This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of GoodNites®
Night's are hectic around our house. Most of the time the kids get into bed almost thirty minutes after the time we've told them to go to bed, and we hurriedly rush to kiss them goodnight.
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We started noticing that they would come out of their room, complaining of nightmares, ailments, and other weird problems that caused them to not stay in bed.
After reading one of my books for a positive psychology class, I decided that it was time to change up our bedtime routine. Now as I tuck them in, I tell them one positive thing that I caught them doing that day. Yes, there are days I may have to search a little bit until I find one depending on the kind of day we've had, but I found that the kids have really responded and even look forward to finding out what positive thing I caught them doing. Sometimes on a bad day I'll get a snarky comment from my pre teen like, "what, that's the only thing you could think of? Is that the only thing I've done good today?" because we only speak in dramatic italics now.
Overall once we started talking about our positive of the day, the weird ailments and other nightmares started decreasing. Bonus: More time for work and school work for me and time with Dad. Wink.
Going to bed on a positive note, no matter how bad our day has been or which sibling fought with the other incessantly that day really helps to end the day in a good way. And that helps to make it a better night for everyone.
If you didn't catch our post on Monday about a problem one of our children has suffered from, hop on over and read it now. Their night is always made better with the help of Goodnites BedMats and Goodnites Underwear to help with enuresis--a common problem facing children. It's helped them to get a good nights sleep and not stay up worrying at night.
You can also enter to win the Better Night's Sweepstakes where you can win a $5,000 bedroom set for your child, courtesy of the makers of GoodNites.
And don't forget to join our Twitter party today from 10:30-11:15 PST to talk about your lights out routine. Use the hashtag #GNLightsOut when partying with us.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of GoodNites®. All opinions are my own. And yes, this is an actually bedtime routine. And yes, the kids still go to bed thirty minutes later than they should almost every night.
I know how kids can be at night, kids just don't like to sleep. I was the same way as a kid, often when my parents put my sister and I to bed, we'd get up and play with our dolls as quietly as possible. If our parents yelled, we'd jump in bed and pretend to sleep. Good times. But I can see the troubles it is on parents these days, and I know how my own son and daughter love to just play games with me and my boyfriend. My kids will sometimes say they had a nightmare, so they's stay up playing with toys.
I am going to try your technique of telling them good things at night to make sure they actually get to sleep.
Kids can be that way a lot of the time. I know my children have dealt with nightmares, or "there's a monster in the closet" cliche. I never considered reassuring them in a way of saying what the good things they did throughout the day. I should give it a try.
I know how it is to deal with kids not sleeping. It's one excuse after the other. I never gave much thought to doing what you indicate doing yourself. I figure I'll give it a try and see where it takes me. I usually just put my kids to bed and that is what I wish to be the end of it, but they always get up, complain and I have to go in and read a story or leave a light on.
I'm entering that better nights sweepstakes for sure. I appreciate you guys sharing it. By the way, let me just say how awesome I've found your blog to be. It's been very informative. Anyways, what I do with my kids each night, is read them a story. I know it's old fashioned, but it seems to comfort them and give them something fun to think about while trying to fall asleep. 🙂
It's so hard to get my daughter to go to bed every night. I actually have tried many methods, read her a story, make sure to leave a light on, etc. I will try what you did, but I doubt it'll work. My daughter is so darn stubborn.
Anyways, it was a great article, keep posting these blog posts and I'll keep reading them. 😀
I can sympathize with you. My kids were the same way, often being afraid of ghosts. My eldest son, who happens to be 24 right now, he used to be extremely afraid of ghosts, so whenever he'd watch anything to do with ghosts, he'd be up all night. It was bad. Thankfully he's an adult now and realizes that's ridiculous.
Anyways, I just wanted to stop by and say hi as well. Hi!
Kids are horrible when it comes to sleeping. When I was a kid I was the same way, but looking back, I now love to sleep, so I can't fathom how a child doesn't like to sleep. I suppose some kids are afraid of the dark and spooky things, but there are ways of getting over that.
It's a problem sometimes for me. I have grand children that I see often during the weekend, and they just never want to sleep. I read them stories, let them watch tv for an hour or so and then I turn everything off. They even have a night light and so on. I'll give your idea a shot, but I think my grand kids just want to play until they can't play no more.
My son complains when going to bed, he hates it. He often wants to sit up with mommy and daddy to watch our shows. But we like to watch scary shows like The Walking Dead, so he's not allowed to stay up so late. I suppose I can give your idea a shot, to tell him something good he did throughout the day.