Speaking of creative...Macy is making me crazy by sneaking into our bed at night. She goes to Greg's side, so I don't even know until I wake up with Greg right next to me and I have about a foot of space before I fall off (and we have a King-size bed). It's really affecting my sleep, which definitely affects my patience and functioning levels. So, I came up with this chart for Macy. I went to Walmart and purchased a $4.00 tea set (this is her latest craze). Every morning, we are going to put a sticker on her chart. If she stays in her bed ALL night long, we put a sticker on one of the smiley faces. If she gets in our bed, we put a sticker on one of the frowny faces. When she gets to seven, she either earns her tea set or we take away her Princess sheets. I don't like taking things away, but I don't know what else to do. I just can't have kids in my bed all night. We'll see. 
6 comments:
Again, love it! You are so creative!
You are creative! It's a good thing you were the mom first. Now I don't have to read books, I just have to talk to my sister as Abby grows up.
Maybe if you hate taking things away you should just rephrase it so Macy is the one repsonible (thus dismissing your guilt): Give princess sheets back to Mom.
Wow, you are a really great mom. I am super impressed. Any ideas on how to control my almost 2-year-old's "tantrums"?...if you can call them that...it's more like a 20 to 30 minute meltdown twice a day.
I might have to steal your ideas because we have kids in our bed almost every night also! You are so creative in your raising your kids. I would love it for my kids to just go to bed and me not have to lay with them until they fall asleep. I read stories but I feel like it takes up all of my quiet time at night. Logan has been better, but Claire is so stubborn she just keeps getting out of bed no matter how many times I take her back in there. Any ideas? I think I'll try the chart thing and see if that helps. I want my kids to have a normal bedtime and bedtime routine. I could kick myself for not setting up a routine earlier in their life!
Jackie,
I'm just such a mean mom - you are much nicer. You do so many things as a mom that I wish I did. It is incredibly important to me that my kids are in bed by 8:00. My mom used to tell us that she turned into a witch at 8:00, and I definitely understand her now.
Our rule is that they get a night light and music as long as they stay in their bed (all my kids go to bed with music, and it's the same every night to kind of "trigger" that it's sleep time). If they wander out of bed, I'm really sad for them and I have to take the music or light away. It usually only takes a few times and they get it. Macy has been more difficult in her "bedtime training." But, she did run in our room this morning so excited that she stayed in her own bed all night. The key for Macy is to figure out what motivates her and use it.
The other thing is that I tell my kids they don't have to go to sleep - they can stay awake all night if they want, but they do have to stay in bed.
I don't know! Sometimes I get lucky and things work...for a while. Then, I have to change them up a bit. Good luck! I love having Claire at our house. She is so sweet! Sometimes I've considered sending Macy home and just keeping Claire for a few days.
By the way...I let the kids pick out their own night light so they are totally and completely in love with it. That way, it's a little more painful when it's taken away.
See how mean I am! They do get it back every night to try again. It does take a while to train them.
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