Bedtime tantrums
Why won’t my girls just go to sleep?!
There’s no getting away from the fact that bedtime with my two girls is plain hard at the moment. It’s the most draining moment of my day. Every day. Why is it so hard to do teeth and toilet, story, prayers, and then go to sleep?! Every evening one or both of them ends up in a full-on meltdown at some point or another. It’s so wearing.
Some nights I am more patient than others, but it’s hard to remain that way when night after night the most trivial of details sends them into free fall. Psychologically now I know too that I’ve begun to expect bedtime to be horrible. And even if only sub-consciously, I’m aware that’s only going to exacerbate the problem.
Sadly, nothing seems to make any difference. We’ve tried earlier bedtimes, later bedtimes; bath, no bath; short stories, long stories. The result is nearly always the same.
I’d hoped time away over half-term last week might end this phase. Last night shattered this dream. We’re now back in Sheffield and it’s as if we’d never been away. I’m left simply holding onto my long-term parenting mantra that everything is only a phase and nothing lasts for ever. I really hope this phase will be over soon though because it’s seriously grim!
