From Katie:

Thank you for mentioning to me (a while back) that you have your smaller ones stay in bed until 8:00.  I have an early riser who would get up at 5:45 sometimes and that would begin my day.  I recently have been having the girls stay in their beds until 7:00 and we are all much happier and they are more rested.  They even sleep longer now, at times, because they know they have to be there until 7:00.  I set their alarm for 7:00 and when they come in to get me we're all a happy group (we used to be a grumpy group when they woke up particularly early). 

I thought this would be a hard transition, but it's actually been so easy!  I don't know how you do it, but I let them take some books to bed at night so they have something to do in the morning if they wake up early.  Just wanted to thank you and I also thought that this might be a great topic for a blog because it has really improved my life.

Some time ago I just came to grips with the fact that I don’t do mornings well.  I’ve heard all the rhetoric but I don’t buy it; I’ve heard the sermons, I’ve read the devotionals and the blogs that equate early mornings with better spirituality, but I just can’t agree.  For me, seven hours of sleep most often happens between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. 

And so I have trained my little ones to stay in their rooms until at least 7:30.  Many times they hop on my bed and cuddle with me and the nursing baby, other times they get going on their morning stuff.  It works for us.  Our days look like an early-riser’s day, the hours are just shifted a little later.

I think I learned this early.  My mom used to put a cup of Cheerios in my crib and that bought her an extra 30 minutes in the morning

Most importantly, what works for you?