bedtime routine...

Here is our family bedtime routine:

• "Wind Down" time. This involves getting into their jammies, brushing their teeth and then lying down watching a movie, or a kid show. This isn't a time to run around or be silly...it is a time to let your body slow down!
• if they haven't brushed their teeth we do it after wind down time.
• We read scriptures as a family. At this point it is only a few verses each night.
• We say a family prayer
• Then hugs and kisses and into bed.
• Our kids sleep in 2 different rooms so the Mr. and I take turns putting either the boys to bed or our daughter. Each of us has something we do with the kids once they are in bed. Sometimes we read books or sing songs.
• Next it is lights out, door closed, and time for bed.

Now just because we go through our routine doesn't mean that we have kids that all stay in their beds and go right to sleep...we do battle some nights! But I would rather fight the bed time battle earlier than later in the evening!

early to bed...

I am a FIRM believer in early bed times for kids. This wasn't a decision that I made...it just sort of happened. When my first baby was born I tried to pay attention to his natural sleep rhythm. I noticed after a few months that he got cranky and tired at around the same time each night. As the months went by he got cranky and ready for bed earlier and earlier. By 7 or 8 months old he was going to bed at 7pm and sleeping until 6am. Well...after 5 kids I can say that he was a really good sleeper to be sleeping through the night so early, but even with my babies that haven't slept through the night until much later they have all been ready for bed around 7pm.

I have heard many people say, "My kids just aren't ready for bed that early..." Well...I bet they would be if your bed time routine started earlier. During the fall and winter months where it is dark earlier we start our bedtime routine around 6:30pm. This helps them wind down at the end of the day. Their bodies start to slow down and the natural result is that they are sleepy and ready for bed. If your family is busy busy busy until later in the evening they will naturally be up longer. Sometimes starting our routine so early can be hard when my husband doesn't get home from work until 5:45 or 6pm.

Babies and kids need almost 12-14 hours of sleep each night. Especially once they start school.

Another reason that I LOVE the early bed time is that my husband and I then have a few hours at a decent time of night to spent together before we go to bed. I cherish this even more now that we have 5 little ones. We need time to connect and still get to bed at a decent hour ourselves.

bedroom clock...

I have 5 kids...they all pretty much sleep though the night now. There is always the occasional bad dream or illness that disrupts this pattern, but they do sleep through the night.

Throw in a little daylight savings time change and my kids have been getting up at the crack of dawn. NO.... they get up at the cracks crack of dawn!

So this morning I thought to myself, "Time to pull out the clock again!" A few years ago when we were having a problem with the kiddlets getting out of bed to early I made this clock. At the time my two boys couldn't read a face clock too well so I used color and a little fun sticker to help them out.

Supplies:

• clock
• fun sticker
• colored pencils
• ruler
  

I bought a really cheap clock at Wal-Mart for $3. It has a plastic cover on the front that pops off. I took a ruler and drew out lines from the center to the hours that I wanted. In my case it was 5, 7 and 8! I colored red in between 5 and 7 to show them the times that were unacceptable to be out of bed. Then I colored green in between 7 and 8 to show them when it was okay to get out of bed. Place the sticker on the hour hand.

If the frog was in the red it was time to get back into bed. If it was in the green then they could get out of bed without awaking a crazy momma bear!

This worked wonders! If they started to wander out of bed I would ask, "Is the frog in the red or green?" Pretty soon they didn't even peek out of their room because they got the hang of reading the clock on their own. (we also set their clock about 10 minutes slower...hahaha...mean I know!)