A guest post by Irina Nichifiriuc Read this post in Romanian In our house, I faced a series of “battles” and obstacles every night as the day wore on towards bedtime. With three children, I
Many children go through phases where they resist sleep, either in the day, at night or both! “How can I get my child to nap?” This question came to us from a parent recently. The mom’s
My five-year-old son had been having trouble getting to sleep on his own. We had several weeks of him resisting bed time. He didn’t want to be alone in his room and kept coming up with lots
Contrary to popular belief we should actually wind our children up before sleep! Roughhousing, and lots of giggles, can help children release any stress or remaining tension from the day. It also helps to build the connection that children need to feel safe to separate from us and fall asleep.
When a child displays off track and unreasonable behavior, they are often asking for us to bring a limit to help them stop. Bringing a limit to off track behavior can provide the emotional release children need and return them to their balanced, fun loving selves.
Maybe it’s not-so-easy to have that first sleepover. But so easy to have some kind of parental amnesia! Ugh. I was immediately wondering if we were going to need to turn right back around and pick up the kids and then turn around again to go home.
Is your toddler too angry to sleep? Read on to learn how to read the signs and get a solution. By Lyra L’Estrange Does it ever seem like your toddler is just unsettled? Can’t be happy?
Eventually I said, “OK, you go to sleep now. Do you remember that I love you?” He said, “OK! Yes. Do you remember I love you?” I said yes, and he yawned. I sat for a few more minutes and asked him a couple of more times if he remembered that I love him. He said yes and was quiet. Less than 10 minutes later I went in to check on him as promised, and he was asleep. I kissed his cheek. He opened his eyes a bit and nodded when I asked if he remembered I loved him. And then he went back to sleep.
My habit had been to lay down with my five-year-old daughter at bedtime until she was asleep, which often took half an hour or more. She would fall asleep fairly easily when others put her
We adopted our daughter at birth but due to the state’s adoption laws and her case of jaundice, she was confined to the hospital nursery for 5 days. We had limited access to her during
She started to cry on and off, and I tried to remember if anything had happened that might have upset her.
I thought, “No, we aren’t going to be able to handle a big upset right now!” so I got her to let him go, and we kept on pillowfighting and wrestling for a long time–10 or 15 minutes.
So, the night before last seemed the perfect night to put my limit setting to the test. When my youngest woke up and wanted to come to our bed, I said in a loving tone, “No. I’m going to go sleep with Aba (dad), and you are going to stay here in bed with your brother.”
I normally listen to his big feelings when he brings an upset to me, using Staylistening in response to his cues. This time, I decided that I wanted to help him with both these issues because they affected our daily life, and because they weren’t getting better on their own.
Immediately after that, he said his first sentence!