Ask me any of the following questions and the answer is always the same at the moment:
1. If you could do anything at all right now, what would you do?
2. What one thing would improve your quality of life?
3. What makes your children demanding, argumentative and defiant if they don't get enough of it?
4. What do you want to do at the weekend?
Yes.
Sleep.
And I am not alone. At least two of my followers on twitter began their days at around 4.00 this morning.
DD is a night owl like me; she has been in bed over an hour and has still not settled down. Not exactly in bed, more like rearranging her bookshelf, laying out various outfits for all occasions on the bedroom floor and jumping from various items of furniture, pausing only now and then to complain at the top of the stairs that she can't get to sleep.
Her younger brother is destined to become a milkman or a postman. DS is one of those people I just can't relate to much - a morning person. Oddly, my husband is a morning person too. But I can relate to him in other arenas.
The effect of DS waking up his sister once or twice a week at 6.30a.m. (an hour before her alarm clock) is long-lasting and dramatic. When tired, DD's behaviour plummets after being good all day at school, and I get a good two hours of defiance and attitude from my five year-old before my husband saves the day by coming home from work. My cooking, never very good at the best of times, has reached an all time low as I am constantly distracted, trying to keep the peace or address various unwanted behaviour.
I am hoping that a recent CD from Holistic World will help my daughter get back to her reasonable sleeping pattern. It contains three short interactive stories (about five minutes each) based on the adventures of Eeny, Meeny, Miney and Mo, followed by calming relaxation music. The stories - Rainbow Bird, Crystal Cave and Unicorn Magic - are thoughtfully and imaginatively presented, giving children a chance to interact and really explore their imagination. These guided meditations are suitable for ages five and upwards, and feature specially composed music and sound effects by popular composer Niall. You can listen to music clips here. A nice touch is that the CD comes inside a gift card, which makes it a lovely present; you can see the design below.
I think another thing we're going to have to do is stick rigidly to the bedtime routine we have set up over the past five years and not skip bath even if we are all tired and it seems like too much hassle. We probably rush settling our children down a bit, because we are worn out and longing to have a break. We are desperate to wind down so we find it hard to help our children do that at bedtime themselves.We maybe also need to get some new story books as our children's imaginations develop and they want to hear more complex tales. There is still plenty of room for their old favourites, the repetition of which can be comforting and almost hypnotic (and not just for the listener!) but I think we might venture into new territory too.Whatever the answer is, we sure do need to get back into good sleep habits. Any tips very welcome!
Hi Alison,
ReplyDeleteI have certainly been there with the sleep/bedtime thing. My children are both night owls/late sleepers which can make mornings a bit of a 'challenge'.
I've found that a great device for resetting body clocks is a sunlight alarm clock. These wake you up with a gently brightening light which simulates a natural dawn. It's supposed to make you wake up pleasantly, feeling refreshed and ready for the day. I've been using one for about six months and I do find getting up much easier.
Also, you can get an app for your iPhone/iPod that monitors your sleep cycle, so you can see what times of the night you get the deep, restorative sleep. In theory you can then just plan for those hours and feel great!
Good luck!