Getting kids to stay in bed

[Hot Lunch]

For the past 2 years I have absolutely hated when 8 p.m. comes around and it is time to put my oldest to bed. It seems as though I spend almost 2 hours every night trying to get here to stay in bed. I am ready to pull my hair out right now.

I think I am done having children.

[il Padrino Ute]

Remember this feeling when your kids are teens.

[Surfah]

Man, for all the headaches my little girl causes me, one thing I have always been grateful for is that she goes down easy and has never slept a single night in our bed. We have a little routine. She gets her vitamins. Brushes her teeth. Picks 3 books to read. I read them to her. Then we have family prayer. Kisses and goodnight. Lights out. It really is that easy. She sleeps from about 8:30 PM to 8:00 AM the next morning. When we travel, we put her in a pack-n-play or another bed and she sleeps just as well. I pray our other kids are that easy in this regard.

Though we have a routine, it's disrupted often by my traveling out of town. Usually when that happens we'll do prayer and story time over the webcam. But she does just fine whether it's just me or just Gidget, or even my parents putting her down for the night.

[RC Vikings]

When my oldest was two he was always coming into our bed so one night I got some duct tape and put it down the middle of his room and told him he couldn't cross it during the night. When I went in there to check on him that night he was asleep on the floor just inside the tape line without a blanket or anything on him. I felt pretty guilty after that and he ended up sleeping with his mom for the next year and I ended up on the couch where I could get some sleep.

[Hot Lunch]

Man, for all the headaches my little girl causes me, one thing I have always been grateful for is that she goes down easy and has never slept a single night in our bed. We have a little routine. She gets her vitamins. Brushes her teeth. Picks 3 books to read. I read them to her. Then we have family prayer. Kisses and goodnight. Lights out. It really is that easy. She sleeps from about 8:30 PM to 8:00 AM the next morning. When we travel, we put her in a pack-n-play or another bed and she sleeps just as well. I pray our other kids are that easy in this regard.

Though we have a routine, it's disrupted often by my traveling out of town. Usually when that happens we'll do prayer and story time over the webcam. But she does just fine whether it's just me or just Gidget, or even my parents putting her down for the night.

I am jealous. I get this type of night maybe once every week and a half. They happen, just not often.

I should throw in a disclaimer that we have the same routine with my youngest and it is as easy as you have it Surfah. Same thing every night. She can't get out of bed yet but from the time we lay her down until the next morning we hardly every hear a sound.

Hell with my oldest it usually takes 20 minutes just to get her teeth brushed.

She just opened the door and yelled at my wife and I "I will never be a princess again".

[TripletDaddy]

Our kids go to sleep pretty well for the most part.

I don't play any games, though. Once it is time for bed, you go to bed. If you are hungry or thirsty, you can grab some food in the morning. Also, you should have eaten your dinner. Go to bed. If you suddenly want to brush and floss your teeth, don't worry about it because you are going to lose your baby teeth in a few years, anyway. Go to bed.

Also, we have a cutoff time. Whatever is not done by the cutoff time doesn't get done. Go to bed. If you are throwing a tantrum because you didn't get to wear the blue PJs instead of the white PJs, and then we reach the cutoff time without your story, guess what? You can have a story tomorrow. If you didn't have time to wash your face because you refused to come upstairs with everyone else, then too bad. Oliver Twist turned out fine, so will you.

Also, there is no sleeping in our room unless you are violently ill or feverish and need to be monitored. If you are scared, go back to bed and ponder the root of your fears. If you saw a monster under your bed, go back and sleep on top of the bed. If you heard a noise in the closet, go back, open the closet, and ask the bogeyman to be quiet. If you have a dream that Darth Vader is trying to get you, go back to bed and hope that Yoda comes to bail you out.

We never had one kid, but I can say with a surety that the dynamic changes drastically with 3 kids. Esp when they are of similar age. They will team together to create reasons for us to let them come downstairs. It is an endless amount of requests for songs, stories, etc. We don't have the luxury of doing multiple songs and books for each child, so we do it as a group. Bedtime rituals would last 2 hours every night if we caved. As is, their routine is still fun, but eventually we have to call it a night.

As I said earlier, we are lucky because for the most part, these things are non-issues. But there are times when they will have a bad week or so and we have to deal with this stuff for 4 or 5 nights straight. Almost always after we travel to visit the in-laws or after the kids go visit my mom and sisters. Their schedules get all messed up and we have to re-train.

[YOhio]

HL, we had the same problem. Every night she pulled out every stalling tactic in the arsenal. We started putting her favorite toys into time out for the next day when she would get out of bed. It has worked pretty well.

I also concocted a great story called "Dream Land" that made her excited to go to sleep. Every night when she falls asleep, a magical pony named Marzipan comes to get her and take her to a place where all the lakes are made of lemonade and the rivers chocolate milk or root beer. The trees are made of licorice and lollipops. There is an ice cream mountain and candycane forest. The streets are made of starburst and bubble gum. Snowballs are marshmallows and all of the dirt is Oreo cookies. When she is in Dream Land, she gets to eat all the candy she wants and not get into trouble. The story has developed and changed over the past year, but a quick telling of the generic model usually gets her to settle down and look forward to the visit from the flying pony who would be scared away if she saw daddy or mommy in her room.

[TripletDaddy]

I also concocted a great story called "Dream Land" that made her excited to go to sleep. Every night when she falls asleep, a magical pony named Marzipan comes to get her and take her to a place where all the lakes are made of lemonade and the rivers chocolate milk or root beer. The trees are made of licorice and lollipops. There is an ice cream mountain and candycane forest. The streets are made of starburst and bubble gum. Snowballs are marshmallows and all of the dirt is Oreo cookies. When she is in Dream Land, she gets to eat all the candy she wants and not get into trouble. The story has developed and changed over the past year, but a quick telling of the generic model usually gets her to settle down and look forward to the visit from the flying pony who would be scared away if she saw daddy or mommy in her room.

[YOhio]

Our kids go to sleep pretty well for the most part.

I don't play any games, though. Once it is time for bed, you go to bed. If you are hungry or thirsty, you can grab some food in the morning. Also, you should have eaten your dinner. Go to bed. If you suddenly want to brush and floss your teeth, don't worry about it because you are going to lose your baby teeth in a few years, anyway. Go to bed.

Also, we have a cutoff time. Whatever is not done by the cutoff time doesn't get done. Go to bed. If you are throwing a tantrum because you didn't get to wear the blue PJs instead of the white PJs, and then we reach the cutoff time without your story, guess what? You can have a story tomorrow. If you didn't have time to wash your face because you refused to come upstairs with everyone else, then too bad. Oliver Twist turned out fine, so will you.

Also, there is no sleeping in our room unless you are violently ill or feverish and need to be monitored. If you are scared, go back to bed and ponder the root of your fears. If you saw a monster under your bed, go back and sleep on top of the bed. If you heard a noise in the closet, go back, open the closet, and ask the bogeyman to be quiet. If you have a dream that Darth Vader is trying to get you, go back to bed and hope that Yoda comes to bail you out.

We never had one kid, but I can say with a surety that the dynamic changes drastically with 3 kids. Esp when they are of similar age. They will team together to create reasons for us to let them come downstairs. It is an endless amount of requests for songs, stories, etc. We don't have the luxury of doing multiple songs and books for each child, so we do it as a group. Bedtime rituals would last 2 hours every night if we caved. As is, their routine is still fun, but eventually we have to call it a night.

As I said earlier, we are lucky because for the most part, these things are non-issues. But there are times when they will have a bad week or so and we have to deal with this stuff for 4 or 5 nights straight. Almost always after we travel to visit the in-laws or after the kids go visit my mom and sisters. Their schedules get all messed up and we have to re-train.

Gruuumpy!

"Get to bed now! Daddy is looking for a Youtube video to post on his favorite internet message board!"

[YOhio]

Odd that I've never had to clean up dozens of cracked eggs because I lied to my children about believing in magic eggs.

[New Mexican Disaster]

HL, we had the same problem. Every night she pulled out every stalling tactic in the arsenal. We started putting her favorite toys into time out for the next day when she would get out of bed. It has worked pretty well.

I also concocted a great story called "Dream Land" that made her excited to go to sleep. Every night when she falls asleep, a magical pony named Marzipan comes to get her and take her to a place where all the lakes are made of lemonade and the rivers chocolate milk or root beer. The trees are made of licorice and lollipops. There is an ice cream mountain and candycane forest. The streets are made of starburst and bubble gum. Snowballs are marshmallows and all of the dirt is Oreo cookies. When she is in Dream Land, she gets to eat all the candy she wants and not get into trouble. The story has developed and changed over the past year, but a quick telling of the generic model usually gets her to settle down and look forward to the visit from the flying pony who would be scared away if she saw daddy or mommy in her room.

What about the fish sauce?

[Donuthole]

I am ready to pull my hair out right now.

Lol

[Pheidippides]

For the past 2 years I have absolutely hated when 8 p.m. comes around and it is time to put my oldest to bed. It seems as though I spend almost 2 hours every night trying to get here to stay in bed. I am ready to pull my hair out right now.

I think I am done having children.

Reverse locking doorknobs, headphones and casual indifference have worked for me.

[ERCougar]

Our kids go to sleep pretty well for the most part.

I don't play any games, though. Once it is time for bed, you go to bed. If you are hungry or thirsty, you can grab some food in the morning. Also, you should have eaten your dinner. Go to bed. If you suddenly want to brush and floss your teeth, don't worry about it because you are going to lose your baby teeth in a few years, anyway. Go to bed.

Also, we have a cutoff time. Whatever is not done by the cutoff time doesn't get done. Go to bed. If you are throwing a tantrum because you didn't get to wear the blue PJs instead of the white PJs, and then we reach the cutoff time without your story, guess what? You can have a story tomorrow. If you didn't have time to wash your face because you refused to come upstairs with everyone else, then too bad. Oliver Twist turned out fine, so will you.

Also, there is no sleeping in our room unless you are violently ill or feverish and need to be monitored. If you are scared, go back to bed and ponder the root of your fears. If you saw a monster under your bed, go back and sleep on top of the bed. If you heard a noise in the closet, go back, open the closet, and ask the bogeyman to be quiet. If you have a dream that Darth Vader is trying to get you, go back to bed and hope that Yoda comes to bail you out.

We never had one kid, but I can say with a surety that the dynamic changes drastically with 3 kids. Esp when they are of similar age. They will team together to create reasons for us to let them come downstairs. It is an endless amount of requests for songs, stories, etc. We don't have the luxury of doing multiple songs and books for each child, so we do it as a group. Bedtime rituals would last 2 hours every night if we caved. As is, their routine is still fun, but eventually we have to call it a night.

As I said earlier, we are lucky because for the most part, these things are non-issues. But there are times when they will have a bad week or so and we have to deal with this stuff for 4 or 5 nights straight. Almost always after we travel to visit the in-laws or after the kids go visit my mom and sisters. Their schedules get all messed up and we have to re-train.

I have to agree. It took us until our third kid to learn--no games. Kids can be clever, manipulative little buggers. I just refuse to engage now and it seems to go much smoother.

Of course, it could just be temperament.

[TripletDaddy]

Odd that I've never had to clean up dozens of cracked eggs because I lied to my children about believing in magic eggs.

That's different. I wasn't being serious. I was only joking around with my kids!