Gaming Parents Advice: Bedtime
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 11:00 amI'm far more likely to listen to the advice of other parents if I know they're similar lifestyle to mine.
The biggest problem with my girls (besides the squabbling, not sharing, etc.) is bedtime, they're 4 and almost 2, they share a room.
On the rare occasion they have a bath, brush teeth, have a bedtime story and actually pass out at 7 or 8pm, it's about the same occurrence as a blue moon, despite our best efforts to wear them out, they can still be bouncing around (literally) their room until 10pm, sometimes I fall asleep before they do, much to the Mrs irritation.
We're very strict on their diet, water, milk, if juice it's watered down quite a bit, healthy kids snacks, cereal (Cheerios) for breakfast, none of this Chocolate for breakfast. Healthy sandwiches and various meals, although they can be very picky, fish fingers and nuggets go down well, we visit "M" once a month as a treat, unless collecting toys, then Grandma takes them more often. My mum is a godsend, if she didn't look after them Monday night so Mrs and I can catch a movie, have a non-kid evening (unless there's nothing worth seeing at the Cinema, or they've destroyed the house more than usual), to just relax, we'd have gone crazy months ago.
Eldest is the weirdest.... Never have I seen her lay in her bed normally, always upside down, flopped over the bottom of the bed, knee deep in soft cuddly toys, or flopped, limbs everywhere like after a hard night out. She's totally crazy, if we could bottle her energy, it could power whole cities for decades.
Please.... GO TO SLEEP, mummy and daddy would like to relax, eat, clean up and go to bed ourselves.
Ok... as I'm writing this on my smartphone, she's pretending to be a kitty and licking my hand, she's crazy for Cats.
Disney Infinity, do an Aristcats playset, she'll love it.
At 7 am eldest comes bouncing in, sometimes earlier, the second there's sunlight sometimes.
At night, she's talking, coming back out for more hugs and kisses or got something monumental she just has to tell us, probably that her toy kitties won't stand up perfectly on her bed.
Seriously, this girl just doesn't know how to switch off, which I don't understand, I've always wound down and fallen asleep, if I don't then I pass out, it takes quite a hit of caffeine to see me through the night, but then I've lived on cola my whole life (I've not let them touch a drop and doubt I ever will, they're non-stop naturally).
I never had this much energy as a kid, I sat on the landing playing with Mask toys and Starcom, always in my own world, fairly quiet apart from the odd explosion imitation, never under foot, never constantly going on and on, I was an only child though.
The biggest problem with my girls (besides the squabbling, not sharing, etc.) is bedtime, they're 4 and almost 2, they share a room.
On the rare occasion they have a bath, brush teeth, have a bedtime story and actually pass out at 7 or 8pm, it's about the same occurrence as a blue moon, despite our best efforts to wear them out, they can still be bouncing around (literally) their room until 10pm, sometimes I fall asleep before they do, much to the Mrs irritation.
We're very strict on their diet, water, milk, if juice it's watered down quite a bit, healthy kids snacks, cereal (Cheerios) for breakfast, none of this Chocolate for breakfast. Healthy sandwiches and various meals, although they can be very picky, fish fingers and nuggets go down well, we visit "M" once a month as a treat, unless collecting toys, then Grandma takes them more often. My mum is a godsend, if she didn't look after them Monday night so Mrs and I can catch a movie, have a non-kid evening (unless there's nothing worth seeing at the Cinema, or they've destroyed the house more than usual), to just relax, we'd have gone crazy months ago.
Eldest is the weirdest.... Never have I seen her lay in her bed normally, always upside down, flopped over the bottom of the bed, knee deep in soft cuddly toys, or flopped, limbs everywhere like after a hard night out. She's totally crazy, if we could bottle her energy, it could power whole cities for decades.
Please.... GO TO SLEEP, mummy and daddy would like to relax, eat, clean up and go to bed ourselves.
Ok... as I'm writing this on my smartphone, she's pretending to be a kitty and licking my hand, she's crazy for Cats.
Disney Infinity, do an Aristcats playset, she'll love it.
At 7 am eldest comes bouncing in, sometimes earlier, the second there's sunlight sometimes.
At night, she's talking, coming back out for more hugs and kisses or got something monumental she just has to tell us, probably that her toy kitties won't stand up perfectly on her bed.
Seriously, this girl just doesn't know how to switch off, which I don't understand, I've always wound down and fallen asleep, if I don't then I pass out, it takes quite a hit of caffeine to see me through the night, but then I've lived on cola my whole life (I've not let them touch a drop and doubt I ever will, they're non-stop naturally).
I never had this much energy as a kid, I sat on the landing playing with Mask toys and Starcom, always in my own world, fairly quiet apart from the odd explosion imitation, never under foot, never constantly going on and on, I was an only child though.
