Curbing the Drawn Out Bedtime Ritual

This week’s FAQ from eBeanstalk:

By: Gopi Patel, MSE.d Special Educator
Question:
My 3 year old is prolonging her bed-time ritual for up to 30 minutes. She wants to change her dry diaper, asks me to get her water, read her a story, scratch her back…the list goes on and on and on…Ughhh…I can’t take it!!

Answer:
It’s quite typical for kids to think of every excuse in the world to stay up a bit later. Here’s what I recommend (based on first-hand-stalling-experience).

I suggest you tell your child in the morning or during the day what you will expect…First we will take a bath…then we brush your teeth…then a little drink of water…read one story…then hugs, kisses & lights out. Don’t get manipulated into the ‘one more hug’ game. It’s okay to say, “We are done with hugs for the night and I’ll save more hugs for the morning.”

Ignore all of the other commands and walk out of the bedroom. If she comes out, simply take her back in the room and say it’s time for sleep. Again, don’t get drawn into the whole night-time routine again…you already did it!! You may choose to give a goodnight kiss/hug again and then walk out. Remember, she may do this a few times a night but stick to the routine and before you know it, she’ll be a whole lot faster at going to sleep.

At our house we have a pretty short bedtime ritual and I am ashamed to admit that it doesn’t include a bedtime story most nights. I nurse my daughter and put her down while my hubby brushes our 2 year old’s teeth and puts him to bed. We do a bedtime song/s. Take me Out to the Ball Game is my son’s favorite 🙂 Hopefully once they are both a little older we can change the ritual to include a bedtime story together.

My son is allowed to take a toy and some books to bed with him but he knows that once we sing the song, give him a “bear hug” and kiss him goodnight that he is to stay in bed. Sometimes he cries for awhile but we realize that going in will create a vicious cycle and a habit that is hard to break.


Here are a few of our favorite bedtime stories (even though we don’t read them consistently):

• Goodnight Moon
• Good Night, Gorilla
• Little Quack’s Bedtime
  
• Llama Llama Red Pajama (Mommy’s personal fave!)

What bedtime rituals do you share with your child/children? What have you found to work for breaking the marathon bedtime routine? Please share with us by leaving a comment.