Home
>
Parenting
>
Does Your Child Need A Bedtime Routine? - Yes!

Does Your Child Need A Bedtime Routine? - Yes!

Do you struggle to get your child to bed at night? We sure did with our daughter. She would refuse to go to sleep in her bed and wanted to hang out with us until we were ready for bed and of course then she would want to sleep in Mama's and Daddy's bed.

That all changed when we finally sat down and established a bedtime routine. It helped our daughter establish healthy sleeping habits and got us back into ours. On top of it, we now have a little time to ourselves at night.

Maybe you have heard on TV or read in a parenting magazine that your child needs a bedtime routine. Or you are just plain tired of having to run to her room 20 times before she finally dozes off. For whatever reason you decided it's time to start setting up a bedtime routine. Where do you go from here? Obviously you are not going to change your child's habits from one day to the next. Consistency is going to be key, which is why we started by drawing up a basic little plan.

Take out a pen and a piece of paper and jot down the following:

How much sleep does your child need

What time does he/ she need to get up in the morning

What are his/her favorite calm activities (reading a book, taking a bath, cuddling with you, talking about your day, going for a stroll through the yard, putting on pj's)

From this list, come up with an action plan. Figure out when you need to put your child to bed to make sure she gets enough sleep. This will be your final goal. What time does she go to bed now? Plan on moving her bedtime back about 30 minutes every few days to give her some time to adjust in between.

Pick a few of her favorite calm activities and spend about 30 to 40 minutes on those while also getting her in her pj's, teeth brushed and off to bed.

Expect some initial resistance to the new routine. Kids can be pretty creative when it comes to excuses why they can't possibly go to sleep just yet. My little sister once insisted that her doll just had to blow her nose. Try to anticipate those excuses and last minute requests and make them part of the bedtime routine. If you know your child is going to ask for a sip of water, keep a glass on her night table. Make other requests part of your bedtime routine. If she usually asks to say goodnight to the family pet, have her do that before you put her in her PJ's and tuck her in.

Another good tip is to give her choices in the routine. It is usually best to limit those choices to 2 or 3. Ask her if she would like to take a bath or a shower, if she wants Mom or Dad to tuck her in, if she wants you to read "Goodnight Moon" or "The hungry little caterpillar". Let her pick the red or yellow pj's. Only give her options that you can live with. That way you both win. She feels like she is having some control over her life and you get her to do what needs done.

Above all stay calm and patient. Getting to sleep is a hard task to master for a child. She needs your help to establish healthy sleeping patters. If she keeps getting up for the next few nights, put her gently but firmly back to bed and tell her that it is time to sleep. Offer to come back and check on her in a few minutes and follow through. It will make her feel more secure and chances are she'll be sound asleep by the time you walk back in there.

Susanne Myers is the founder of http://www.kinderinfo.com, the one-stop online children's resource center. Here you will find all kinds of answers to help you with your family, including information on child care options and locations, educational resources, sports and recreation, home-based activities, party and event planning, even quick and easy recipes. We seek to answer all kid-related questions!

cleaning help near Mundelein ..

In The News:

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

Does Your Child Need A Bedtime Routine? - Yes!

Parenting