Bedtime Blues

sleep issues
Bedtime
We at Love and Logic don’t believe in "bedtime." Instead, we recommend "bedroom time." Since we can't force our children to sleep, and it requires far too much energy to keep them in their beds, we suggest that parents simply expect their children to be in their rooms at a certain time each evening. Here are some additional tips:

Create calming rituals before bedroom time. This means that you and your kids always have dinner, have a bath, read a story, etc. in more of less the same order each evening. This predictability is calming and comforting to kids.


When bedroom time arrives, say, "It’s bedroom time. You may do whatever you want in your rooms as long as you don’t cause a problem for anybody else in the house."


Set a time when everyone wakes up in the morning, no matter what time they go to sleep. If, in the morning, they are tired from lack of sleep, offer empathy and sadness, "That’s so sad that you are tired. It's going to be a long day. That happens to me when I stay up too late, too." Send them off to school, take them on a boring shopping trip, etc… and let the consequence do the teaching.




Suggest Products
Early Childhood Package (with Magic for Early Childhood - Book) Parenting with Love and Logic (Updated Book)

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sleep issues
Kids Waking Parents During the Night
One of the most common questions parents of young children ask is, "How do we get them to stay in their own rooms at night?" Here are some suggestions:

Some parents decide to experiment with making their bed really uncomfortable when their kids crawl into it. They roll against their kids, put their armpits in their faces, pull the covers up over the heads, etc. They do this while pretending to still be asleep. Many children begin to realize that it's a lot more comfortable to sleep in their own beds.


Other parents decide to run a little training session like the one described below:

Set up an evening to deal with the issue. Say, in front of the child, "We need to get a good night's sleep and can’t here. Let's go stay at a hotel to get a good night's sleep".


Call a pre-arranged babysitter to come over. Make sure they keep talking about how the parents need a good night's sleep. And if the child wakes the sitter up, make sure the sitter does not give in to the child's request.



All of this is done without anger and in a loving manner.