If we were to point out one specific difference between children and adults, it would have to be the difference in their fondness for bedtime! Children don’t appreciate the value of quality sleep nearly as much as adults do, which in turn is another reason why parents often lose their own precious few hours of sleep.
However, we have listed a few effective ways to help your child actually comply with their designated bedtime, instead of nagging you to let them stay awake late on a school night.
Make Them Fall in Love with Their Bed
Children have more energy than most of us remember ever having, so the main issue is that they often don’t feel tired enough to go to bed at the designated time. However, children do need their sleep, or the grogginess will eventually catch up the next morning when it’s time to go to school.
Fortunately though, if you can manage to get them to lie down for a few minutes, they will eventually fall asleep. Therefore, make them fall in love with the bed itself, and that’s it! This should be an easy task if the bed itself was built to be something that they really like, which is exactly the aim here.
Happy Beds has a contest going on right now, where children can send in a drawing for their dream bed. The top ten drawings will receive a beanbag as a prize, and the grand prize winner will see their design come to life in their own bedroom. Even if they don’t win, you could consider working with the company to make your child’s vision come to life by getting them a custom bed that they will love getting into each and every night!
Equality: Fairness in Bedtime!
One of the major gripes that children have against going to bed on time is the fact that the grownups get to stay awake late. What if you removed that “unfair” advantage by having the same bedtime for everyone in the family?
You can always continue your work or other activities in your own bedroom after you have tucked your child in of course!
Find Out If there is a Cause for Alarm
It isn’t uncommon for children to avoid sleep simply because they are afraid. Instead of discarding all their fears as irrational, consider taking the following steps:
- Pay attention to what they are saying and check to see if there’s any truth to it
- When you don’t find any reason to be alarmed, make sure that your child notices the attention you are paying to their concerns
- Fear of the dark can be cured with a night light
- If night terrors and nightmares are very frequent, consider paying a visit to a child psychologist
Even if a child doesn’t exactly fall in love with the idea of bedtime, rest assured that they will be much easier to deal with after you have taken the steps we just discussed. The principle idea is to change their perception of bedtime; it shouldn’t feel like a punishment, or something dreadful! Instead, you are going to turn the idea of going to sleep into something that appeals to their innocent hearts.