As you know, it is not always easy getting your child to go to bed, let alone staying there and then falling asleep.  Your child may be the “stay-up late, no matter what” type.  You know, its ten o’clock and you’re bleary eyed but he is wide awake and bushy tailed.  Or its 3 a.m. and it’s the fifth time your angel has woken up and called for you from her bed.  Perhaps it seven-thirty, bedtime and your “adored one” won’t budge from the television set and lounge room.   Or, all of these scenarios apply to your household or its something else and you too are drop dead tired.  Sound familiar?

It was like this too in our house, and on top of all this one of my daughters liked to wake up at 4.30 a.m. and that was the time she expected us to start our day, and for a while we did.  However, the time came when all this stopped and I invented a foolproof never-fail-go-to-bed-routine, which also included both my daughters falling asleep fast!  Yes, a dream come true – for us all!

It did take a while, but not forever, and it did happen and when daughter number 2 was 7 she went to bed happily at 6.00 p.m. and was asleep by 7.00 p.m. without a fuss and when her older sister was nearly 11 went to bed at 7.30 pm. and is asleep by 8.30 p.m.  Night after night after night!!

I have the philosophy that there is no guarantee that I will have my daughters tomorrow.  Things can happen.  Just as life is given to us it can be taken away.  I use the attitude that this day may be the last I have with them, and that this night may be the last one that I put them to bed.  And that if this is the last night I have with them, well I want them to have bedtime bliss and fun at bedtime.  When I wake up I want to remember that the last moment I had with them was a happy one.   

So with this in mind, I make going to bed fun.  Sometimes there is a treat for my child by her bed.  Sometimes I may do something amusing, like dress her favorite teddy in her pajamas and have her tucked into my daughter’s bed.  I use a lot of humor.  We all laugh a lot at bedtime, and my routines and activities are strictly adhered to over and over again and they are now embedded into my children’s subconscious minds.

So if your child won’t leave the television set at 7.30 p.m. why not try horse backing him all through the house with outrageous horse noises and jokes until you eventually get him to the bedroom.

If it’s the fifth time your angel has woken up calling out for you why not sing in your sleepiest voice a go-to-sleep song that you have made up just for her as you tuck her in one more time.

And if it is ten o’clock and your child is still wide awake and bushy tailed this is the time to get serious about considering a bedtime routine to get him into bed at say 9.00 p.m. for a week, 8.30 p.m. for the next week, 8.00 p.m. for the next week and then 7.30 p.m. for the rest of the year.

When I did this for my eldest daughter the routine fell into place so well that there is one memorable night that she actually asked to go to bed early and it was a Saturday night.  It was 6.30 p.m.  Who were we to refuse such a request?  It sounded too good to be true.  And to top it all off she was fast asleep before 7.00 p.m.  We had the rest of the night all to ourselves.  Heaven and bliss!  Until … we remembered that this was the night daylight savings was changing over and the clocks were to go back an hour.  She had sort of gone to bed at 5.30 p.m!  Oops!

By now it was too late to change things, and we braced ourselves, and yes, she woke at 5.30 a.m. bright eyed and wanting to start her day.  So we did!
There were other times when she wanted to go to bed early, and that was OK with us, but, when it came to daylight savings change over we always took note of what time she went to bed.
Both my daughters really adore a “go to sleep song”.   I made one up and with individual words just for them.  I am not musical, I do not sing well, but when I sing their song, especially at night I sing it very, very sleepily and the words are very, very sleep orientated.  I cannot recommend this enough especially if your child is a baby or very young.  It can also be used to relax your children when you are driving in stress inducing traffic.

These are just a few ideas and suggestions for getting your child to beg to go to bed.  Here’s a summary ...

Step by Step

1. Use the attitude as if this is the last night you may have with your child.
2. Make going to bed fun, use humor, jokes, horseback rides or something unusual or funny on or in their bed.
3. If your child stays up really late, start a go to bed routine, and put him to bed half an hour earlier each time on a weekly basis until he is in bed at a designated time of say 7.30 p.m.  (More details of how to do this are in my manuals – see below.)
4. Make up your own tune and add your own words and sing it to your child or children in a really, really sleepy voice when they are in bed.

Please do not under value the simplicity of these suggestions and ideas
which work best by implementing them over and over again.

So if there are bedtime battles in your home, or bedtime isn’t as happy as you’d like it to be, or you’d love your child to be asleep at an earlier time, please be assured, you can have your child happily and easily going to sleep.  


And if I can help you in any way please let me know.

About the Author:

Margaret is a later in life mother.  She had her two daughters when she was 39 and 41.    Margaret’s winning parenting style is now sort by parents worldwide.  She specialises in toddler bedtime and toilet training, overcoming bedwetting and getting babies to sleep gently and easily.
www.BedtimeAndToiletTrainingSolutions.com.au
And mention Tribe Magazine.

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