Less alarming alarms

I'm the waker-upper in our house. My wife could sleep the clock around so it's up to me to get everyone up. Usually this is not a problem, but I have been known to be a little behind schedule in the wakeup calls, especially if the papers bear particularly engrossing news in the morning and I forget that I have a family to wake. Once, a few weeks back, I even slept in, and MK was late for school as a result.

As a fan of routine, rules and order, MK has voiced his dissatisfaction, at various times about my slipshod performance. But when we have suggested that he get an alarm clock he has always refused and retracted all his complaints. Last week we pushed him on the subject and he let us know that the reason he did not want an alarm clock is that they are -- oh, yeah -- alarming. He has a point. If it's hard to integrate sensory stuff like that when awake, how much more shocking would it be to have a buzzer go off when you are asleep, unsuspecting and unprepared.

With a little hunting we found a technological work around -- an alarm clock that plays sound effects instead of buzzing a buzzer. MK opted for the birdsong sound effect. It was a bit loud in his opinion, so we taped cardboard over the speaker (reminding me of how I would have to dismantle all of this toys when he was a tot, so as to find and snip the speaker wires) and the end result is suitably subtle.

I guess this would count as adaptive technology of the very lowest order but now, at least, MK no longer has to rely on the vagaries of his father's coffee and newspaper routine.