New Bedtime Scheme

Well you may recall that a while back Abby had informed us that she "did NOT need the Sleep Princess to come and visit anymore... The Sleep Princess was to go visit other children". Ellie was quickly on board with this idea as well. Then following this unfortunate revelation their bedtime routine slipped and slipped and slipped to the point where we were back to dreading bedtime.

After far to many nights of this, a new scheme suddenly came to me. It was my turn to tackle bedtime... getting the girls' into bed, getting them to stay in bed, keeping them settled so that they can actually go to sleep, etc... Pretty sad when we feel like we are tackling bedtime!

Before we all marched upstairs to bed I grabbed a few "utensils"... a couple of dixie cups from the kitchen cupboard and a few coins from our change thingy. It finally occurred to me that money (i.e. coins.. i.e. pennies) were really a BIG deal to the girls'.

So, we were going to play a game. The rules are simple... here's a cup with 4 coins in it. The cups sit on the flower table next to their beds. Each time Mommy or Momma has to come and settle them down or return them to their beds, we'd take a coin. If they stayed in their beds and went to sleep like grown up girls, they would get to keep all their coins and put them in their banks in the morning.

Sure enough, they tested it out and they were FAR less than happy to lose a coin from their cups. Carie was the one to remove a coin from each cup and I heard the unhappy response from downstairs. It was actually a bit satisfying for me to see them get it and respond. One night not long ago Abby had gotten out of bed so Carie returns with Abby and I hear Ellie say... don't take my money, I didn't get out of bed. Carie told her that she was doing great and she wouldn't take a coin from her.

Now, they also know that they CAN get out of bed to go potty. They can also come and get us if they are hurt and need us. But, hopefully with a lot less horsing around we have less head injuries from diving into the headboard.

Sure enough, bedtime has gotten TONS better. The past two nights we haven't even had cups of coins and they both have stayed in bed and gone to sleep in a reasonable amount of time. They haven't even noticed that we haven't had cups of coins. They've just gone straight to bed.

Oh how I hope this trend continues!