My Friend With Four Kids Found the Best Alarm Clocks

My friend Mo had a problem. “My four kids have very close sleeping quarters,” she laughed. “And they kept waking each other up with their morning alarms. Everyone was going bananas.”

Her kids share three bedrooms off a small landing. One room doesn’t have a door, and two kids sleep in a bunk bed. “We would wake up so much,” lamented Indy, age 11, “Like, six times between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Someone would hit snooze and then get in the shower; and on weekends we’d forget to turn off our alarms, so they’d all start beeping.”

The family brainstormed different solutions and finally figured out a cool one: a bed shaker! Have you heard of them? When they described them this weekend, I was fascinated. “You put a disk under your pillow or mattress,” said Mo. “When it vibrates, you wake up, but no one else does.”

When I asked her two younger kids how it compared to a regular alarm clock, they answered immediately. “The vibration isn’t as annoying as loud beeping,” said Ike, 13. “It sort of eases you awake.” Adds Indy: “It’s a nice way to wake up because an alarm is a frantic noise and I genuinely have trauma from all the alarms!”

As for my friend Mo’s take? “I just want everyone to get a good night of sleep.”

How cool is that? Have you ever heard of vibrating alarms? (I still swear by my very simple alarm clock:)

P.S. Sleeping tricks, and 10 fun ideas for kids’ bedrooms.

(Photo from Maggie Pouncey’s house tour by John Gruen.)