Bedtime Routines

Bedtime is an important time for kids as well as their parents.  Every child is different and has their own bedtime personality.  My oldest daughter hated bedtime and sleeping alone. At twenty-six years old she still does.  I thought I would never get her to sleep every night and employed all kinds of strategies.  I could probably write an entire book on my innovative attempts to get her to sleep every night. Not only did she suffer but I suffered from extreme sleep deprivation for years after she was born.  My youngest daughter was born a good sleeper.  This was probably God's apology for the bedtime trials I had with my first born. Hayley fell asleep anywhere, doing anything if it was her nap or bedtime.  I have whole photo albums of her asleep with her head in her dinner plate or sleeping on the couch with a half eaten apple. I didn't just take them because she was cute sleeping;  I took them because I wanted to prove that children do actually sleep. Once asleep you could move her anywhere, make all kinds of noise and she just slept through it all.

I recently acquired a charming book all about bedtime routine.  Kiss Good Night, by Amy Hest has a simple story line all about a mother trying to get her child to sleep.  Whatever she does is not quite enough until she  realizes he needs that final kiss good night.  It reinforces the importance of ritual and routine at bedtime.  This book could easily become a regular part of your child's bedtime routine.  Sweet Dreams...