Bedtime

Ahhh, the dreaded “Bedtime”. That single word on its own can be the cause of nightmares for parents everywhere! While as an adult, I personally cannot wait until bedtime, it usually isn’t the same with kids. Kids see bedtime as being left alone…in the dark… with monsters… that are going to GET THEM… and then they’re going to DIE. No, really, but in all seriousness, kids really do see bedtime as the worst possible scenario to end their day!

I hear all the time about the song and dance parents do every night to get their kids to even just lay in their room, and it’s ludicrous! **NEWSFLASH** If those little boogers don’t sleep, you don’t sleep, so how do you actually make that happen?! My “step”-booger is 7 years old, and I thank the lucky stars that we started our nigh-night routine a couple of years ago because now he practically puts himself to bed!

Here’s what the magical “Nigh-Night Routine" looks like at our house:

We eat dinner around 5:30pm-6:00pm depending on what I’m cooking. I think its been important in our home to keep this pretty consistent because hungry boys = grumpy boys and not having dinner at the same time has pretty much always made that happen! After dinner, J has to “clean up his place” at the table by bringing the dishes to the sink to rinse off and load in the dishwasher. He then has about 30 minutes of playtime, followed by a quick 20 minute pick-up of any toys, his playroom and bedroom.

After clean-up, J gets his specialty “Sleepytime Tea“. During clean-up and tea time, I’m running the bath for him with the most A-M-A-Z-I-N-G bubbles known to man, Aromasauruas “Sleep”, which is an organic aroma therapy bubble bath for kids. I say with the most sincere and serious face, it’s amaze-balls. The mixture of lavender, poppy, tangerine, passion flower, rose, and chamomile even made my rough and tough, country hubby beg to soak in some! Now, J totally knows that this is all a set-up so he works hard to get any playtime he can while soaking in the tub but honestly, its okay because the sleepytime tea and bubbles are already working their magic and relaxing him! (BTW he usually hops in the bath at 7:00pm and out by 7:30pm)

Now, I break up the paragraph because I think it’s important that I note that the above routine is what we do normally, however, now that he has gotten SO good at going to bed, all of those things don’t “HAVE TO” happen. If your just starting a bedtime routine, I seriously recommend it and recommend sticking with it every single night, but once your routine is established you can start cutting corners.

After bath-time it’s time for J to get on his pajamas. His bottom dresser drawer is filled with pre-matched pj outfits so he can choose whatever he wants whether it be aliens, baseball, or sharks! We go potty, brush teeth, find a stuffed animal, and say a prayer, then its time for the quintessential part of nigh-night routine. J has already read books before dinner time for his homework log, so instead of getting that big brain turning gears, he simply reads a poem. The deal is, if he reads — I read, and he always wants to listen to a story. I can’t stress enough how much I believe in the importance of kids reading every day and being read to every day. Even when they first start reading, their books are honestly not very captivating so I’ve noticed that when you read them a good book, they become more interested in wanting to read. I usually just read one chapter, but if he wasn’t goofing off it usually allows for an extra one!      

After story, he gets up and goes potty one more time and shuts off his bedroom light. He crawls back into his bed with me and he gets a couple minutes if he has anything else to say. This could be a request for breakfast in the morning, or letting me know something he forgot to tell me during the day, but most the time is just gibberish, followed by an “I love you”. Next, and most importantly, we have “snuggles”. I set the time on my phone for ten minutes. During those ten minutes, there is no talking or goofing off and eyes must be shut. If he breaks any of those rules, I am allowed to get up and leave. We snuggle for ten minutes, and most the time he is out before my alarm even goes off. The doo-da-do-da-doo-da-do on my phone is silenced, and I kiss him goodnight.
Sweet dreams
~C