Getting Kids to Sleep Early....

 ....is a big challenge for us. It's a daily struggle for us to manage our kids' sleeping time. My son wakes up at 7.30am for preschool. Well not exactly, we usually carry him out of bed and plop him down on the couch. He'd take another 20 minutes to fully regain his senses and start eating his breakfast. He comes home by 1pm, has his lunch and refuses to nap until at 5pm when he starts to get those droopy eyes. I'd use toothpicks on those eyes if I could but what is a mother to do but let her poor sleepy child take a nap. When my son naps, it's for at least 2 hours, if not more. So, what is a mother to do but wake him up after 30 minutes so he can sleep at night. What happens when a mother does that? Her child starts bawling his eyes out, legs start kicking in the air, he starts tearing at his blanket, demanding to continue sleeping. But NO, the mother must persist and after half an hour of bawling, the child settles down. So, he's taken a power nap of 30 minutes and he's refreshed to last another 5-6 hours. By the time he falls off to sleep at night, it'd be 11pm; and the cycle begins again. But, If you follow these pointers, getting your kids to sleep early will be less stressful...

If you really need your kid to sleep and you have lots of money to spend on petrol, take him for a drive!

1. Routine - Have a routine and STICK to it. I realise that sometimes it's our fault when the kids can't get into a fixed routine because we mess it up by taking them out at night or by manipulating their sleeping hours for an event during the day.

2. No afternoon naps - Or nap early, by 2pm. (easier said than done - if a kid doesn't want to sleep only a tranquilizer can make him). I try my best to keep my son awake in the afternoons by keeping him busy. Or, if he gets sleepy in the evenings, say about 5pm, we'd hose him down with COLD water........nooo of course we don't do that.....we had thought about it though......we'd take him out to the park for some play time.

3. Have the kids eat an early dinner - I try to get my kids to eat their dinner by 6.30pm so that I can get them ready for bed by 9pm (which is early by my standards).

4. No adrenaline charge after 7pm - slow the pace down by then so that they are in the mood for bedtime. Get the kids to take a shower, then grab a book or some books to read.

If you have two kids (or more) of different ages, it's a little more challenging. Like in my case, I have to juggle 2 different sleeping patterns. But that's another story.

Falling asleep on the couch again.

Care to share some of your tips? Do comment below, would love to learn more!