We've been struggling with bedtime lately. Both the kids will be absolutely exhausted, but because we put them to bed together, they play and talk instead of going to sleep. They've stayed up for two hours together on some nights. When you put them down separately, they are usually asleep with 5 or 10 minutes. At first I didn't care about them playing in their room, they were in bed and left me with some alone time at night. However, they have been acting cranky tired for a month now, they really do need to sleep.
My first inclination is to put them down to sleep at different times. I could put Annie down and wait for her to fall asleep and then as the big brother, Alex could stay up a little longer and then he'd go to bed. Problem is that Annie doesn't need as much sleep as Alex does. But I can't put her to bed after him. As the oldest child myself, I would be furious if I had to go to bed BEFORE my younger sister!
I'm hoping that since the configuration of the house will be quite a bit different then our apartment, that they won't have the light to play as much as they do now. But if that's not the case, what would you do?
2 comments:
hmmm...the age old battle...I haven't a clue!
One of my friends is dealing with the same thing with her girls. They are similiar ages to Alex and Annie. Now, they are expecting a third, and as a result the two girls are sharing a room. The first night they were up 3 hours past their bedtime, talking and giggling. The older sister even gave the little one candy she had squirreled away. My friend decided to make a sleep chart with four rules posted in their room:
Rule #1 – Stay in bed.
Rule #2 – Close your eyes.
Rule #3 – Stay very quiet.
Rule #4 – Go to sleep.
The next day she gets a sticker for each rule she followed. Her oldest daughter is following asleep in 5 minutes. She still hasn't figured out what to do with the second yet. She doesn't care about stickers.
My cousin has two boys. 29 months and 10 months. They just put a sheet between the two cribs. After one night of the oldest saying, "Caleb, where are you?" over and over. He fell asleep right away. Your kids are probably too old for the hanging sheet trick, though.
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