, multi alarms, breakfast in

> bed, etc. No cigar. He wants to get to school, but is missing many

> many classes and 1/2 days. Of course the school stress mounts and

this

> is a stressor that ocd feeds on.

>

> Now our son DOES occasionally make it up....for eg., he had a

caddying

> job this weekend and made it up at 7:30am. There are other

motivating

> things where the pain (?) of getting up is outweighed by the

perceived

> benefit. But generally he just can't get awake and get up till

> 10:30am.

>

> And so this creates a parenting dilemma for us. We think that he

has

> rituals going on in the dream state or just below the conscious

point

> in the morning. He can't explain it, but indeed we do believe that

it

> is certainly OCD related. So we have trouble denying him extra

> curricular activities and fun times out if he doesn't make it to

> school frequently. On the other hand, the world would not tolerate

> this behavior and he would fall hard. If the OCD isn't his fault

and

> he is working hard in therapy and is generally a responsible kid,

> should we penalize the " not getting up " ? OR perhaps let the natural

> consequence of school problems, social problems that ensue, run

their

> course without rescuing him?

>

> Input greatly appreciated,

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi , many of the adults on this list who take SSRIs have mentioned

the increased need for sleep these can cause. OTOH my daughter while on

Prozac abruptly began sleeping about 5 hours a night and never missed the

other 5 she had been sleeping until that time!

Has your son tried the obvious: going to bed earlier? It may be he will

have to consider this, and get his extra ZZZZs earlier in the evening rather

than the following morning, at least until school is out.

Kathy r. in Indiana

----- Original Message -----

From: <michael_flynn@...>

> We have one puzzling issue, however. This is our son's inability to

> get awake and get out of bed in the morning. We have tried all these

> suggestions: rewards, great breakfasts, multi alarms, breakfast in

> bed, etc. No cigar. He wants to get to school, but is missing many

> many classes and 1/2 days. Of course the school stress mounts and this

> is a stressor that ocd feeds on.