I would love it if the last thing my children heard from me before drifting of to sleep every night was my sweet voice lovingly professing my love for them then wishing them sweet dreams.
But in reality the last thing they usually hear is my schrill scream as I yell at them to just get in bed and go to sleep!
I hate bedtime.
We try to get them to bed at a reasonable time, but it seems that no matter how early we start the routine, we are still trying to convince them to go to sleep at 10 at night. We usually start things out around 8 but with the multiple drinks and snacks, the stories and daddy's special song, otherwise known as Daddy Hum Hum, it's at least 9 before we are done, then we spend another hour or more as they come down and ask for another drink and another snack, potty, and and another round of Daddy Hum Hum before we finally get them to sleep.
Now there is a little miracle pill called melatonin which I am not ashamed to say that we give them from time to time. But I don't like giving it to them every night.
I just wish it wasn't such a battle.
So I'm wondering, what time do you put your kids to bed and is it always a battle?
4 comments:
Oh I hear your pain, we struggle with bedtime. In fact it is 10:05 right now and my 2 little ones are still up. For some reason in my family my girls have a harder time with bedtime then Quinn, he is out as soon as he hits the pillow. I have melatonin but have always been a little worried to use it. I just figure they will grow out of it (or at least just stay in there rooms) Aubree doesn't mind going to bed now, but then she stays up reading until 11:00.
Funny, bedtime is about the only mellow time around here. My kids have a very solid bedtime routine and we do not mess with it, mostly becasue after bedtime is MY TIME and I think I have earned it!! We keep things short and sweet, I read somewhere once that if you need a master list to get through bedtime things are too long, so once we start bedtime, that is all there is to it, and my kids rarely put up a fight. Even my 2 yr old goes to bed without a fuss. Plus if they fight they loose bedtime stories, which is all of our fav time of day, so things roll pretty easy around here.
I have only one advice that I have learned since we moved. We used to do the snack/dessert around 8 until my neighbor said, "do it right after dinner!" Then you don't have sugar wired kids, have to clean the kitchen...again, and have it out of the way early. Other than that, I wish I was an expert.
We usually put the twins to bed at 7:30 and the other 2 at 8. Once we established a time and routine (it changed between infants and toddlers, but has been consistent for all of our kids) it has been really easy. I think the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to be consistent and not cave. If they know you'll give them just one more drink or one more song they'll keep coming out. I think if you can make a goal to stict to a stricter routine and time for like a week, you'll be surprised at how well they do and how much you enjoy your nights. Good luck! : )
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