No More Bedtime Battles #5MoreMinutes #StreamTeam

The wood furnace is roaring, tea is steeping, and it’s time to put your feet up at the end of a busy day.  All of a sudden the pitter patter of tiny feet can be heard.  Wait for it…

“Mommmm! I can’t sleep!”

“I’m thirsty!”

“I had a bad dream!”

“I’m hungry!”

“I need to go to the bathroom!”

Does any of this sound at all familiar to you?  Please tell me this doesn’t only happen in my house.

Little One has FOMO.  Fear Of Missing Out.

She will fight sleep if she has to and she will come up with the most clever distractions to stay up a few minutes later.  The one that gets me ALL THE TIME is “Mommy, I just want to snuggle with you for a few minutes.”  So sneaky. Gets me each and every time.

I tried a few approaches to handling bedtime routine:

1. Establish a bedtime routine early on.  We started bedtime routine when Little One was a baby.  Routines are a good way of letting kids know what to expect. For Little One, after supper it’s finishing up homework, bath time, get into pajamas, brush teeth, story time, and get tucked into bed.  This has worked for the most part, but we still get Little One sneaking out of bed to tell us that she’s thirsty, hungry, scared, etc.
2. Start bedtime routine a bit earlier than you think you need to start.  This sounds a bit silly, but it makes total sense.  At least in our house it does!  I like to try to get Little One ready for bed before 8pm so she is either in bed or asleep before 8:30pm.  I really need to start bedtime routine around 7pm so we have ample time.  There are always excuses and she likes to dilly dally.

Unfortunately, with Little One’s activities, we’re often home a bit late on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This kind of throws a monkey wrench into our bedtime routine.  Even on nights when we get home late from her activities, Little One still has the energy to be a bedtime staller!

Thanks to our friends at Netflix, I now know that I am not alone and that bedtime battles are universal. 

Is your child a bedtime staller?  Do you have bedtime battles in your house too?

I tried to decipher what kind of bedtime staller Little One is according to the Netflix poll above.  She’s actually a combination of all of them!

The folks at Netflix have determined that the bedtime excuses are indeed universal and more than 60% of parents around the globe are dealing with kids’ stall tactics before bed. This adds up to nearly 20 minutes every single night. There is a silver lining though.  It’s time for parents to take back our night and Netflix is here to help.

No More Bedtime Battles

The next time you find yourself in the bedtime battle, just tell your kids they can watch an ENTIRE show before bed. Oh, it’s no mistake! You heard correctly! Netflix and DreamWorks Animation launched Dinotrux Favorites.  Kids can watch an entire episode of the latest hit all in a nice little 5-minute show!

It may sound a bit sneaky, but your little bedtime negotiator will think they’re getting away with the age-old ‘just five more minutes’ ploy.  I’ve tried multiple tactics and most of the time it ends in tears because Little One just wants a bit more time staying up with Mom and Dad. We also read bedtime stories every night and really enjoy that part of the evening. One would think that it would be enough. We gave Netflix’s suggestion a try and it worked like a charm. Little One happens to be a really big DINOTRUX fan and seemed VERY content to have that one episode before bed.  We also just pulled the greatest parenting stunt of all time. In a mere give minutes, she got exactly what she wanted.  One entire episode (Only five minutes!) and some extra cuddle time with Mom and Dad.

Is your child a bedtime staller?

What are some of your tactics for dealing with bedtime battles? Check out my friend, Cyn’s 5 Tips To Avoid Bedtime Stalling Tactics.

Disclosure – I am a member of the Netflix Canada #StreamTeam.  All thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and my own.