New Boats
Well, sort of. They are pretend boats and they reside in Abby & Ellie's bedroom.
We've been in another phase of drawn out bedtime syndrome, a phase that comes up far too often for my liking. This is something we've been trying to nip in the bud for a year and a half. Some nights go quite smoothly, other nights not so much. Consistency, praise, threats, no acknowledgement... nothing changes the long term outcome.
Add to that that some kids just stay in their bed while calling out for help or attention. Our kids do not. They never have. The moment they could climb out of their beds, they did. They are doing far better now, at age 4, than they ever have. Once they go to sleep, all is generally really really good. It is just the getting to sleep part. It doesn't help that they have Mommy's (and her entire families) sleep genes!
So a few nights ago we were talking just before turning out the light. We had read our books and were getting tucked in. We were giving our usual spiel about how 4 year old girls are supposed to go to sleep and what our bedtime rules were.
Then it hit me! Suddenly I had come up with a new twist. The girls have been talking about missing the ocean (tug at those heart strings!). They've been to the ocean once, a couple of years ago, but they remember it like it was yesterday. So I said to Abby (the ultimate offender of the bedtime rules) "how about we pretend that your bed turns into a boat?” Both girls were all over that! Ellie decided that her bed would turn into a motor boat. Abby decided that her bed would turn into a sail boat. I decided that the floor would turn into the ocean and sandy beach and we'd need to stay in our boat until the sun came up. When the sun came up they could climb out of their boat and play in the sand and the waves.
It worked!
The ultimate question, how long will it work?
We've been in another phase of drawn out bedtime syndrome, a phase that comes up far too often for my liking. This is something we've been trying to nip in the bud for a year and a half. Some nights go quite smoothly, other nights not so much. Consistency, praise, threats, no acknowledgement... nothing changes the long term outcome.
Add to that that some kids just stay in their bed while calling out for help or attention. Our kids do not. They never have. The moment they could climb out of their beds, they did. They are doing far better now, at age 4, than they ever have. Once they go to sleep, all is generally really really good. It is just the getting to sleep part. It doesn't help that they have Mommy's (and her entire families) sleep genes!
So a few nights ago we were talking just before turning out the light. We had read our books and were getting tucked in. We were giving our usual spiel about how 4 year old girls are supposed to go to sleep and what our bedtime rules were.
Then it hit me! Suddenly I had come up with a new twist. The girls have been talking about missing the ocean (tug at those heart strings!). They've been to the ocean once, a couple of years ago, but they remember it like it was yesterday. So I said to Abby (the ultimate offender of the bedtime rules) "how about we pretend that your bed turns into a boat?” Both girls were all over that! Ellie decided that her bed would turn into a motor boat. Abby decided that her bed would turn into a sail boat. I decided that the floor would turn into the ocean and sandy beach and we'd need to stay in our boat until the sun came up. When the sun came up they could climb out of their boat and play in the sand and the waves.
It worked!
The ultimate question, how long will it work?
posted by Sonya at 9:11 AM
1 Comments:
Great idea! Hope it lasts a long, long time for you.
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