So I know I have talked a lot about my insomnia and for some reason I have been in a sleep pattern where I actually sleep through the night. It might have to do some with some medications I have been taking for my back pain which has had me laid up for nearly two weeks. I finally feel better this past week and my back is on the mend. With all that down time I had it got me thinking about my kids sleeping habits and how they rank.
I have to say my six year old is an awesome sleeper. She has always pretty much went down with little to no fighting but my 3 year old on the other hand fought me almost every night for a straight month. It was hell because he would constantly get up and either attempt to get in our bed or his sisters. I admit to giving up some nights and letting him stay with his sister.
Than I stepped back and thought how can I fix it. We than started having a better bed time routine for both kids. My six year old was a great example setter for her younger brother. We would all take a bath, put our pajamas on, and each would crawl into bed for a story. One of us would take one kid while the other read to the other one. It has worked wonders for us and he is consistently staying in his bed at night.
I know kids and sleep can be a touchy subject and I do advocate to do what to do what works best for you with the least amount of stress. I know some are big on co-sleeping but for us it is something that never really worked because the kids and us are just too restless sleepers. You should see my hubby's side of the bed when he gets up and I wonder why I have no covers most of the night.
Though take this away when your kids sleep well they do well at all sorts of things and studies show that they excel at school and all sorts of things. Kids who do better in school do better in life and we all know that. It is important to think about your sleep habits as well as your kids. My hubby is a notorious night owl where I am a early bird. Our kids are the same way- one is an early bird while the other will stay up till he drops if we let him. We tell them how important it is to get good sleep and they know that when they do they feel better.
If you do need to work on better sleep habits, do it slowly and take steps to progress to having better sleep. We can't change our habits over night but if you work on pieces of them, in no time new habits form. When our son was in the month of hell, we worked on baby steps to get him to sleep better and even though the month was difficult, when he was ready and adjusted, going to sleep was much better.
Sleep is so important for the body and we live in a world where it is taken for granted. We choose to forgo sleep for so many things and we don't realize how much that impacts with our health and our daily activities. When I started sleeping better, I noticed I felt better and I than ate better. I know when I have a bad night it effects my day in ways I don't like. So curl up and get a good night's sleep.
Rebecca Benson is a League City stay at home mom who has lived here since 2003 when her husband took a job on the International Space Station program. She followed soon after working on the same program for nearly six years when she started staying home with the kids. Rebecca loves to craft, scrapbook, sew, and embrace motherhood. Rebecca has a blog called Mommiedom ((http://queenmommiedom.blogspot.com/) where she talks about all the things in her life not just those “confessions”.
