alarm clock

I was thinking back as to what I tried to do to teach my son and daughter responsible behavior. I remember when they started the 7th grade they thought they were old enough to stay up later, don't all kids think they have to go to bed too early! So I decided that wasn't a battle I had energy for, so I bought alarm clocks. I told them yes I believed they could make a responsible choices so they could decide what time they should go to bed and here is an alarm clock. You will be responsible for setting it and getting up when it goes off. If you over sleep and are late for school I will not write a note for you to be excused. This a new responsibility; remember the later you go to bed the harder it will be for you to get up. They struggled a few times before they made the connection. After awhile they were managing their time a little wiser. It was a win win situation, I didn't have to struggle to get them to go to bed or get up and they knew they had choices.