I Don't Wake Up Before My Kids. Here's Why...

There’s a quiet expectation floating around motherhood that “good moms” wake up before their kids.

To sip coffee in silence.
To get a head start.
To ease into the day before little feet hit the floor.

And for a long time, I thought I should be doing that too.

But here’s the truth: I don’t wake up before my kids.

Right now, in this stretch of life, my body needs the rest. And instead of pushing past that, I’m learning to listen. To trust that rest is not laziness—it’s wisdom.

Most mornings, I wake up to the soft shuffle of feet and my children climbing into my bed.

They don’t knock. They don’t wait.

They come right in and curl up next to me. An arm draped across my shoulder. A head tucked under my chin. 

And I don’t rush it.

We linger. We talk. We don’t talk at all. We just are.

And honestly, I cherish it more than I can fully put into words. It is one of those ordinary moments that I already know I will carry with me and remember for always.

Later in the day, I get time to myself in a different way.

Every afternoon, my kids have a two-hour rest time. They read, play, color, and settle into quiet rhythms of their own. And I get space. Time to think. To breathe, read, rest. 

It may not look like the early morning routine that’s often praised, but it works for us.

And that’s the point.

There can be this subtle, almost invisible pressure in motherhood to do things a certain way. Even down to what time you wake up. What your mornings should look like. How you “should” structure your day.

But motherhood isn’t one-size-fits-all.

What fills one mom might drain another.
What works in one season might not work in the next.

And the freedom comes when you stop measuring your life against someone else’s rhythm—and start paying attention to your own.

So if you love waking up before your kids, keep doing it.

And if you don’t?

You’re not doing it wrong.

You’re just living in tune with what your body, your family, and your season need.

And that’s something worth trusting.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not about doing motherhood the “right” way.

It’s about being present for the moments that matter most—the quiet, fleeting ones you’ll carry with you long after this season has passed.