Can I tell you something? I have a toddler.
He’s precious and sweet and says cute things like, “I’m not silly, I’m happy!”
This precious, sweet and funny little guy has however, since 3 months of age been an “on again” and “off again” sleeper. The mountains and valleys of our twilight hours would make you dizzy. Two or three days with great sleep followed by two of three days of waking up several times. My husband and I make jokes that our son would lean his head really far out of his bed so he could shout down the hallway… allowing his scream to hit our unsuspecting ears at maximum velocity. There were even some nights we were nervous to go back to sleep because we knew he’d yell again, so we’d stay up and watch Netflix. Actually that last part is kind of a “win” in my book.
What’s nutty about this is that, be it sleepless night or restful, what we’ve ALWAYS had going for us is our son’s uncanny ability to go to bed without a hitch. He was just a great “go to bedder”… we could sing or not, read a book or not, just plop him in the bed or hold him for a long time. It didn’t matter. He’d lay down and go to bed happy.
Until now.
For the last two months, my two, almost three year old is anxious, and one could even call it sassy, about going to bed. He begs not to go, and when we finally get him there, kicking and screaming, all we hear is …
“Can I have another sip of water?”
“Can I have more mommy kiss?”
“Can I go pee-pee again?”
“Can we sing song?”
“More twinkle, twinkle?”
“Sip of water!?”
“Read more book, pwease?”
Take all those requests, read them about 20 times each, and then you’ve got a small picture of our night time routine. Oh, and no matter how we end it, he always cries after we leave the room. And I’m not talking a “settling in” fuss that dies out after 10 or so minutes, I’m talking a you-better-get-back-in-this-room-right-now-or-I’ll-cry-for-the-rest-of-YOUR-life kind of cry.
All this unrest at the end of the day has been driving me crazy. I had to do something! I had to come up with a way that I could get him ready for bed, hold him accountable for all the things we’ve already completed, and he could enjoy himself a little too. Well, guess what? I DID IT!
Introducing the
“Going to Bed Checklist”
- I made a list of everything we typically do before bed, and found a clip art picture to represent it.
- I assembled the pictures in a table format on word, and printed it out.
- Thrifty me, found an old frame and I stuck my picture chart in it… and found a dry erase marker.
- Then I let the magic begin!
The idea here is to check off each item as you complete it during your bedtime routine. When the begging and negotiating begins during your exit, all you have to do is pull out the check list and show that everything that your sweet baby is requesting, you’ve already completed.
Some Things We’ve Learned:
- Instead of checking off after each item completed, our son enjoys it more when he completes two or three items on the list and then can check off several.
- Just because I put the pictures in a certain order, we do not necessarily complete everything in that order. This keeps our “getting ready for bed” time more natural, and hopefully easier to wean off the list one day.
How do you get your toddler to go to bed in peace? I’d love to hear more ideas!
Header photo: here
Can I tell you something? I have a toddler.
He’s precious and sweet and says cute things like, “I’m not silly, I’m happy!”
John Smith
April 11, 2016 at 10:45 pm (8 years ago)Wish I’d have thought of this when my kids were little.
Katie Short
April 21, 2016 at 9:47 pm (8 years ago)Well, you had the best kids in the world, so they probably put themselves to bed from birth. Well, maybe just the youngest one. Love you Dad 🙂