If your kids are anything like mine, the hour before bedtime is the most chaotic time of the day.
In the evening, your energy is at its lowest and all you want to do is get them into bed, so you can finally rest.
Here is a question I have asked myself time and time again: How can I keep my cool and get everyone to bed without all the yelling?
Check out these five tips to help ensure your kids are tucked in on time without all the hassle.
1. Calm activities
Colouring books and simple activities like easy word searches and connect the dots are a great way to calm down with kids. The key word here is “with.”
You are much more likely to run into resistance with this tactic if you try to set them up at the table with a colouring book or workbook and walk away. This is not the time to try and be productive. It’s the time to connect with your little one.
Give your child their very own whiteboard or chalkboard and play tic-tac-toe or hangman with them. These activities will allow you to spend some one-on-one time with your kiddo, while noticing how they are doing with their reading and writing.
2. Get them moving (gently)
You may have noticed that kids like to get rid of a lot of pent up energy right before bed. Give them a way to do so, calmly. Stretching and yoga are wonderful ways to tell your body that it is time to calm down and get ready for sleep.
Many studies have found that yoga improves mindfulness, increases melatonin levels and helps reduce sleep disturbance in adults and children.
You can find several children’s yoga classes and poses on YouTube. The ones my kids like the most come with some sort of story or goal.
3. Books or audio books
There is nothing more relaxing than reading a good book. Make a point to go to the library every now and then as a new influx of books that they picked out themselves can get even the most reluctant reader interested.
If your child is old enough to read, go back in time a bit and offer to read to them.
If your kiddo often fights the book part of bedtime, switch it up a bit with an audiobook that you can listen to together in a blanket fort or make up your own stories.
You would be surprised how much you can learn about what is going on in your child’s life by creating a story about them and asking a few thoughtfully placed questions.
4. Talk about the day
Parents often hear more about their child’s day at bedtime than any other time. Yes, this is definitely a stall tactic, but it is also an important step in the calming-down routine. Right before bed is the time they feel vulnerable enough to share what is going on in their lives with you.
You can help instigate this by getting them to tell you about their day from beginning to end. Let them make it into a story and help it along by asking questions: “What book did you read at storytime?” or “Who is Josh again?” or “What did the teacher say next?”
5. Make it fun
There are many simple and calm but creative things you can incorporate into the bedtime routine.
These might include:
• Making each step of the bedtime routine into a Simon says game. “Simon says get a snack.”
• Choosing each other’s pajamas (feel free to change out of their wacky pick for you once they are down).
• Creating fun rules: “We have to do the whole bedtime routine with British accents” or “Let’s be monkeys as we walk up the stairs.”
• Playing music and dancing while brushing teeth as a family.
Your nighttime routine doesn’t have to be the most hectic part of the day.
Finding ways to inject creativity and connection into your before-bed schedule can help calm everyone down and make for a more restful nighttime routine.
