‘Routine’… you know, the golden word when it comes to parenting. It’s so easily written on paper but hard to sustain in real life. But, we try…
The one thing that we really wanted to ensure when we had Squish was that we attempted to nail down a strict(ish) bedtime routine. (Obviously not so strict that we could never stay out past 6pm) but we would always have an ‘In bed by 7pm’ rule. We added other rules along with way such as no milk in the bedroom, always have a bedtime story, bath/shower every other day but the 7pm rule has always stayed the same.
There have been nights where he has stayed up late and we were under this magical illusion that maybe if he went to bed later he would wake up later. Oh no no… he gets up at the same time but is just more of a nightmare the day after… grumpy stubborn tired child makes an appearance.
So, our routine is as follows:
5.30pm – tea
6.00pm – bath (if bath night)
6.30pm – PJs and milk
6.15pm – Last bit of tele & cuddles on couch
6.50pm – brush teeth/wash face and storytime time in bed
7.00pm – Lights out
We’ve sort of stuck to this unless he’s been extra tired and we’ve put him down maybe 30mins earlier but (touch wood) we’ve never had any problems with him going to bed so for us this routine really works.
We have found though that Squish really enjoys us making stories up which involve what he has done that day rather than reading a story. It does put you on the spot a bit but he absolutely loves it and often helps out using his imagination to create the story as I’m telling it.
So, what’s your bedtime routine?
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