UK parents face a 7.03am Christmas morning wake-up call

A new survey has revealed that parents across the UK will face a 7.03am wake-up call on Christmas morning. 

The research, by thortful.com, asked British parents about their children's sleeping habits across Christmas eve and Christmas morning, finding that 33 per cent of parents said their kids can wake them up as early as 6am.

Those in Gloucester say they have the earliest wake up times, with their kids waking them up at 6.10am on Christmas morning. On the other hand, those in Oxford are treated to a lie-in  with their children not waking them up until 7.37am

It was revealed that the average time children wake their parents up on Christmas morning is 7.03am. However, 33 per cent of parents said their children can wake them up as early as 6am and almost one in six said they usually get woken up from 5am.

To no surprise, excitable children waking their parents up has resulted in almost half of parents admitting to sending their kids back to bed after being woken up on Christmas morning.

Furthermore, 39 per cent say their children have woken them up in the middle of the night between Christmas eve and morning.

Looking around the country, those in Gloucester say they have the earliest wake up times, with their kids waking them up at 6:10am on average.

The 10 cities with the earliest wake up calls:

CityTime
Gloucester06:10:12
Aberystwyth06:18:11
Chelmsford06:27:21
Sheffield06:28:13
Portsmouth06:34:48
Bristol06:39:07
Southampton06:39:52
Leicester06:43:12
Brighton and Hove06:44:38
Cardiff06:45:14

Comparatively, those in Oxford are often treated to a lie-in on Christmas morning, with their children not waking them up until 7:37am on average, followed closely behind with Swansea and Worcester at 7:30am.

The 10 cities that get the longest lie-ins:

CityTime
Oxford07:37:12
Swansea07:30:18
Worcester07:30:18
London07:20:43
Liverpool07:16:56
Aberdeen07:15:59
Cambridge07:14:01
Glasgow07:11:56
Edinburgh07:10:16
Birmingham07:09:39

The research went on to show the times parents typically put their children to bed. The average bedtime was revealed as 8:29pm, with 34% saying their children struggle to get to sleep on Christmas eve. However, one in ten admitted to giving their children a late night and putting them to bed between 10pm-11pm.

Asking parents how they try to calm their children down on Christmas eve from all the excitement and anticipation of the next day, almost two thirds (62%) say they’ve told their children Santa will only come if they go to sleep. Mums were also more likely to try this tactic than dads, with 66% of mums admitting to it compared to 55% of dads.

Other tactics parents have tried to get their children to sleep on Christmas eve include:

Watching a Christmas film with them

Reading their children a story

Doing something active with them during the day to wear them out

Giving them a Christmas eve box or present

Thortful have a range of Christmas cards perfect for kids which can be found here.