Alarm Clock Xtreme

Tiffany struggled this past school year to get herself out of bed.  It seems that almost every morning I had to wake her three times before she'd actually get up.  This resulted in missing her bus and occasionally even not catching Shawn's drive to work.  Thus it would fall to me to get her to school on time and encumber my ability to make Gavin's carpool work.

So when she was debating whether she wanted to swim with the community competitive swim team, we discussed the 6:30am practices.  I told her I would be willing to run all of my summer runs around her drop off and pick up from practice if she would get herself up and be waiting by the door at 6:15.  And SHE HAS!  It is amazing what one can do when it is important to them.


Yesterday we were discussing her dramatic transformation and how it has made it so much easier for me to sacrifice my time to help her when she does her part.  I asked her to tell me what she thinks has made the difference.  She confided that she sets 4 different alarms ringing in succession over 5 minutes.  (One on her i-touch, one on her alarm clock, one on her phone, and one on her Kindle Fire.)  I laughed--this was no surprise to me.

I asked her on average which is the alarm that gets her up.  She responded that the alarm on her Kindle Fire is the one that really makes her wake up.  She loves her Kindle, so again no surprise the going to her beloved book/reader would rouse her.  I was surprised that she didn't just start reading her book.  But then she told me about the app she uses for the alarm on her Kindle.

It is called Alarm Clock Xtreme.  In order to turn off the alarm she has to initiate solving a math problem.  She sets her alarm for 4 medium-difficulty math problems that have to be completed within one minute.  If she doesn't complete the problems correctly in the minute, the alarm starts ringing again.  She said it makes her mind wake up and realize she wanted to get up.