Everyone in my family is a fan, perhaps too big a fan, of the snooze button. Perhaps it is inherited.

The problem makes me very aware of potential technological solutions.

I saw an alarm clock advertised that was kind of like that toy you bought for your kids when they were first becoming tactile – the one where they had to fit the pieces into their similarly shaped holes. In the alarm clock version, when the alarm sounds the pieces are catapulted from the clock and the alarm won’t quiet until each piece is nestled squarely back in its resting place. Kind of obnoxious, right? But sounds like it could be effective.

Tonight my daughter sent me a message saying “I must have this”. What, you ask? A snooze proof alarm rug. That’s right – an alarm rug. The alarm only stops when you stand on the rug for a preset number of seconds. You can even program it to yell at you not to go back to sleep.

I am not sure that either of these solutions will work in my house but they sure make the point.