Sleep Tight

It has been suggested time and time again: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise.” And children are definitely NOT an exception to this adage. Though most “professionals” espouse the early bedtime, I have noticed that many families do not participate in the idea. I know other parents that have a difficult time with bedtime routines in general, no matter what bedtime is, and I will be the first to admit my fortune in that my children have always been fairly good about going to bed when instructed to do so. So I am not about to jump onto my high horse and wiggle my little finger in an air of condescension with regards to what everyone should or shouldn’t do when it comes to bedtime routines and actual bed times. Instead, I just need to take a moment and express the major success I have experienced with the simple act of changing my children’s bedtime.

Young children need about 15 hours of sleep a day (naps are included in this estimate), so early bedtimes just mean the opportunity to actually get those hours to recharge those batteries of theirs. And they should at least get four hours of awake time before their next excursion into dreamland.

Since moving to Spokane, Washington about a month ago, my children’s bedtime routine sort of took a fall, particularly because the sun is still up and smiling well into the evening. By 9pm it FINALLY looks like the day may have made up its mind to move over and let the night make an appearance. Before we moved my 2-year-old son went to bed around 8pm and my five-year-old around 8:30pm. When we got to Washington, both of their bedtimes somehow got pushed to about 9pm, which meant I got “me” time way too late for my liking (I’m an early to bed, early to rise kind of mommy).

Let me just interject here and say that my 2-year-old is definitely going through those infamous Terrible Twos, and he seems to have a penchant for whining even in his every day discourse. Not fun!

Last night I decided to put the bedtime routine back to rights, resulting in a bedtime for my son at 7:30pm and my daughter at 8:30pm. After my son picked his last show around 7pm (I let my kids watch a show on Netflix before bed, like Dora the Explorer or Super Why or Go Diego Go in an effort to get them to settle down a bit and also to give them an extra indication in their routine, i.e. after the show it’s bedtime), and by 7:30pm I got my son shuffled into the bathroom to brush his teeth then into his room for a bedtime story. Though he complained about not being tired, as he always does, and whined a bit (though minimal) he got to bed fairly easy and was out by about 8:10pm. My daughter is easy when it comes to bedtime, so no real differences there. But my youngest daughter, who is six-months-old, was able to get to bed around 8pm (normal for her) with pretty much my complete attention, since my son often vies for my attention when I am giving the baby mommy-time. And that’s a plus, because having my complete attention means I am able to feed her until she is full, resulting in real sleep and not just that limbo between awake and asleep. By 8:40pm I was sitting alone in the living room enjoying a quiet house!!

But the best part transpired the next day. When my son woke up, no whining! And that whining pretty much didn’t rear it’s ugly head all day! I’d have to say that has made me a true believer in early bedtimes. I have a friend who puts her children to bed around 6:30pm… I wonder what amazingness THAT early bedtime would bring!