When your child graduates from toddlerhood to childhood, things change a little, food-wise. Your little one might be in preschool now or perhaps they’re in a dayhome or with a nanny (or maybe still at home with you). Either way, your little one most likely won’t be eating all of their meals at home anymore. Yikes! Does this give you anxiety? If it does, you’re not alone. What’s more, your child’s nutritional needs are ever-evolving (and their will and determination, too!).
For many families, bedtime is a stressful time of day when it really should be about togetherness and relaxation! Instead of letting your frustration continue, it is always helpful to take a step back and figure out a plan to improve the bedtime process. The following steps will allow you to brainstorm a bedtime routine that will work great for your family and allow everyone to enjoy the end of the day (instead of dreading it). Keep in mind, this is your chance to start from scratch and create the perfect bedtime routine. If what you’re doing isn’t working well, scrap it and start fresh! Keep it simple and lay out a few steps that will help your children wind down from a busy day and calmly drift off to sleep…
It’s a scene that rattles new parents and frustrates seasoned ones: In the middle of the night, your child screams from their bedroom, startling you awake as you scramble to their room and find your child sobbing and scared because they had a nightmare. Nightmares can wreak havoc on your household’s ability to get restful sleep and can lead to your child resisting bedtime unless it’s in bed with you - with the lights on.
As parents, we tend to think it’s a given that we will be perpetually tired while our children are young. Unfortunately, our society has somewhat normalized parental sleep-deprivation. We wear it as a badge of honor... “How many hours of sleep did you get last night?” one parent will ask another. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
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