I’ve mentioned on here before some of the issues that we have with getting the lads to bed. I have to confess that besides whining this is the thing that wears me down in parenting the most. I hate, absolutely HATE fighting with the boys to get them to bed. We’ve tried various tactics with more or less success but nothing that has really stood the test of time with them. But not one to be daunted, I have a plan!
Our bedtime routine has become sloppy to say the least. Part of that is because the thing that “works” the best for getting the boys to bed is to have Myles go down first and hopefully be sleeping by the time Bubba goes to bed. The problem with this is that it really elongates the bed-time routine, and it’s become less and less successful because Myles is getting old enough that he stays awake till his bro comes in and then it really begins to become a fight because they want to play! Ugh!
So here’s what I’ve come up with. I ordered, just today, a MP3 DVD of ALL 450 Bible stories from The Bible in Living Sound. The cool thing about it is that they give you a code to get the Audio DVD for FREE as well! Woot! It’s a pretty big chunk of change at once $75, but I looked on Amazon and you’d end up paying $.99 per track if you ordered them separately. So it’s actually a HUGE savings especially with the 2 for 1 deal. So if you’re looking for some great dramatized Bible stories for your own little monkeys, check this out. The second one would make a fantastic gift!!!
Where does this commercial come in to the bed-time routine, you may ask?
Ahh, glad you were wondering. Here’s how it’s going to work out in our house. At 7pm sharp our bedtime routine will begin. I’m working really hard at coming up with ideas to keep it a “happy” time. So I will commence by saying, “Time to get ready for bed” (then before the whining starts- I’ll have to talk fast) “Lets get jammies on and have a SNACK!” Snack is a magic word in this house that is always met with enthusiasm! 😉 Then we’ll do just that! After the snack of a graham cracker or something we’ll brush teeth! They also like the teeth brushing thing. Immediately following the tooth cleansing we will have a story from our Jesus Bible Story book and one other book of their choosing. (2 stories!) THEN comes the tricky part. They will go to bed together! Hopefully this will be close to 7:30. Once in bed I or Stu will sing them their favorite bed songs “Sunshine” and “Jesus Loves Me” and then turn out the light. They’ll have an MP3 player (read iPod) on their dresser loaded with the story selections for the evening. Hopefully the way it will work is that they will listen to the stories till they “drop off” rather than get in trouble playing. I know for a fact that they like to listen to something other than their noise maker when they go to bed so I’m really hoping that this works out. It’ll give us another “tool” to promote compliance as well because if they do decide to get up and play the stories will be turned off.
That’s the plan anyway. I’m going to stick to that routine TO THE T for at least a week before we allow any variations. I want them to get it down and know exactly what comes next and what to expect each night. I hope that it works, and I’m anticipating that it will, but I still do have a bit of that “dread” feeling. 🙂 I have this idea in my mind that bed-time can be a sweet time with our kids instead of a constant battle. Maybe that’s not realistic, but I’m going to keep fighting for it because every day shouldn’t have to end with battles!
There ya have it. Check out the stories, they have a spot on the home page where you can listen to a sample. They are so well done!