Bedtime rituals for children ease the way to the elsewhere of slumber - teeth brushing and pajamas, the voice of a parent reading, the feel and smell of the old blanket or toy, the nightlight glowing in a corner.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I have two young children, and they both adore books. Reading together at bedtime is one of our favorite nightly rituals. 'Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site' by Sherri Duskey Rinker, 'The Giving Tree' by Shel Silverstein, and 'On The Night You Were Born' by Nancy Tillman are always on our list.
When your child is looking up at you, and you are putting them to bed at night, and they are just lying there, you have to remind yourself that's what it's all about.
It's so important to engage your kids to create rituals and moments that they will always remember.
As any parent knows, part of your mind is always engaged - wondering and worrying that everything is okay and calculating all the stuff that has to get done in the course of a day. When the children are asleep in their beds, I can go where I really need to go in my head.
Kids always act up the most before they go to sleep.
When you've got children, it's easy to do that thing of keeping a tally of who woke up earliest and whose turn it is to put them to bed. But I think the important thing is to appreciate and love each other and to show that appreciation.
I don't have any weird night rituals. I definitely am a ritualistic person... I like to go downstairs and remind my roommate-drummer not to practice early the next morning, so I can sleep in.
My mornings are really about being with my children, so I tend to lay out my outfit the night before when my children are asleep so I can have a quick turnaround time in the morning.
I'm not great at bedtime stories. Bedtime stories are supposed to put the kid to sleep. My kid gets riled up and then my wife has to come in and go, 'All right! Get out of the room.'
Sleep resistance, bouts of insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, crawling into bed with parents in the middle of the night - all these are so common among children, it seems fair to call them 'normal.'