Bedtime routines
Aug 22nd, 2008 by admin
I wanted to share my favorite bedtime routine with you all. My daughter Emilly and I start to “wind down” a good hour or so before my target time by reading one of her nature books. She prefers National Geographic Kids now, but when she was liitle it was My Big Backyard.
The process of relaxing her and getting her mind focused on my stories and the less stimulating things like TV or bright lights and sounds, really helps put her in that sleep-ready zone. Rather than the stereo, we play the “Hush Little Baby” CD in the background for a soothing background ambience. Even at her age now, it works well and it helps cover the sounds of the neighbors or traffic on the busy streets nearby.
I had a great suggestion from a girlfriend a while back. She told me she’d met with great success using bathes, within 2 hrs. of her bedtime. I don’t know if anybody has any suggestions regarding that, I’m curious about the bath thing. Should I give my son a regular bath right before bed, or is that going to start a routine I won’t want to duplicate nightly? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Great site by the way!
One thing that has amazed me, and enamored me as well, is how my little one seems to love hearing stories about when I was a little boy. I don’t entirely understand her fascination with it, but I love it. It’s to the point now where I have run out of stories (that I can recall) and have started asking my own Mother what I was like as a child.
I suppose that’s probably a good thing though. In a strange way, it’s brought me closer to my Mom and my recollections of that wonderful time in my own life. It’s the only thing she wants to hear about asshe falls asleep. If anyone else has a similar situation I would love to hear about it…