Naughty step - yep that old chestnut

[Sexonlegs]

Ladies, we are re visiting the naughty step/room for dd1 who is 4 1/2. She hasn't had to go there as yet, as just a warning seems to have stopped her in her tracks so far, although not sure how long that will last.

Just wanted to ask tho what you do at bed-time (for those that use the naughty step).

Dd1 acts up big time at this time of day, but don't really want to put her on the naughty step for 4 minutes as this just delays the process of going to bed even more.

Thanks

I would threaten loss of bedtime story or loss of a privilege the next day (eg no pudding or no TV). Give your child a warning and explain why you are going the to withhold the treat and carry out your threat if the poor behaviour persists. Worked in our house! Good luck! x

Bed time's always tricky (IME) because they're tired and you're tired - not a good combination in our house...

So, I've cut down on baths - reduced to every other night because the whole bath time saga was driving me bonkers and now I'm much less stressed.

If ds's have done something that's driven me to the end of my tether I either do less stories, or once I send them straight to bed without any stories. That backfired though because I then had to spend the next 30 minutes listening to ds2 howling and so had to go up and calm him down - with a story

But I'd recommend keeping bed times short and sweet - I get both ds's to bed in about 10 - 15 minutes - including stories.

oops - should have been fewer stories, not less

Blimey dotty - it takes us 45 minutes! Even if we skip the bath, she just mucks about saying she wants a wee or a poo, brushes her teeth for ever etc. Also I know if we cut down on the books (she gets 3) there would be a meltdown which would result in her screaming and waking dd2 who is 6 months.

We've never used a naughty step. (When I tried DS thought it was a big joke and it made matters worse)

He gets pasta in his pasta jar for getting undressed and into pjs without messing around and brushing teeth without messing around.

I try to put a spin on the threats eg rather than 'if you don't put down that aeroplance, i'll confiscate it' I say 'I see that aeroplane is distracting you. I'll hold it while you're putting on your pjs'

I have withdrawn stories. He can recognise half past and o'clock so if he isn't ready in time for his story he doesn't get it. He howled the first time but now saying 'oh look at the clock, if you don't hurry up there won't be time for a story' is usually very effective. He has to be really overtired for it NOT to work.

I hate not doing story because it is a good moment together at the end of the day after frazzling getting ready for bed time. But it is effective here.
I'm surprised a tantrum would wake your 6 month old. Is she a light sleeper? Or do they share a room.

On a good day the whole process takes 20 minutes.

I don't like using no stories as a sanction -they are so important to my dcs that it would be a disproportionate punishment for anything except actually barbecuing the cat at bedtime. If mine start messing about, I use a timer. I find it works like magic. I set it for 15 minutes and the dcs have to get ready before the bell goes.

Our bedtime routine normally for the dses is a story, a song and 5 minutes with the other parent just to chat about the day, have a cuddle or have another story. Our first threat is the loss of 5 minutes and is incredibly effective. Just one time they've lost their story and song too and they've made sure they've not lost that again

sexonlegs, just had a thought....
DS used to play us up really badly when he was 4.3 but then we introduced chapter a night stories, eg James and the Giant Peach. He is now pretty keen to find out what is going to happen next so doesn't dawdle too much and sometimes even gets his skates on for teeth brushing etc.