Am I the only mom who dreads the bedtime routine? Who is WORN OUT from the bedtime routine?
This is the time of day when I “forget” to read stories, when sleepy kids cry during prayers, and everyone moves in SLOWWWWMOTIONNNN.
Why?
Because we are all tired. The day’s wardrobe malfunctions, spilled yogurt drinks, fights over brushes and backpacks, long-division confusion, and chore evading has worn everyone out. This day is done. We all need to be in our beds.
But kids don’t realize that. The transition from homework to bed or reading to bed or really, anything to bed WIRES THEM. They freak out, desperate to suck one more minute, one more drink of water, one more story, one more kiss, one more problem from a day that is O-V-E-R.
My mantra–as my kids flop around in the covers that are “too hot” or have to pee six times or suddenly need to ask deep theological questions –is “You can do that in the morning.: Even the peeing. Because I know and they know that no one really has to pee.
Most nights, I end up falling asleep in one of the kids’ beds. I usually only doze for a few minutes, but my physical presence keeps the boys from hopping out of their beds and into each others’. It keeps the girls from making Rainbow Loom bracelets under their covers.
My few minutes of dozing is also handy for me because I really need a nap after all the “BRUSH YOUR TEETH” yelling I’ve been doing for the past twenty minutes.
But most of all, falling asleep in the kids’s beds serves as a powerful reminder for each of them:
This day is done.
Close your eyes.
And Go. To. Sleep.
