Goodnight Without A Fight
There is an urban legend, ’round these parts, of a family whose children relish the nightly ritual that is their bedtime routine. When the clock strikes half past seven, they scamper to the restroom to commence with their nightly oral hygien routine.
After their teeth are squeaky clean, they scramble to pick out an outfit for the upcoming day. The children’s father usually helps them select one that fits and matches, which is no small feat! While they look, they talk about the day and their goals for the week.
After clothing is selected, reading time begins. Everyone grabs a book and heads to their favorite reading spot.
When the clock strikes eight, the children scurry to their beds for a song, a prayer and a kiss goodnight.
Once in awhile, the smallest of the bunch, tries to pull some bedtime shenanigans. It never lasts long, though! He looks forward to his song and knows that his mama will not sing unless he is in his bed.
At eight fifteen, every night, the lights go out and the children drift off to sleep with narry a peep. Sound like a fairy tale? It isn’t. It is the fruit of many years of bed time training and working to establish a bed time ritual that the kids look forward to. There have been nights that seemed like the kids would never get to sleep. There are sick nights, when nobody gets a wink. There are nightmares that result in a master bedroom full of Prescotts. On the whole, however, our night time routine is just about the only thing that goes off without a hitch, in this house. It is what allows Daniel and I to spend time alone. It is also one of the reasons that I have time to do all of the writing that I enjoy so much. We may not do a lot of things exceedingly well, but bedtime is one aspect of our parenting that I am extremely proud of! What is a parenting practice that you are proud of?
Sigh…ours USED to be like that but the younger one has decided that bed is boring and the other is a night owl who lays awake for HOURS!
As someone who has their whole website dedicated to healthy sleep habits, this is great!! I only wish my 2 1/2 year old would go to bed without a fight like yours! I am hoping through our consistency and dedication, that when he’s out of this terrible two phase, he will do it without a complaint. He just never wants to stop playing. He goes to bed anyway, though.
Ours is kinda like that – we do the books though for a while and no song, usually by 8:15 we’re in bed w/ lights out. Sometimes the oldest tries to ‘go to the bathroom’ a few too many times in an effort to stay up, but for the most part there’s no fight. We too had to work very hard to get to this point and have had to be strictly consistent. One night my husband got my little one out of bed and into ours for some cuddle time and I swear he fought bedtime for two weeks afterward. We have to be consistent, or it’s all over.
I didn’t notice the question at the bottom.. Every day when we get home we sit in lawn chairs and let the boys play – I mean really PLAY! We let them run, jump, climb, waller and wrestle.. We don’t care if they get dirty, sandy, muddy or bloody (knees I mean). I think it’s wonderful for them and us. It allows everyone to unwind and by the time we’re ready to go in and take baths we are tired and happy. Also, it keeps the house from being destroyed nightly. I’m pretty proud of that.
This was a cute post! I do have easy bedtimes with my two. I let each pick a favorite book of theirs, the 3 of us cuddle in my son’s bed, and I read their books, then afterwards, I give each child an opportunity to tell me an original story from their imagination. It’s so fun to see what they come up with! We need to start this 45 minutes before they have to be asleep to fit it all in, but it’s so nice to end the day that way.
I love that you sing them a song, Kadi. What do you sing?
I’m thrilled to see so many comments! It s great to get feedback and learn more about the moms and dads who visit us here at GP!
Sharon~ I sing each kid a song that they get to pick. It is kind of like a bedtime present to each of them.
My sister in law thought I was nuts when my kids were small. I was adamant that they needed to be in bed, at their bedtime (which was 7pm until they reached school age, at which time I extended it until 7:30-7:45). But my early bedtime routine rigor paid off. My kids may bounce around/talk a bit in their shared room. But once lights are out, they stay in their room, and are usually asleep in about 15 minutes tops. My 4 year old niece stays up until 9, 10, 11 pm every night, is in and out of her parents’ bed, wanders the house, etc. They were always lax about bedtime, and now they pay the price, and they are kicking themselves.