Why get up at 5am?

[Daenerys]

It seems lots of fundies, including our favourite Maxwells, have a thing about getting up really early in the morning. Why? It seems strange that they all want to do Bible study at 5am when it means they end up going to bed ridiculously early, like 8pm. What would be wrong with getting up at 7 something like normal people? Or am I confused, is this normal in America?

[Cran]

Rising early and going to bed early is seen as a sign of productivity (work hours are in the day), especially so as in biblical times, people in an agricultural society had good reason to start their work early - so they could take their nap in the greatest heat!

Gen 19,2: The angels want to go to bed early and rise early, but the Sodomites want them to stay up long.

Proverbs 31,15: The virtuous woman :roll: is up before daybreak and works for her family.

[User123456]

For our family, it comes from Ben Franklin, who left us as many useful proverbs as well....Proverbs.

"Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Tie it to the early puritan/protestant/german work ethic as well as the early agrarian lifestyle where the sun and the cows are up at 5am, now push it forward to the modern times. "I am sooo busy" that I have a bluetooth wireless device glued to my temple like a Borg along with the "I work harder than you" brag lists that we have for comparing how many hours per week we work.

So now I've rambled into a couple of the worst run-on sentences in the world.

In short order, it's another way of saying, "I am better than you."

I am a better Christian because I get up a 5am and study the bible for an hour, wear dresses only, bake my own bread, homeschool my kids.

Pulling it out of the Christian context....I get up at 5am and run 5K before I catch the train to Manhattan to work at my office for 90 hours per week before I jet off to Aspen for a weekend of skiing.

It really doesn't matter what you do at 5am, it's that you're no longer asleep being a non-productive asset eating social benefits leach. That said with a GREAT DEAL of snark about my own culture.

[Guest Anonymous]

It is also a way of ensuring there will be noone else about while the girls are out exercising together.

I wonder if Nathan and Chris went wild and stayed up til 10pm in their first weeks out of the compound. :o

[Childless]

I get up at 4 am, but that's only because I have to be at work by 5 am. Otherwise, I'd keep sane hours. My husband and son don't get up until 9 am. I don't see the point of getting up at the crack of dawn if it's not absolutely necessary.

[Deleted03]

It makes sense in societies with no electricity that they take advantage of every light hour to work.

What bothers me though is that it is even more dangerous to go running between 5am and 7 am before there are enough people in the streets to ensure no one is kidnapping you or something...

[oscar]

It makes sense in societies with no electricity that they take advantage of every light hour to work.

What bothers me though is that it is even more dangerous to go running between 5am and 7 am before there are enough people in the streets to ensure no one is kidnapping you or something...

The area where I prefer to run is well-trafficked in the early morning, and most of the people out on the trails at that time are women. I feel much safer running near dawn than in the early evening after work. There's an unpleasant bro culture in many areas where a lot of undergraduates live near campus, and I've been the target of verbal harassment and had things like ice, gravel and piss bottles thrown at me. I think safety just boils down to knowing your area and being aware of your surroundings.

I'm an early riser, but my husband prefers to stay up working late and then sleep in. It's nice, because we each get time to focus on projects without being distracted by the other person.

My husband has a colleague who is very proud of keeping early hours. My husband usually gets to work around 10:30, and this guy always says something like, "Great to finally see you - I've been here since six," with a really smug expression on his face. The thing is, this guy is phenomenally unproductive, consistently failing to meet the minimum standards of his job. The fact that he's in the office by 6 a.m. seems to be a symbol for "working hard" that stands in lieu of actual substance.

I think it's probably a similar thing for the Maxwells et al. If you wanted to sleep in but instead woke up early, you can feel virtuous for controlling your fleshly desires. And because early rising connotes productivity and diligence, you can feel good about that too, even if you don't actually do anything uniquely worthwhile with those pre-dawn hours.

[theologygeek]

My new schedule is hell and is going to kill me. I am out of the house at 6am. There is nothing appealing about this. A person has to be nuts to want to be up that early. I am so not a morning person.

[Conuly]

What bothers me though is that it is even more dangerous to go running between 5am and 7 am before there are enough people in the streets to ensure no one is kidnapping you or something...

Most criminals keep normal hours. They're not exerting themselves. If it's not particularly dangerous to go running at 9 am where you live, it's not likely to be more dangerous to go running at 5 am, or 3 am, or midnight, or whenever you like to run.

Most rapes, most robberies, most crimes are committed by people known to the victim. You're not particularly likely to be raped by some jerk in an alley, no matter *when* you go running.

[deelaem]

It makes sense in societies with no electricity that they take advantage of every light hour to work.

What bothers me though is that it is even more dangerous to go running between 5am and 7 am before there are enough people in the streets to ensure no one is kidnapping you or something...

It also makes sense in the typical fundie household that can barely pay their bill, or have gotten hardcore and don't have ebil electricity. :roll:

[TVR]

For me it is a sanity thing: If I get up earlier than the kids (and that means around 5:30 or 6) I have some time to just "be" before the craziness and noise of the day. I find that I function much better if I get up then. If the baby was up lots during the night, I sleep until dh is ready to leave for work. He makes breakfast every morning anyway.

My natural inclination is to stay up late, I'm a night owl, but with young children this isn't an option.

I think it is probably the same with a lot of these families with babies and younger children, and that most of them need a bit of time for themselves before the day of kids, homeschooling, activities, etc. starts.

I also do like doing my morning devotions and prayer time before everyone gets up.

[Deleted03]

It also makes sense in the typical fundie household that can barely pay their bill, or have gotten hardcore and don't have ebil electricity. :roll:

yep let's not make an idol of electricity!

[Deleted03]

Most criminals keep normal hours. They're not exerting themselves. If it's not particularly dangerous to go running at 9 am where you live, it's not likely to be more dangerous to go running at 5 am, or 3 am, or midnight, or whenever you like to run.

Most rapes, most robberies, most crimes are committed by people known to the victim. You're not particularly likely to be raped by some jerk in an alley, no matter *when* you go running.

it's about having many people around, that's the first lesson in self defense, and I tend to agree with it. Yes most crimes are committed by people you know, but I'm talking about going for a run. If you go at 4am and in your neck of the woods it means that 99% of the people are sleeping, if a crazy happens to be walking around you'll have no one to call for.

But what oscar says is true, you need to know how your neighborhood is, I just thought they lived in a pretty rural area where there are not that many people running outside at that hour, but it may be that there are places where it's actually safer.

[Sola]

I'm a night owl and the idea of getting up at 5am is heresy to me :D It takes me all my time to get up at 6.30am when I am working. Hubby is an early bird and he regularly gets up at 5am or earlier. One advantage of that is that I am awoken to a coffee bearing husband and usually he has fed the kids.

[fundiefan]

Fundies are more disciplined than anyone else - that's what they are trying to say. Getting up with the sun and reading their bible makes them feel superior to the lazy heathens who sleep in.

There are reasons for getting up early and reasons for getting up late. Most people do exactly what works for them and their lives.

[Conuly]

If you go at 4am and in your neck of the woods it means that 99% of the people are sleeping, if a crazy happens to be walking around you'll have no one to call for.

And what are the odds that a randomly violent person is out at 4am in the morning? Sure, it happens, but it's just not that common. I don't avoid going out because I'm scared of lightning, and I refuse to order my life around equally unlikely what-ifs.

[Guest Anonymous]

Most criminals keep normal hours. They're not exerting themselves. If it's not particularly dangerous to go running at 9 am where you live, it's not likely to be more dangerous to go running at 5 am, or 3 am, or midnight, or whenever you like to run.

Most rapes, most robberies, most crimes are committed by people known to the victim. You're not particularly likely to be raped by some jerk in an alley, no matter *when* you go running.

I was thinking more that early morning walkers would be less likely be defrauded or led into conversations with worldly folk. :mrgreen:

[bananacat]

When it comes right down to it, there are the same number of hours in a day and you can't get any extra. I've tried adjusting my work schedule to get more free time, and there's no way to do it (except working fewer hours which isn't an option). If I go in earlier and leave earlier, then I have more time in the afternoon. But, I have to get bed earlier so it doesn't get me anywhere.

There's no reason that the Maxwells couldn't accomplish exactly the same tasks, but with everything shifted by one or two hours. They think getting up early makes them seem hard-working, but it's just as easy to pray in the evening as it is in the morning and they have to go to sleep at a ridiculously early hour to compensate for getting up so early. I also suspect they think it makes them more good and wholesome, because you know, people only do bad things at night. When I was a teenager, I never had a curfew. Instead, I simply told my parents where I was and what I was doing. My mom said that you can get drunk or do drugs in the middle of the afternoon so a curfew wouldn't help there. But there is a social perception that people only do "bad" things during the night. And I'm sure it's no coincidence that "bad" hours are associated with the biological sleep rhythms of teenagers and young adults, the groups who are considered the worst-behaved in our society. It does worry me though if they are forcing this ridiculous schedule onto every family member. Some people just have a later biological sleep cycle and it's very difficult to change that. And nearly all teenagers have their sleep shifted. It's not healthy to force a teen to go to bed at 8 p.m. and get up at 5 a.m. Even if they genuinely want to be "good", they will most likely lay in bed and won't be able to fall asleep until midnight, and then they will always be sleep-deprived. Chronic sleep-deprivation is worse for your health than drinking.

[SisiL78]

I think for Steve that making everyone get up at 5am is a form of control. Control the grown nearly adult children by giving them a small child's bedtime. Control their comings and goings. Yes, teenagers that attend public school still need to get up early and should go to bed at a reasonable hour. But scheduling goodnights for adult children? Seriously???? Goodnight time is for toddlers. I just cannot wrap my head around how a parent can have that much control over their children and why the children take it. I've mentioned in a previous post that I know secular individuals who even into their 30s are still their parents little girls and treated as if they have no right or ability to make any decisions. I just don't understand how that could happen in this day and age where they see what is normal and well adjusted on television and on the internet...

[donks]

I used to have to get up super early when we had lots of livestock, just to get a jump on the day. Goats don't like waiting, lol. Now that I've just got 2 horses I can be more leisurely, though. Especially since I no longer compete, no stalls to clean 2x a day. What a relief!

I still try to get all the heavy lifting done as early as possible when it's hot outside. Run in shed picked out, buckets scrubbed, tank tipped, scrubbed and refilled (weekly chore) also I kill wasps in the barn and shed early (they aren't active early) also a weekly chore-one I hate, but my last horsey emergency was due to a wasp sting near the eye. Ouch! Checking the fences for damage.

There's always something to do, and it gets super hot and humid here in the summer. Better to get everything done before noon, then you have time to go swim and relax after. :)

[geniebelle6901]

I used to wake up at 5am because I used to work an early morning shift at call center. Now my feline headship wakes me up & demands his breakfast and that I play with him. I swear, I think Herman is fundie! :lol:

[gardenvarietycitizen]

...push it forward to the modern times. "I am sooo busy" that I have a bluetooth wireless device glued to my temple like a Borg along with the "I work harder than you" brag lists that we have for comparing how many hours per week we work.

I work with a guy like this. He takes every opportunity to remind everyone how many extra hours he's putting in, how he's been here before we all arrived and oh he won't be able to leave until probably 7:30PM, because he's just SOOO busy, don'tcha know. As if we should feel like guilty slackers, or something.

I simply refuse to play that game. If the topic comes up, I just say flat out, I am going to leave on time so I can go do all the other things in my actual LIFE. Or just change the subject (often to our hobbies, if another coworker is present). This bugs him, and it's amusing.

Definitely there's a certain type of people who think everything is a competition, and it's all about who puts in more hours at work, who wakes up earlier, who is supposedly more motivated. I'm not sure if there's more of them in the US or what but definitely that Puritan thing lives on.

[Cran]

I'd tell him: "Well, if you are always busy, you seem to work very inefficiently! I can keep normal hours and get all my work done on time!"

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I'd tell him: "Well, if you are always busy, you seem to work very inefficiently! I can keep normal hours and get all my work done on time!"

Yeah, that too! Though he actually DOES get lots of stuff done - he just always likes to the be the guy who does "extra." But we do definitely use the "well, I've gotten all my projects done, so... yeah, taking a vacation day. Should be some good photography weather this Friday" change of subject.

When it comes to Steve-O I do now wonder if they're taking that "up before dawn" verse about women literally, considering how Bible-based they are. Though then they'd be waking up at 4AM in the summer, so maybe they're still just going for the idea of the thing.

[DarkAnts]

For most fundie families, its a way to keep up with the jones. They decided to do it because they see other families doing it. They dont necessarily have a reason for it though. Some of the families have to get up early to take care of farm animals. Other fundies may copy this because they want to look like the perfect goodly family.

I think everyone has a certain time period where they are more productive. For some people, its early in the day. For others, its late at night. I would get up early when I was in school because thats when it was easiest for me to study. I have a friend who stays up late to do house work. He (stay at home father) is more productive at night and its easier to do it after the kids are in bed.

As an adult in the real world, I get up early because I enjoy having an hour to drink coffee and prepare myself to face the day. I usually read a few chapters from a book while I drink my coffee. Its relaxing and helps me come to the work place relaxed.