My problem is school is starting and my three grils have to shre a room. They are twins that are 9 and little sis who is 5. How do I get the 5yrold to go to sleep before her sisters. I would like to let the twins stay up longer because they are older. I have no idea how to do this. Anything would help thank you.
You are the parent. You send the child to be at the "specified time" and remind her that she gets older, she'll be able to stay up a bit longer. DONT give in. That allows them to control the situation.
When you send her to bed, make that time special for you. Read a story, etc. Give her something to look forward to and some time w/ her that the other two don't get.
Hi M.. Can you let the older girls watch a TV show out of the room until little sis is asleep. When they go int they will have to be really quiet until everyone gets used to this situation. My kids used to share a room and that is what I had to do.
M.,
I only have one child but have read many magazines and books(I have more time)about the importance of sleep for children of all ages. The 9-year-old's should not get special privileges of staying up later than the 5-yr-old only because they still need as much sleep as the younger one. I believe it's from the ages of 5-11 children still need about 10-11 hours of sleep!! I want to be young again! My ex fights with me about this all the time. He lets our daughter stay up till around 10:00p and wakes her at 6:00a, she is dragging, crabby and sleep deprived. When she is at my house, yes, I let her stay up late during the summer but I also work-at-home so I'm able to let her sleep in and usually she does not wake until 10 or 11:00a! She is very sleep deprived and she is 10! During the school year I start getting her ready for bed at 8:00p, brush teeth, pick out clothes and we read. She is usually sound asleep by 9:00p. Anyway, you also have the problem of them all being in the same room. The little one is used to having someone there when she falls asleep. You might be able to read to her before bed, but this may become a battle with no one in there. Nightlights are good too. Wow! Good luck! On the other hand, if you really feel that the 9-yr-old's should be allowed to stay up later, remember you are the mom, you make the rules and the children have to follow them.I think it would depend on how mature your children are, can your 9-yr-old's handle less sleep? Can your 5-yr-old handle the new rule about the older ones staying up later? My mom tried this with my brother and I. He is 5yrs older than me and I remember being horribly angry that he got to stay up later, didn't seem fair and made me want to grow up faster. I was also scared half out of my mind to be upstairs all alone and didn't sleep until he came to be at 11:00p anyway! I too was sleep deprived because of that and did bad in school and slept when I got home, meaning, I never had energy to do my homework! You know your children and I'm sure you will make the right decision. Again Good Luck! -H.-
I am not sure 9 year olds require less sleep than a 5 year old. If it were me I would wait a couple more years before increasing bed times. However, if you do decide to do it, your the parent, just tell her it's time for bed! Maybe they all get dressed for bed and all are read to, etc. at the same time but only the younger one goes to bed.
That is a delima. I would try a bunk bed situation and put the little one up there. Create some sort of private space that is hers and hers only up there. Have them all get ready for bed at the same time to avoid noise after the little one is asleep. Tell the others that it is quite time now because their sister is asleep. If they are going to be in that room after she goes to bed they must be very quite and give them a small flashlight to use if they need to see. Maybe that is a good time for silent reading or suduko books or something like that. I is a matter of respect for their little sister and the rules must be abided by. You are the parent so be the guiding force and teach them that this is how it has to be. You also might look into evening snacks that help them to relax and unwind so they become sleepy and not want to stay up late. I know all this sounds eaisier said than done but if you don't get a handle on this now you will have bigger problems later. It seems kids grow up sooner these days and we have to keep in mind that we are the parents and the rules are there for a reason. Maybe it would help to use the time after the little one goes to sleep to give the twins you full attention until their bedtime. I have found that all my kids really want is me. So give yourself to them just take turns. Good Luck.
Maybe you can have them all get ready at the same time so that when the twins are ready to go to sleep, they can quietly go in and go to bed without disturbing the younger one.
I shared a room with my 2 sisters - my older sister is 3 years older than me, my younger sister is 2 years younger - so there was a 5 year gap in age. We still all had the same bedtime growing up, pretty much. I'm pretty certain my little sister was in the room by the time she was 5, and my older sister would have been 10.
My parents made extra sure that we were all ready for bed early enough so that if one of us fell asleep, the others could come into the room and just get in bed and go to sleep. BUT, for the longest time, we all had the same bed-time. After a while, we just got a bit "used" to it - there being 3 people sharing the room and we were usually in bed by 8-9 pm - then around 10 later on.
Good luck!
We have 3 boys-ages 10, 6 and 1 in one room and we stagger bedtimes. The baby goes to bed at 8, the 6 yr old at 8:30 and the 10 yr old at 9:30. We do the before bed routine in the living room for the older boys so as not to disturb the sleeping one(s).
Have a 'staging area' in another room or bathroom. Then tell the older girls to have everything out of the room they need for bedtime (PJs, book, etc) out of the bedroom before the younger one goes to bed. At the older girls' bedtime, they get ready in the bathroom and read in the living room or even your bed. Then they go quietly into their room and go straight to bed.
I just had a talk with a mom of three boys in one room about this at Church this morning. She has them all three get ready for bed. Her youngest goes to bed at 8:30 after story time and such. Her oldest two (a set of twins) lay down in her bed and read for 30 minutes until they are sent to bed and the youngest is already asleep. That also gives the older two time to talk and stuff like children do while in bed without disturbing the younger one. Hope that helps
Just put her to bed at her designated bedtime. It's easy as a mother to overcomplicate things, but remember, YOU are the one in control as her parent, not her. If it's time for her to go to bed and she fights about it, tell her there's no fighting over it and that if she doesn't stop, she will be putting HERSELF to bed. There's no arguing with children when it comes to rules. Just stick with them. If my kids say "I don't want to go to bed yet", I say "Well, it's bedtime, and bedtime is the same time every night. If you're not ready in 2 minutes, you'll be putting yourself to bed"
Just put her to bed the same time and warn the older sibs that they must be quite getting ready for bed or thay loose the later bedtime. It should be okay. Our kids were 7.5 years apart and it was never an issue.
I am kind of looking at the same situation as I wanted to let my 7 yr old stay up longer than my 5 yr old and 2 yr old as they are all in the same room. So I started taking the time to read to my 2 and 5 yr old so that gives them some one on one time before bed time and makes the transition a little smoother.
