When you have a baby you expect sleepless nights, however when you’re toddler suddenly starts playing up and refusing to go to sleep and it all happens at the end of the day or middle of the night when you’re totally exhausted, what can you do?
Dealing with a new behaviour in your toddler can be a real challenge particularly when it’s been a long day and they get their ‘second wind’ directly after tea, when you find yourself flagging even more and end up yelling at your son or daughter as they run on the opposite direction.
It all becomes a game to them and the more they laugh and run around, the more you get wound up and just as you get them calm and ready for a bath, Daddy walks in the door! Now you are up for round two, as they run away again or sneak off into the garden as you are now complaining at Dad and your son or daughter seizes the moment for ‘extra playtime’. So how can you put an end to the antics and rein things back in?
You need to have some structures to be in place and they need to be effective. You also need:
– A plan that you stick to
– Some rules that everyone knows
– After a couple of warnings and no results or change, there needs to be consequences.
This is an important time in your child’s development and if you let them control bedtimes, you’ve only got yourself to blame. If you’ve let them stay up one night because the sun’s out or you’re having wine with friends and they go down later than normal, they are of course going to want to do the same again, so stick to your rules.
Testing times with toddlers can leave you despairing. If you are in need of some new idea’s or bedtime tactics please get in touch and we’ll have your child in bed in no time at all, without the fuss and drama.