“10 minutes till bedtime!”
I only wish that’s how bedtime went in this house. I’d even take truckloads of hamsters parading through the house if it meant that the girls actually got to bed on time.
Seriously. I’d even vacuum up all the poop pellets.
Tacy and CJ almost never go to bed on time. And it’s not usually because they’re delay fish. Instead, it’s Kyle who is reluctant to stop doing whatever it is he’s doing and hurry along the bedtime process.
Of course I could step in. Sometimes I do, but usually only to say, “It’s WAY past your bedtime!”
You think I’m kidding? As I type, it’s 8:37 and Kyle just informed CJ that he’s not giving her a bath, but he is going to brush her hair, and she is shrieking so loud that she probably woke up the toddler two doors away.
All day long, CJ proudly shows off how she can tell time by reading aloud the numbers on the clock over the stove. “It’s one-one-two-zero!” she’ll announce. A minute later, she gives me an update: “Now it’s one-one-two-one!”
But something strange happens right around dinnertime (whenever the hell that is – all schedules are fluid around here, it seems), and everyone but me loses their ability to tell time.
Most nights, I try vainly to ignore the chaos, occasionally injecting an opinion as to whether or not someone needs a bath or who really shouldn’t have another cup of milk or who probably hasn’t brushed her teeth in three days. Evening is my opportunity to get some work done with reinforcements (i.e., Kyle) in place.
I’m not bashing Kyle; believe me, I know how many other fathers consider their day to be finished the moment they walk in the door. He’s thrilled to pieces to play with the kids, but that fact actually works against the whole bedtime routine here. He’s in no hurry for the fun to end. If they’re happy, why put them to bed? In fact, why not chase them around the house twenty times and tickle them until they nearly puke and then announce that it’s bedtime?
Now it’s 8:54 and I can hear CJ thumping overhead, which means that she’s in our room, not her room.
I’ve never been one to put the kids to bed at seven o’clock. Even with Oliver, I only put him down that early if he’s really sleepy. I certainly don’t make the girls lie in bed while the sun’s still up and they can hear their friends playing outside. Not even on school nights.
We’ve got fairly lenient bedtimes here: CJ’s is eight o’clock, and Tacy’s is eight-thirty. On school nights, I’m satisfied if they make it to bed a half-hour late. They’re having fun with their daddy, after all.
9:06. Kyle just came downstairs to refill a sippy cup with water and retrieve a lambie.
I know we could get the kids to bed on time if we just laid down the law and were consistent about it. We know the importance of consistency where it comes to enforcing rules and establishing expectations.
But in the end, we prefer to direct that consistency toward other areas. In doing so, we accept the fluidity of bedtime.
Well, at least until those hamsters show up and start whipping everybody into shape.
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Do your kids go to bed on time? Every single night?
Liar.
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Don’t tell me you don’t have any good stories. Because believe it or not:
It’s 9:26, and CJ just called downstairs, “Mommy, I didn’t have any dinner. I want a hot dog.”
Ugh.
March 14th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Mine have always had an 8:30 bedtime until about a month ago. Then I moved it to 8pm because I got tired of the attitudes in the morning. But they sleep in the same room and half the time the same bed, so it’s not like they go to sleep at that point. I figure if they fall asleep by 9, we’re doing good.
Issas last blog post..Contest: Give Issa a tagline
March 14th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Gabriel goes to bed at around 9:30 most nights. I pretend he goes to bed at 8:30 so other mothers won’t look at me funny, but in all honesty, I prefer it. He still takes a longer nap at school even though he’s getting to an age when it could be shortened/eliminated. I’d rather have him sleep for two hours at school than sleep for two more hours at home. I only see him for about 4 hours a day as it is. He’s 3. I mean, seriously? So I keep him up and let him nap at preschool so I can actually spend a little time with my son.
Miss Graces last blog post..This is a cop-out
March 14th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Best book ever.
But that is one of the co-parenting things that drives me the most crazy: the fact that I alone can TELL TIME.
mayberrys last blog post..There oughtta be a law…
March 15th, 2009 at 2:31 am
So am I the only night time nazi around?
There was a time when I enforced the rule to Hubby that if he wasn’t home to play before bath, book and bed routine began, he should just stay out a little longer or bear the wrath of an exhausted me. It would be a case of Dad comes home when the kids are quiet, relaxed and ready for bed then within minutes they would be hanging from the ceiling and hyper. It would take forever to calm them down and get them ready for bed again, more importantly before I could relax. I have chilled a little now and follow the rule – if you break it you fix it, you hype them up you put them to bed!
All is good now, they go to bed between 7 and 8 and don’t get up until 7 or 8.
dels last blog post..A VERY Slow Day
March 15th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
my contribution is merely this: i think that book is totally awesome. i love looking at what all the little hamsters are doing on each page.
Laras last blog post..You Heard Nothing
March 16th, 2009 at 4:22 am
My son has never gone to bed on time….wait that’s a lie. There have been about three times in his life when he was feeling sick that he actually went to bed on time. I do try to get him to bed within a half hour of when he SHOULD be in bed.
In some ways I applaud your husband for loving your children and feeling connected enough to play with them into the night. MANY dads compartmentalize their feelings and don’t take that time. They would rather zone out when they get home after a long day.
As a working mom throughout my son’s preschool days, I did try to jam a whole day into two hours which must have caused a stimulus overload for him!
evis last blog post..All is Vanity, Nothing is Fair