The bedtime routine makes the kids laid back and intimate with their parents and leads them into a happy dreamland. We all know it is important to get our kids to sleep. It is important for their health and day time functioning. Also, this gives the grown up their quality time. The best way to get them to sleep aside from tiring them out, drugging them or knocking them unconscious, is to establish a healthy bedtime ritual. Here are some suggestions on how to establish bedtime rituals.
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Establish a bed time
You should fix out a perfect bedtime for your kids. It gets easy to tell for some kids when they are sleepy and needs to go to the bed as their yawning and glassy eyes make it clear and say they really want to go to bed. Other children gets irritated, annoyed and sometimes weep and rest of the kids get exaggerated and wild. Parents should study the behavior of their kids for a couple of nights and accordingly set the bedtime which is perfect for the kids.
If you have more than one child, you may want to set up the same bedtime for all of them, you may want to allow the older kids a bit more time for homework and winding down. A fix time for bed will make them fall asleep easily everyday at the same time.
2. Wind down alert
Let your kids know that in 30 minutes they will need to start getting ready for bed. This will help them wind down what they are doing, getting their school and night time things in order.
You should make it a habit to turn off the television atleast an hour before bedtime and make the family room lights dim. Put the child in the tub after they brush their teeth. By making them bath, you can make them settle and get them relaxed. Start speaking in lower tones and lower the bathroom lights as well. Use products that are scented and specially designed for children so that it would make them calm, clean and cozy.
3. Getting ready for bed
This may mean putting away stuffs of the kids like toys, setting out their school things and clothes for the next day, bathing them, getting them into pajamas, brushing their teeth, and choosing a good night story.
4. Bedtime stories
Bedtime stories are important on so many levels.
Emotionally: It is nurturing which helps them calm down and helps build relationships. It is also a nice ending to a possibly stressful day and chores.
Language: Listening to stories helps incorporate sounds and rhythm of language importantly when they are learning to read. They are exposed to diverse vocabulary, to different format and genres of print, and they hear rhymes and language patterns.
Cognition: Listening to stories helps kids learn about other worlds, relationships, cause and effect, and sequences. They are exposed to different places and different times. They can brainstorm and predict what will happen or figure out why something did happen.
Re-reading and re-telling stories
Young kids especially love hearing stories over and over again. This is in fact a good thing. They incorporate the language and the content of the story. They like hearing and rehearing it because they know what is going to happen. It is comforting and reassuring. Rereading certain books would bore the parents to tears, but the child loves it and at times make your kids help you to read the story even before they could read.
5. Final tuck in with kiss (bedtime prayer or lullabies suggested) and lights out
This final step is really important. It is nurturing, comforting and reassuring and it signals that it is now time to sleep. It also speaks your love and protectiveness towards your kids.
