I am trying to finish up some work so that I can go to bed but I can’t concentrate because a baby / a toddler is wailing away upstairs!
(NOTE: No, the parents are not involved in a family / home-based business. Even so, smart parents of such families implement strict bedtimes for their children. That way, they can go back to work when the children are asleep.)
Can you imagine a child still awake at 11 pm?
I’ve often heard or read about mothers having a hard time getting their kids to sleep early at night. Most of the time, the moms will say,
“They’re not tired! Look at how active they are…”
Actually, most kids are already tired by 8 pm. Children need 10 hours of sleep a night.
Kids look “awake” but actually, they are just overstimulated. Plus, they want to stay up to see what the adults are up to.
If I were you, I wouldn’t allow a late bedtime because you may have a tough time getting them to sleep early when they start kindergarten / school.
And what do you get? Cranky, crabby kids.
If you get them to sleep early, they’d be up before the alarm clock goes off.
I chase my kids off to bed by 9 pm every night. They are up by 6 am EVERY DAY.
I get them to sleep early because I hate dealing with crying, whiny kids in the morning.
I am so busy preparing breakfast, packing lunch boxes, dressing up – I need the kids to get up, get dressed, EAT FAST (ha, fat chance!) and we’re off!
How do I get my kids to sleep early?
1. Bedtime at 7.30 – 8 pm when they were babies. You can read this post of my bedtime routine for my first baby at 3 months old.
2. Lights out. Do you believe in training babies / kids to sleep at night with the lights on? I’m not one of them because I get a headache if I try to sleep with the lights on. Or, I’ll wear an eye mask.
For the kids, I’d turn off the lights, turn on a night lamp and close the room door to reduce the noise coming from Hubby doing the dishes, loading / unloading the washing machine (he can be really loud!).
The baby / toddler / kid could still be rolling, kicking or jumping about but the minute darkness hits them, they mellow down. They would lie down on their pillows and even yawn…
3. Lullabies or bedtime stories - Since I have two hyperactive kids, someone suggested that I play soft music e.g. great silent brass at wwbw to lull them to sleep.
I tried playing them classical music a few times – my kids would stay awake to keep count of the number of tracks played and also wait to hear the whirr of the CD player indicating that it reached the last track LOL
Books work better for us – ONE book each and it’s SLEEP!!!
Our kids are used to their bedtime routine, which allows the Hubs and I time after that to do our own stuff e.g. gossip about them, indulge in snacks or catch up with work.
Interestingly, the kids seem to know when it’s Friday night – they will run wild before knocking off at 10.30 pm or so!
Yay, I can do my work now as the baby / toddler has finally gone to bed. Good night 
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