Any parent knows the struggles of sleep deprivation and for some, the summer months can be worse than any.
With daylight streaming in through the windows from 5am, little ones can take the tiniest chink of a light as a signal that it's time to get up - and get the whole house up with them.
That's why mum Megan Gough decided to get creative to help her three-year-old daughter understand when it's not quite CBeebies time.
The mum-of-three bought a cheap white clock from Ikea - and coloured in different sections.
Before 6.30am is red and means back to bed, 6.30ish to 7am is yellow and means she can play quietly in her room and green, from 7am, is good to go.
Sharing a picture of her creation in a mum's Facebook group, Megan, from Dukinfield, said: "If anyone's going to be struggling with light mornings. This was a plain clock from Ikea, my 3 year old now knows when to get up. Green is good to go."
Speaking to the M.E.N's Manchester Family , she added: "So she gets up when the glittery hand is in green, if she's awake in yellow, she can play quietly in her room but not in my room and red is back to bed.
"She is really quite good, just the odd problem like waking me up at 1.30am because 'I have no socks on'. Ha! But she does look for daylight to get up and I anticipate a problem with summer coming."
Do you have any tips for surviving the light mornings and evenings with young children? Have blackout blinds done the trick or do they wake early anyway? Let us know in the comments or on our Manchester Family Facebook page here.
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