- Develop a bedtime routine that will calm your children down from a busy day. This can be something that bonds you and your children together, like reading a book or singing some lullabies. The important thing is that it’s consistent and something you think you can stick to.
- After said activity, ask your children to go brush their teeth, while you get their glasses of water ready and finish putting away toys. You’d ask your kids to do it, but let’s be honest, you’d be up for another hour and you don’t have time for that. After the glasses of water are ready and beds are turned down, you go into the bathroom to check on the kids. They have spent their time brushing toothpaste all over the counter – the furthest place from their mouths.
- Calmly ask the kids to stop doing that and remind them that it’s now past their bedtimes and mommy is getting really tired too. As everyone laughs and giggles (except you), you try to keep it together, knowing that no one is in bed yet, and keeping your cool is crucial.
- Once the bathroom is cleaned up, you feel relieved that the kids have made their way to their bedrooms. Until you discover that they’re bouncing on a trampoline and getting out all of the tools in their toy toolbox. You raise your voice because clearly you haven’t been stern enough, and mommy is now thirty minutes late for her date with the tv and a cup of tea (her bedtime routine). Great, apparently you’ve raised your voice too much, because now both kids are crying. You feel bad, but at the same time, you’ve gotten their attention and they’re both easily pliable at this point – so you tuck them in their beds with no resistance.
- Spend ten minutes going back and forth in between their bedrooms, until they’ve both stopped crying and you feel less guilty for losing your cool. Your oldest gets up a few more times and you walk her back to bed patiently, because you don’t have it in you to start from scratch, and you’re still feeling a smidge of guilt. You finally get settled into your bed and realize you’ve forgotten your cup of tea. The thought of getting up again makes you kinda want to cry. You’ll just have it tomorrow night.
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