Make Bedtime Easier For Kids Without The Drama
In this blog, I’m sharing the one bedtime rule we made in our home to make bedtime way easier for our kids!
Let’s make bedtime easier for kids today! Is bedtime a disaster in your household? Chances are you stumbled across this blog because you are desperate for your kids to go the heck to sleep! Well you’re in the right place because, I was you. And recently I made a slight change to our bedtime routine and was honestly surprised how much easier bedtime has become in our home.
One routine tweak was all it took to help my kids get in bed and fall asleep faster. Keep reading to find out how to make bedtime easier for kids and get my FREE bedtime routine checklist to give your kids a tangible list with pictures so they know what’s coming next in their nighttime routine.
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Speaking of routines, I’m all about routines, especially bedtime routines. That’s because, after being home with my 3 kids all day, I need bedtime just as much as they do! When they go to bed, I get my me-time. Mama gets to eat snacks without sharing, sit on the couch without being called after 5 seconds, and write blogs quietly. Plus much more! I’m a night owl, so staying up late on the couch getting some much deserved me-time is part of my self care routine.
But, bedtime started to get out of control in our house.
We always had a 7:00 bedtime for our kids, but somewhere, somehow bedtime became later and later. Until it was 8:00 and I was aggravated with myself, because my kids were up too late and they were grouchy and over tired. Which meant I was grouchy because my me-time was interrupted. Of course, ultimately it was MY fault! Sometimes routines spin out of control and we need to take a step back and figure something else out.
That’s when I knew we needed to change up our routine. But that’s the good thing about routines. You can change them to fit your and your child’s needs! If something isn’t working anymore, you can switch it up and make it better. So that’s what we had to do with our bedtime routine to get back on track and back to bed at 7:00.
I changed this ONE thing to make bedtime easier for my kids...
*Note: My 2 older kids are 6 and 5 years old!
How To Make Bedtime Easier for Kids
What was the one thing I changed? The one rule I made to make bedtime easier?
I stopped letting my kids watch TV after dinner. Actually, I shut down all electronics after dinner time. No video games, no tablets, no playing on my cell phone, and no watching TV.
And the first 2 or 3 nights of this new routine was torture! There were tears and screaming and my kids told me “you’re the worst mom ever!” That hurt a little. But my kids (especially my 6 and 5 year old) needed to get use to this rule. After a few days of me being the most terrible mom on the planet though, they got use to it. And they learned that spending time with each other and playing with their toys together was actually fun!
Not having the TV on helped to keep our routine quick and on track. The TV is just a distraction and no one listens when it’s on. By having the TV off, I have much more of their attention, they do the things I ask them to do, and the night is much more peaceful. My kids are in bed by 7 and the lights are out by 7:15. They might not fall asleep until 8:00 some nights, but at least they are in bed and quiet! They also don’t come out of their bed too often (although that can depend on the night of course) because I use the Fading Technique, which I cover in THIS BLOG.
Are you ready to make bedtime easier, mama?
So, mama, are you reading to make bedtime easier for kids with this small tweak?! Try this one simple rule, no more TV after dinner, and let me know how it goes. Make sure to grab my bedtime routine PDF below, too. Kids love visuals and this download can help your child be excited about bedtime. Your child(ren) will quickly learn what to expect each night and feel independent and proud while checking off their very own bedtime list!
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Will you be trying out this new rule in your home? Let me know in the comments. And you can use this image below to save to Pinterest so you can come back to it later.
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