competing activities

Competing Activities at Bedtime Over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the four main causes of most sleep problems and how to fix them.  We’ve talked about how to make sure you are tired at bedtime, setting up regular bedtime routines, and finding healthy sleep dependencies.  The fourth big cause of many sleep problems for both adults and children is competing activities. This one might seem a little too obvious, but sleep isn’t the most fun or exciting thing in the world (especially for kids), so of course, if there are other more fun things to do at bedtime, we are likely to choose fun over sleep. For most adults, we at least recognize the importance of a good night’s sleep and understand the impact of our choices if we don’t get to bed on time, but many children don’t yet have the reasoning and planning skills required to make good decisions at bedtime, which makes choosing fun over sleep all the more tempting. Setting Limits at Bedtime One of the best ways to help your child at bedtime is to set clear and reasonable limits, make sure those limits are transparent, and stick to them. Make sure your child [...]