Like you, my days are vastly better when I can start them on my own terms. (“On my own terms” is how I’ve always thought of it — but “selfishly” is probably a more honest word).

I struggle, though, and not just with the urge to fight the tyranny of the alarm.

Children are unpredictable. They’ve a strange unwillingness to conform to allocated slots. I can book 5–6 all I like, but there’s no certainty they’ll respect it. Even if I put into my calendar app…

And, actually, just as a morning that unfolds on my terms is a prelude to a positive, engaged, productive, fulfilling day, so a morning that promised to begin perfectly, but unexpectedly expanded into precious family time almost immediately is a hard thing to deal with. On the one hand, it’s more of that time together that it is worth more than anything. On the other, “my” time has evaporated. And the knowledge of the latter seeps into and affects the quality former. I still haven’t come up with an effective way to address this (apart from shifting to an early start, I guess, but I need some sleep and the eldest is staying up later these days…).