Get Your Child To Bed On Time At Night
Who wants to know how to get your child to go to bed on time? It can be a never ending battle but there is a key. We don’t want it to be a struggle, we want it to be joy, just part of the daily routine. Here are some keys to help:
Always discuss in advance what the bed time will be. Children do not like surprises and will not respond well to “it’s time for bed”. Make sure the child knows what time they are expected to be in bed. If the child is under five then you need to help them. A secret that I always used with my daughter when she was young not using any words, but just saying to her “Becky, come here darling”. When she came to me, I would take her little hand in mine and walk her down to the bedroom. Often she would not even think about where we were going. Then, once in the bedroom I would settle her down and tuck her in as I said good night to her.
Different things work well for different children. This method worked very well for my child. Something else I would always do was give my children a few reminders about the time as the night went on. I would tell them ten minutes before they were due in bed, five minutes and so on. When the kids were younger I would show them the hands on the clock so they could watch out for bed time. And of course they would get plenty of praise for being in bed on time without being reminded.
Often after dinner I would chat to my kids about what had to be accomplished before bed time, for example: finish the chores, brush your teeth, put pyjamas on. Sometimes I would help my kids write a list if they thought they needed one. Lists can be great. They can save you a ton of nagging . When a child sees something written down on a list they don’t need you to remind them about it.
Some of these things don’t always work for a strong willed child. If this is the case then I try another tactic. With my daughter once I thought of something that I was going to have to buy her within a couple of weeks and said to Becky “OK, we will try this. If you are in bed at 9pm each night for the next two weeks, I will give you one dollar each night and we will put it into your piggy bank so that you can buy XYZ in two weeks time”. That is a bit sneaky but it worked like a dream with Becky. The thing is you need to do whatever it takes to have a peaceful household and get your child to bed on time at night.
If you like this and would like some more strategies for raising well behaved kids, you can sign up for my free ebook entitled “Raising Your Child Without Raising Your Voice” by going to www.mychildcanbehave.com
