Every night around 8 pm, my two-year-old, without exception, hears “Good night”, which is important for both her and our health. We do this every day without exception.
How many times have I heard “You have to go home already?” or “Well just leave her awake a little longer today” because I said from some get-together at 7pm that we need to pop home dinner and sleep.
Especially in the summer, when at 19 it is still quite a day. Some may think that I am too strict and deprive myself or my child of wonderful moments, but I really don’t think that we miss anything important if we stay somewhere for an hour longer, except that we miss an important dream.
Research has shown that children thrive in routine, and that going to bed early has a positive effect on a child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development . And parents thrive when they get time for themselves. When my husband and I lie back on the couch at 8pm with a few hours of peace before bed before us, it means a lot to our marriage and our psyche.
Children sleep better if they go to bed earlier. Exhausted children wake up more often at night, although logic would dictate otherwise. Children get several hours of quality restorative sleep by going to bed early. There is a lot of research on the topic of children’s sleep and almost everyone has similar conclusions: children need to go to bed before 9 pm to be less nervous the next day, healthier or gain less weight.
If most children were asked, they would never sleep, they would not be tied up in a car seat, they would go out inappropriately dressed, they would eat chocolate and watch cartoons all night. We as parents are educators after all and we must have that role for the well-being of our child.
I remember as a child watching a cartoon at 7.15pm, after that we were in bed before the Diary at 7.30pm. It wasn’t just like that in my family, whoever I talk to, everyone went to bed so early.
Today’s kids are increasingly going to bed after 9pm and even around 11pm, at least according to the stories of parents around me. I literally know only two children of Minina’s age who go to bed by 8 pm, the others often party until 10 pm.
Until half a year ago, Mina went to bed between 7pm and 7.30pm because she needed more sleep, and now we’ve moved that to 8pm. And I don’t plan to change that time for long enough.
“But my kid is super active at 19!” I hear you. I believe that if he woke up at 6 in the morning, it is possible that he was so tired even during his daytime sleep that he became hyperactive. Hyperactive children, when they break that limit of need for sleep, become difficult to fall asleep.
Or if the child (I’m talking about the age of 1-3 years) slept longer than 2-3 hours a day, or if the afternoon sleep was too late, there is no need to sleep in the evening so early. Normally, if you wake up at 5 in the afternoon, you don’t sleep at 20.
So if Mina accidentally misses her noon sleep (because we are on the road, for example, and instead of 2-3 hours she sleeps only half an hour in a car seat), I no longer try to put her to sleep during the day but rather put her to bed earlier at night.
My favorite is when I hear “We practice parenting by listening to the wishes of the child.”
If most children were asked, they would never sleep, they would not be tied up in a car seat, they would go out inappropriately dressed, they would eat chocolate and watch cartoons all night. We as parents are educators after all and we must have that role for the well-being of our children.
And Mina knows how to say “I won’t sleep now, I would play” 20 times in a row. Then we put her to sleep and she falls asleep within minutes and sleeps for 11 hours. No, she didn’t sleep at all…
I am quite flexible about everything about upbringing, I practice respectful parenting and I don’t force it to be my way. Except when sleeping.
I’ve read a lot about sleeping, spent a lot of time watching my child and listening to what other parents have to say, and I know the perfect time to sleep is between 7pm and 8pm. The child falls asleep in an instant, does not wake up at night, eats great, has no nervousness… And mom and dad have, in addition to all that, time together for themselves, which is extremely important for a healthy relationship. Our pediatrician also praised us.
If your child goes to bed too late, try moving the time to bed 20 minutes earlier each night to see what happens. Do not use any screens for two hours before bedtime, and spend 30 minutes before bedtime in a light activity, such as reading picture books or cuddling, to prepare your child for sleep. And darken the room, the sleep hormone melatonin loves the dark.