We continue now with part two of Eating, Sleeping and Getting Up. The author offers some great tips on how to end bedtime battles. For one thing, she points out preparing for bed should start when you come from work at the end of the day, not 15 minutes before the child is supposed to go to sleep. I know that I personally try to get Tyler to start winding down and getting ready for bed quite early, generally at least an hour or so before his 8 pm scheduled bedtime. Still many nights turn into a battle of wills. The author also offers many tips for handling bedtime battles including:
Setting a firm bedtime and sticking to it.
Not getting into verbal or physical battles with your kids before bedtime.
Resist the urge to give in when your kids try to delay bedtime by asking for food or water, more bedtime stories, etc.
Parents should also help teach their kids to be responsible by allowing them to get ready for bed on their own as much as possible.
Finally, the author cautions that we should not let homework become a nightly battle. Parents should tell their kids that their homework is their responsibility and they should get it done and put away in their backpack and ready to return to school the following day. Parents should consider themselves as consultants only and should not do their kids homework for them. If any problems occur while you are helping your child with their homework (whining, back talk, etc.) tell them that you are finished consulting and under no circumstances should you return to help them.
If you find that homework does become a hassle the author says that the parents should not worry if it is not done. The child will have to suffer the consequences of not having their homework at school the next day.
In part three I’ll tell you what the author suggests we do to end early morning battles.
See also:
Eating, Sleeping and Getting Up Part I