Ways to Make Your Child’s Bedtime Less of a Hassle

My wife and I currently have two daughters, one is 7 and one is 2. And, like most children, they can sometimes be a handful.

Up until about a year ago, this was especially true around bedtime. Our oldest would stall whenever we tried to send her to be (even on school nights) and, when it came to our youngest, we usually had to settle for her "napping" on a blanket in the living room until she was finally exhausted enough to fall asleep so we could put her in her bed.

As you can imagine, this meant my wife and I had a lot less time to spend alone together; something that was starting to put a bit of a strain on our relationship since we couldn't even sit down to watch a movie before 10. And, our friends weren't much of a help since they were having the same problems with their own kids.

Frustrated by this, I finally put my foot down and, today, my kids are in bed almost every night by 8 without any issues. Here's how I did it:

First, I set a bedtime and I stuck to it. During school nights, bedtime is 8 (for both kids, even though our youngest isn't in school yet). On weekends, I'm a little more flexible but I rarely let the kids stay up past 9. Prior to making this change, I was never very specific about when bedtime was; leading to arguments about me letting my oldest stay up later the night before; etc. Now there aren't any excuses.

Secondly, I created a bedtime routine for each kid. The trick to this was I created routines that start as much as a half hour before their bedtime. This includes things like having a snack (something each of my kids insists on) and getting in that final episode of Dora (a show my youngest is addicted to) followed by brushing their teeth, books, songs, etc. Starting early eliminated some of the stall tactics my kids used to use.

Third, bedtime is now in their beds. This was a big one with our youngest daughter but I stopped letting her fall asleep on the couch or on a blanket on the floor and insisted she go to bed like her sister. This required some compromises on my part; she has to have her sippy cup with her along with a few toys. But, she goes to sleep on her own.

Fourth, I try to turn the TV off as early as possible. This isn't always easy since, as I said before, my youngest is addicted to Dora. But, I know the later they watch TV, the harder it is to get them to bed so I make sure to get it turned off at least a half hour before they are in bed. The first few weeks of this, my kids fought me. But, now they pretty much accept it.

Fifth, I allow my kids to "bank" time. Well, actually, as of right now this is only really for my oldest daughter but I plan on doing this with her younger sister eventually too. Since I am strict on bedtime now and know that sometimes means she can't watch a certain show or she has to go to bed when she isn't tired; I created a way for her to be able to stay up later on occasion (not counting days when that happens because our schedules are thrown out of whack by something). I allow her to "bank" time by going to bed 15 minutes earlier one night and then going to be 15 minutes later another night. And, she loves it enough where it really does work.

As a result of these steps, my wife and I now have more time to spend with each other each night; even if all we do is pop a bag of popcorn and catch up on some television show we missed and our marriage is definitely better as a result. If you have kids that fight you every time it's time for bed, I recommend giving some of these steps a try.