Funny & Positive Ways to Get a Teenager to School on Time

Most teenagers love to sleep, so it can be difficult to get them to school on time. If your teen isn't old enough to drive, you can always express your impatience by starting the car and insisting she hurry up. It's even more difficult to get driving teens out the door. To help your teen start the day on a positive note, you can implement energy-boosting activities into her morning routine, so she doesn't get marked tardy at school.

  1. Enjoyable Breakfast

    • An enjoyable breakfast serves two purposes. It gives your teen the energy he needs to make it until lunchtime, and it gets him motivated to get to school on time. Early morning sunlight helps reset a teen̵7;s circadian clock, so serving breakfast in front of a window is a good way to get him going in the morning, according to WebMD.com. Add creativity to the breakfast routine by making a smiley face or writing your teen's initials on pancakes or French toast with whipped cream.

    Friendly Competition

    • Friendly competitions are a fun way to get your teenager off to school. You might tell your children that the first one to get completely ready for school gets to ride in the front passenger seat, or the first one to the breakfast table gets three pieces of bacon. For added incentive, you might agree to let your teen have the car on Saturday night as long as she makes it to school on time every day that week. As long as the competitions are fair and friendly, your teen will likely see them as fun and challenging.

    Silly Alarm Clock

    • Even if it seems juvenile, your teen might respond positively to a funny alarm clock. He might be less likely to hit the snooze button if he doesn't want to hear Grover's silly voice reminding him again that it's time to wake up. Or, he might wake up cheerfully to an alarm clock that sings silly tunes. Some teens ignore familiar alarm sounds, especially those that ring or vibrate from cellphones, so a humorous alarm clock might help them wake up faster.

    Humorous Wake-up Calls

    • You can change your morning wake-up calls, so your teen is always guessing what you'll do next. Teenagers enjoy a sense of humor and respond to it much better than to lectures and nagging, says authors Jane Nelson and Lynn Lott at PositiveDiscipline.com. You might use a bugle or trumpet, do a cheer with pompoms, sing an operatic song or tell funny jokes. You teen might even enjoy the morning spontaneity and look forward to her wake-up calls, even if she doesn't like to admit it.

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