In our household we have eliminated bedtime. We no longer look at the clock and determine when our boys are tired. We go off their energy and cues on when they are tired. Then from there we do several things, dim the lights, lower the tv( if on) and lower our voices. Really just creating a peaceful environment for them to fall into peaceful sleep. Each night is different since they determine when their internal clock is telling them its time for bed. Some nights they ask to be tucked in bed. Others they ask to cuddle, stroke their hair, back or just hold them tight. Boy, it is blissful and exactly how I pictured my family.
Before we knew that this was the way we wanted to live, we would look at the clock and determine," Oh its 00:00 time, its your bedtime," Some days it would go great, other nights were spent repeatedly returning our boys to their bed. After a bit of this we realized it was a big ole waste of time for all of us. "Why not enjoy our boys and our family time together?" We thought. Then we decided to change our ways of thinking and love it.
I have had a few people not really understand this concept and ask question about what do we do when we have to wake them up early. We rarely ever wake up our childen. Whenever we have something planned in the morning, they normally will race to go to bed with excitement for the next day. Plus, since we are not enrolling our children in the public/private school system, this isn't a concern of ours.
All in all we are all a happier family when our needs are individually met and respected.
Love,
Nush
2 comments: