I cringe every time I catch myself doing this.
We are starting our bedtime routine and the bedtime tantrum begins. As soon as my son knows bedtime is starting, he weighs in with “No sleep, no rest, no bath.” This is his response to everything. This chant—no sleep, no rest, no bath—it’s basically his life motto.
When you put your kids to bed, they act like they’ve never slept before in their life.
Kids act like sleep is poison.
Related: How to Respond When Your Child is Afraid to Sleep Alone
I get so frustrated with all this “no sleep, no rest, no bath” chanting. The anger boils up inside me until my brain is filled to the brim with irritation.
That’s when the words exit my mouth, “If you don’t want to take a bath, then you’re going to bed right now. Do you want to go to bed right now?!”
I find myself doing this in other situations why my son doesn’t listen or obey:
“If you don’t listen to mom, then you’re going to bed right now.”
“If you don’t stop crying, then you have to take a nap. That’s it! Your taking a nap.”
This usually leads us into a power struggle. Why is it that all a parent wants to do is sleep and kids don’t?
The sleep approach you’re missing.
Sleep is a gift. Sleep is a treasure. As adults, you and I know this. All we want to do is finally get some sleep. To take a nap. To sleep all night and wake up to breakfast in bed (or…at least coffee!).
But here’s the problem: I was treating sleep as a consequence to bad behavior.
Sleep is not a consequence. Sleep is a gift, and I was practically begging my child to fight me at bedtime by treating it as a consequence.
How to fix your approach to sleep with kids.
It’s time to re-frame the idea of sleep and help kids see it in a positive light. Sleep heals our body. Sleep gives us energy. Sleep helps our brains learn new skills and process the day’s events.
It’s the building block of child growth and development.
One mom recently shared that before she puts her baby to sleep, she says, “You are going to feel so much better after you rest.”
photo credit: wideeyedwonders
Another friend of mine says, “Let’s go have our comfy time together.” And they put their jammies on and snuggle together in bed.
We decided to give this a whirl and she how it went with our child at home. Here’s the changes we made:
Step 1. Remove sleep as a consequence.
If our son wouldn’t pick up the toys before bed, the consequence was not sleep. There was no more “You’re going to bed right now.” Instead, if he wouldn’t pick up the toys, he lost the toys the next day. Losing his train set for a day was the consequence, not sleep. Then we continued on with our “comfy time.”
If he refused to brush his teeth, the consequence was no treats or candy.
If he refused the bath, here’s how we fixed that problem.
But to be honest, most of our bedtime routine battles faded away after following step two!
Step 2. Approach sleep positively.
We started using some printable routine cards to help him feel more control over the bedtime routine and then we re-framed the idea of sleep by saying things like…
“It’s your special time with mommy (or daddy).”
“It’s your snuggle time. We get our bodies clean, comfy and cozy.”
“Snuggle time feels so good!”
Step 3. Talk to your child about how sleep helps.
We started saying things like…
“Did you know the more you sleep, the faster you will be able to run and play?”
“Did you know that when you sleep, your brain moves all the things you learned today into the right spot?”
“Did you know that you need more sleep than mommy (or daddy) because your brain and body is growing super fast?”
“Did you know that sleep helps heal all your boo-boos faster than if you didn’t sleep?”
Saying and talking about these ideas throughout the day can help your child transform the way he or she thinks about sleep.
Related Posts:
- 2 Year Old Sleep Regression Explained. Why It Happens and Solutions.
- 2 Year-Old Sleep Schedule That Helps Everyone Get More Sleep
Step 4. Encourage activities that talk about sleep.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you’ve said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” –Maya Angelo
This is a quote I think about when teaching kids about sleep through play or activities. Here are a few sleep activities to play…
- Have your child draw a picture of everything that happens in their brain when they are sleeping.
- Using dolls have your kids help their doll get ready for “snuggle time.”
- Have a pajama race and whomever gets their pajamas on the fastest wins the game.
- Allow your child to follow a routine using a set printable routine cards.
All of these activities build connection with your child and helps them have a positive association of sleep. When kids laugh and play, they enjoy learning and are more likely to remember new information.
Our new bedtime.
Tonight my son put his pajamas on, climbed on the couch with his red gummy night light, and patted the cushion three times to signal it was time for me to sit for our “comfy time.” I headed over and snuggled up next to him. Together we read two stories together–one about taking a mouse to school and another about pandas.
After reading our stories, he hopped off the couch, gave me a kiss and ran off to his room for bed. I followed, and when I got there, he was under the covers waiting for me.
I leaned in to give him one more kiss on the cheek before turning out the lights, and that’s when he whispered something that made me know our new comfy bedtime was the right choice: “My sleep, mama. Night, mama.”
I replied,
“Yes. It is your sleep, son. It’s a gift. And I’m so glad you finally claimed it.”
Print this free toddler listening checklist.
This post comes with a free printable checklist to help with toddler listening. I always have the hardest time remembering these phrases. This printable simplifies it!
Here is a sneak preview…
Download Your Free Printable
- Download the checklist. You’ll get the printable, plus join 37,000+ parents who receive my weekly parenting tips and ideas!
- Print. Any paper will do the trick, but card stock would be ideal.
- Place it on your refrigerator. Check things off as you go and don’t forget a thing!
Celine
Ugh, I am so guilty as using naps/sleep as a consequence. Thank you for the wonderful post. I am going to stop doing that right now!
Lauren Tamm
Never too late to turn it all around!
Janiel
I have 16 months twins, and sleep training so far has been flowing smoothly. My boys sorta showed me how to approach nap time and sleeping time. I would get them ready every day at the same time and read a book and straight to bed. I also purchased a sensory night light and it also helped, even though I wasn’t having any trouble to begin with. Hopefully they get older it doesn’t become an issue.
Susanne
Tips on getting kids to like or want to brush their teeth!!!
Amanda
Tooth tips: We play relaxing jazz music on our phone and ocassiinally childs choice music. We brush with them. We have a kid mirror they can hold. We tested different tooth pastes to find the winning flavor.
Yolanda
I have problems with m 10 year old going to bed, acts up has a tantrum every night.
Bozena
Hi Lauren,
You are great and very helpful, you really are. But my younger one… really nothing works with him. And it is hard to stay calm because not only he is tired, not only he needs something. I too have needs. And the message I receive from the constant rebel and opposition is that my efforts and my caring for him does not matter… I am so sad…
Laura
Dear one, your “rebel” child (I’m assuming still young?) would never believe his mom and her love do not matter. There is a disconnect between you, and you CAN find the broken link and start this relationship back on its way to healing. Do you always label him in your mind and out loud as rebellious and difficult and impossible? No mama shaming! I have done this, we all have. But we learn and we change. No labels. Let him screw up. Let him be opinionated. Another blogger said – is this particular situation with your child going to even be relevant in 10 years? If yes, then keep enforcing your rule/boundary/whatever (like kindness – you still want him to be kind in 10 years). If no, then just drop it. Choose your battles. (Like, never putting on pjs? OMG, let him sleep naked or in a superhero costume. It truly does not matter.) Also, check out more of Lauren’s writings (I pin a lot of them!) and check out Positive Parenting Solutions or something similar. You owe it to yourself and the rest of your life as a mom to this boy to fix this relationship now. Someone also said, “Speak to your children as if they are the wisest, kindest, most beautiful and magical humans on earth, for what they believe is what they will become.” (Brooke Hampton said it? Whoever that is.) You want your boy to be himself, strong willed, but in a good way. You need to speak it into his life. Believe in him. He needs you, dear mama!!
Lissa
Arg! I used to be so good at this and my oldest child loved sleep and then somewhere between child 2 and 3 I started using bedtime as a consequence and now no one loves going to sleep. I resolve to start this at our next nap. I will teach my kids my love of sleep!
Marsha
Looking forward to reading more of your tips. Thank you!
Amanda Page
I heard that there was something called sleep training. It is supposed to help your newborn to get on the right schedule when it comes to sleeping. I want to know if anyone has heard about this.
Meta
The things you share are useful, just like what we need. thank you