waking up early

failexam

I'm taking a gap year out of university now and as I don't have much to do, I typically end up sleeping at 2 or 3 in the morning. So, naturally I wake up at late in the morning at 11 or 12. Now, my parents are quite disapproving of this, and I don't understand why. I don't see anything wrong with waking up late as I don't go to school now.

Do you think it's justified to make me wake up in the morning at 6 or 7?

phyzguy

Probably your parents are upset because you are not doing anything productive. How are you supporting yourself - buying food, paying the rent, etc.? Are you living at your parents' house?

ChiralWaltz

They probably don't understand the value in you staying up late. What are you doing that requires you keep odd hours?

Evo

Why do they want you up so early? Is there some reason for it? Some people just have patterns and they expect everyone to follow their patterns, even if there is no reason.

lisab

As long as you're getting the sleep you require, there's no harm in shifting your sleep hours later than normal. Moving your sleep hours around isn't good for you, though.

So, I'm going to go out on thin ice here. How are you spending your gap year? Do you clean up after yourself (dishes, laundry, etc.)? Perhaps, if your parents woke up to a nice surprise, like a sparkling clean kitchen/bathroom, or maybe if they came home to dinner ready, they wouldn't mind your unusual sleep hours. Just sayin'.

Gad

You're not taking a gap year to shift your sleep time, are you?

Probably they want you to take advantage of your 'day'. Or they're afraid that you might become negatively affected by being alone most of your time. Or simply they want to spend more time with you [I know my family does the same, since I am a night owl myself and had to go to work early too, which doesn't leave me much time to spend with them]... Why don't you ask them? Try to convince them with your choices/reasons.

dlgoff

My grandparents always got up before sunrise as a necessity for their long, hard work days and daily chores. And my parents always got up at 6:30am so dad could make it to work. I think the reasoning for everyone getting up was because, "Breakfast is served"; a more efficient use of time.

Evo

Both of my girls took some time off to regroup and rethink what they wanted to do. They were free to do whatever they wanted in any way they wanted.

The result is that they returned to school with a drive and fervor they never had before, finally knowing what they really wanted to do. Too often kids get thrown into college right out of high school not really knowing what they really want to do for the rest of their lives. DUH!!

Giving them time to relax, regroup and re-examine was what they needed.

Perhaps your parents need to back off. Unless, going by your user name, you have issues.

Gad

His posts count is 200 something...

Evo

So, he spends too much time here?

Gad

No, his decision to take a year off came 'way' after his name.

Edit: I just checked his profile, he registered in 2010.

Evo

So, he doesn't spend enough time here.

Gad

Haha! Well, you can't really tell. Look at my post count for example, do you think I don't spend enough time here?

dlgoff

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Mentalist

I live with my folks as well!

I must wake up early for school, but during weeks when I don't have school (or months) my parents wake me up early as well. I asked them why they do such things when I don't have school, and they stated that I will have to wake up early once I begin my career and that I should get used to waking up early.

Evo

Well, I got a 6 digit income job working out of my home with AT&T, making my own hours.

And maybe you will have to get a job that requires waking at the crack of dawn. Shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to completely re-acclime to the different hours. It did for me when I had to do early hours. What are you going to do when you have jobs that require you to be up until 3 am cranking out proposals? Tell your boss you've got to get up early and you can't help him?

Mentalist

I would more than likely go to sleep for 2 hours before the proposal making session begins, wake-up, and then stay up until 3 am.