The Importance Of Bedtime Routine

Children often don’t like bedtime. Creating a routine to follow every night can be a solution to this problem.

Sometimes bedtime feels more like a war or a power struggle than the pleasant time we would all like to share with our children. Repeating a bedtime routine with them every day will make this process easier and more pleasurable for everyone.

I don’t want to go to sleep

There are many children who do not like the time to go to bed for various reasons. In this way, they resist and postpone this moment as long as possible. Little ones often use up our patience and our resources to make them think.

For many children, fear is the main reason for resistance when going to bed. At night, the little ones are alone, in the dark and it is possible that they have fears and fantasies about various dangers.

In other cases, it’s the excess activity that gets in the way for everything to flow properly. Children are, by nature, active, energetic and exploratory. They have fun moving around, making discoveries and varied activities. It may not be easy for them to try to relax and stop this flow of activity.

It is also possible for the child to go through the day without seeing one or both parents due to working hours. Because of this, she feels like spending time with them and refuses to part so quickly.

Previous considerations

There are some basic guidelines we can follow to help our children develop good sleep habits.

• The main thing is to determine a time to go to bed. For this, we must take into account how many hours a child needs to sleep depending on their age.
• Try to make the moments before bedtime relaxing and peaceful. In this regard, it is beneficial to eliminate the use of any type of screen for at least an hour before bedtime.
• Avoid letting your child relate going to bed with something negative. Never send him to sleep as a punishment for bad behavior.

• Let him know well in advance (approximately 15 minutes) that bedtime is approaching. This way, the child can finish what he is doing without it being an abrupt change.

Create a bedtime routine

Having a series of activities to do that are repeated day after day helps children develop a sense of continuity and stability in their lives. Also, it helps them integrate this sequence as a habit in a natural way.

The essential key points that any routine before bed should have are, mainly:

1. Keep the same time for going to bed and getting up every day.
2. Integrate the child’s duties into the routine, such as washing hands, brushing teeth or preparing the backpack and clothes for the next day.
3. Carry out quiet activities that are conducive to sleep.
4. Include physical contact and parent company.

So the first thing we should do is pay attention to where the child goes to sleep. Dim light, medium temperature, soft music and pleasant odor make a good combination.

Activities for our bedtime routine

Next, we will select the activities that will be included in our routine. In addition to the mandatory tasks, such as brushing your teeth, we are going to propose some quiet activities to carry out with your children every night.

• Read stories.  Everyone knows that children love to hear stories. They allow your imagination to take flight and, in addition, make you feel valuable and important, since at that moment they receive all the attention. It is a highly recommended activity for this time, regardless of whether you or the child is reading the stories.

• Encourage positive thinking.  Both to combat possible fears and to help your child develop an optimistic mindset, it is advisable to dedicate these last moments of the day to sharing all the good things that have happened. Or we can also play at imagining beautiful things together.
• Help decrease activation.  If your child is having trouble calming down at these times, a few simple relaxation techniques can help lower her energy.
  • For that, you can stroke your hair with your hands while singing a quiet melody, for example.
  • Or you can ask the child to, with eyes closed, imagine a ladder that he takes down step by step (with his voice as a guide).
  • At the bottom of this stairs, you should describe a room filled with soft, comfortable pillows on which your child can sleep soundly.