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It's always pretty tough. 2.5 year old and 4.5 year old boys share a room. Their bed time is always at 8:30. We usually eat dinner around 6 or 6:30, watch 1 or 2 episodes of Pokemon or Sonic or something, then bath time then story time then lights out! This has been the routine for months because I have read from multiple sources that an established routine helps.
Problem...they share a room! I say good night give them a kiss, and 5 minutes later I hear both of them playing and laughing, talking etc. Every single night. I go in and tell them they are not being good listeners and that it is time for bed, tell them good night again. 5 minutes later same thing. Sometimes they are up until 9:30 or 10. Much of the time the 2.5 year old will actually go and turn on his light, shut his door and start playing. He will often try to come out of the room, so I bought a baby gate to put on their door...but he climbs over it.
It's getting pretty old. It's literally every single night that they will just ignore what I tell them and continue playing. I am not a fan of spanking but I might have to start...but eh idk. I don't think it would really help now that I think of it. Plus I don't want them to associate bed time with crying and painful butts. I just don't really know what to do?
1) I would replace one of the TV shows with some kind of physical activity that wears them out more = racing around in the backyard or even just wrestling with dad if it's cold outside.
2) We played a lullaby CD (or some other quiet music of your choice) quietly in their room. Mine did not get out of bed, but you could tell your boys they HAVE to stay quiet in bed till the music stops, with the thought that they will probably fall asleep before then.
1) I would replace one of the TV shows with some kind of physical activity that wears them out more = racing around in the backyard or even just wrestling with dad if it's cold outside.
2) We played a lullaby CD (or some other quiet music of your choice) quietly in their room. Mine did not get out of bed, but you could tell your boys they HAVE to stay quiet in bed till the music stops, with the thought that they will probably fall asleep before then.
I agree wholeheartedly with the first. TV time is too stimulating. If removing TV time from the evening routine seems like punishment, tell them it is a punishment for not going to bed! Make sure you include reading into your routine and offer picture books to look at while they settle down.
I can totally sympathize. my kids were NEVER easy to get to bed. For some reason, my oldest decided at age 5 that she should put herself to bed, so she did. My oldest is almost 14 and STILL has a hard time settling down for bed. She is a bit ADD!
Have you considered putting one to bed first, then the other?
give them 5 to 10 mins to talk time before complete lights out. if they can't stop chatting have them sleep in separate rooms if possible. they may not want to be apart and just the thought of the being apart might get them to quiet down faster. why not have the older one stay up longer by the time he goes to sleep an hour later the younger one is already sleeping. good luck
The easiest way to get them to settle down enough to go to sleep is to sit in there with them until they are almost asleep. You can sit in the doorway where there is light and read a book or a magazine. Or you can sit in the semi dark of the room and just be there. Just quiet and boring.
It works very well in most cases. My profession is child care and when we had a child that had a difficult time settling down for nap we'd simply sit right beside them and fill out our paperwork. It often took no more than 10 minutes to get even the most hyped up kid to settle down and sleep.
My kids had to share a room for a short time and we did separate bed times because they would talk and play. I also agree about the nap time especially with the oldest. If he/she is getting a nap during the day that is one of the reasons for the late bedtime. We couldn't wait until my daughter was out of Pre K for that reason.
Thank you for the suggestions. We will try the separate bed times, but I am worried that the 2.5 year old will "miss" his older brother and still not go to sleep. They have been separated before and he will still turn on the light. Maybe we just need to be consistent with it, though. I do disagree with sitting next to them while they fall asleep - I have the feeling they will get too used to that and only want to sleep when I am next to them. Which doesn't work! As much as I love them I don't want to sit next to their bed for an hour a night waiting for them to sleep. Older one rarely naps at home on weekends but seems to always nap for 2 hours at daycare.
We had this problem until they gave up their naps. Now they are in bed at 7:30 and fall asleep before 8:00 PM. Mine are 2years apart and share room too. I do let them talk though.
I wouldn't even mind if it was just talking until they fall asleep but it's straight up playing like it's 2 in the afternoon. Loudly. Turning on the light and getting toys out. That's the part I don't like.
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