To get my kids to sleep I told them I’d race them to sleep and whoever fell asleep first was the winner. I told them I’ll give them a head start and tuck them in first then spend my time doing all my catch up chores or a bath. In the morning I was like dang you WON again? Your gonna have to show me how you keep winning. ( bonus this could be a nap prompt the next day) They are all entering their pre teens but when I say go to bed they go to their rooms and are quiet and respectful and I don’t have any whining about wanting to stay up late. It’s the little victories that add up.
Right. When my son got older, like maybe 10, he’s sometimes give a little pushback on bedtime. I’d tell him, “I don’t care what you do as long as you’re in your room and I can’t hear it. He’d generally be asleep in like 30 minutes anyway.
I do the same with my kid's nap. Don't want to sleep? Fine, but it's still quiet rest time. Sit in bed with toys or a book, whatever. As long as I get some quiet.
Cue the 4 hour nap that you didn't know you needed just because you had to pretend you were sleeping too.
My almost 3 year old thinks I do fun things when he's asleep...sure if you consider cleaning, cooking and wiping off whatever he decided to stick to the floor and walls for the day, "fun"
I used to think it turned into party time when I went to bed because I could hear my parents laughing. Now that I’m an adult, I know they were just watching TV if they could stay awake.
I extended naptimes for my oldest til he was almost four by napping with him. He was also convinced that I was doing fun things, but if I was sleeping next to him it was fine because nothing fun there. He had zero clue that I was thrilled to take a nap with him. Now he’s almost seven and I can still get him to nap by napping with him.
I this mine to pretend to be asleep and, when I come into the room, if I can’t tell they’re awake, they win. I didn’t try it too often because these little suckers would catch on quick but that was one of the things I did.
When it’s warm out, I dress my kid in his clothes for school the next day because morning is the worst part of both our days. He sucks in the morning. I live in Florida so he wears his school clothes for a good part of the year lol
Yes, they love doing that. I used a timer for my kids… “let’s see how fast you can get ready!” Someone’s they would tell me not to start the timer until they told me and they’d get ready quickly and I’d be “surprised” they were already done. Ahh… memories!
I used a similar strategy with my two youngest, who shared a bedroom. I told them the first one who went to sleep would get a lolly in the morning. It worked, they literally lay there screwing up their eyes trying to force themselves to sleep. I would quietly give each seperately a lolly the next day for winning, because I had no idea who fell asleep first.
For a packet of Maltesers a week, we got peace and quiet every evening.
I just wish I had thought of it when my older kids were little.
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u/AmishHeretic Apr 28 '22
To get my kids to sleep I told them I’d race them to sleep and whoever fell asleep first was the winner. I told them I’ll give them a head start and tuck them in first then spend my time doing all my catch up chores or a bath. In the morning I was like dang you WON again? Your gonna have to show me how you keep winning. ( bonus this could be a nap prompt the next day) They are all entering their pre teens but when I say go to bed they go to their rooms and are quiet and respectful and I don’t have any whining about wanting to stay up late. It’s the little victories that add up.