Sometimes Mason stays in his bed all night. Most of the time, he doesn't. For a while we had success bribing him with gum. If he stayed in his bed all night (so that mom could stay in hers) then he could have a piece of gum in the morning. This worked okay, except I noticed he would often ask if he'd done it or not. It made me realize he didn't always have awareness about what was going on at night.
Here's where poor parenting has made things worse. Sometimes we get lazy.
When he comes in at night, it's often easier to just let him stay. I swear Mason has some sort of sixth sense about when we're the most tired and out of it and that's when he makes his move.
Also, when Eli has gone to bed and we're wrapping up the day, it's nice to spend some one on one time with Mason. The negative effect of it is that he doesn't always fall asleep in his bed. Sometimes it will be on the couch as we read or visit. Sometimes it's watching sports or documentaries with Dad. I know that he needs to be in his bed to stay in his bed. I'm admitting here that we don't always do the best thing.
And here's the kicker. Little brother Eli is opposite. He has a set bedtime, a predictable routine, and sleeps pretty great. Shocker! but Eli has always been like that so it's been easy to stick with the pattern. Mason has always struggled with sleep. Their personalities are different and I know that has something to do with it, but it seems obvious that our little habits have produced predictable results, one on each end of the spectrum.
Here's our latest idea. We've been talking a lot about roads and paths lately, as in "I hope you choose a happy path" or "Let's find a way to get off this bumpy grumpy road". I made Mace a chart for bedtime. We put it on magnetic board and he can move his little head along the path as we go. It feels like a lot of steps to walk him through but the first thing that changed was that he was excited to keep working towards bedtime instead of dreading and complaining the closer bedtime got. By the end of the road he was in bed, without an accompanying parent, and staying there!
It hasn't been perfect, but certainly so much better. When we put in the time and effort to go through the process with him, we see results.
Here's where poor parenting has made things worse. Sometimes we get lazy.
When he comes in at night, it's often easier to just let him stay. I swear Mason has some sort of sixth sense about when we're the most tired and out of it and that's when he makes his move.
Also, when Eli has gone to bed and we're wrapping up the day, it's nice to spend some one on one time with Mason. The negative effect of it is that he doesn't always fall asleep in his bed. Sometimes it will be on the couch as we read or visit. Sometimes it's watching sports or documentaries with Dad. I know that he needs to be in his bed to stay in his bed. I'm admitting here that we don't always do the best thing.
And here's the kicker. Little brother Eli is opposite. He has a set bedtime, a predictable routine, and sleeps pretty great. Shocker! but Eli has always been like that so it's been easy to stick with the pattern. Mason has always struggled with sleep. Their personalities are different and I know that has something to do with it, but it seems obvious that our little habits have produced predictable results, one on each end of the spectrum.
It hasn't been perfect, but certainly so much better. When we put in the time and effort to go through the process with him, we see results.
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