Does anyone else get so bloody bored of the bedtime routine, that they would rather let their child stay up, getting more and more tired, rather than move their arse off the sofa to start the whole mind-numbing ritual going, one more tedious time?

[FrannyandZooey]

Goddddddddd it's dull.

Absolutely not. I'm shocked that you should say such a thing and I feel it's probably indicative of a lax attitude to parenting as a whole.

(And no, I'm not skiving off on MN, letting the bath go cold, in a sort of stand off with dh to see who cracks first and actually starts the bed time routine )

Oh lord for a 12 year old to break the monotony

could you hire him out, Sally?

The worst thing is dp does loads of it anyway I am still here semi-paralysed with ennui at the thought of having to go up and join them in a minute

Oh god yes, I have even been known to rub the childrens teeth witha flannel to save the hassle of brushing them

ennui, that's what it is, ennui.
(I am at work now, so not on duty - but did it without thinking last night and accidentally put DS to bed without a wash)

I say: break the routine, get them to put you to bed

I say, sit here posting on MN and pretend you can't hear them shouting "Mummy we're ready for the story now"

Fio

Ooh look upside down traffic lights

Dh is not cracking, damn him.

Sally I have a 12 y0 too, who loves to do the story, cuddle and into the grobag thing (ie he puts 2.5 yo brother into grobag !). I do the final warm milk, but I have to say 12yo ds1 - and ds2 (11) not to mention dd (7) are worth their weight in gold at toddler bedtime. It almost makes up for their screechy bickering ways during the rest of the day .

Fortunately the bedtime routine here is on the whole pretty easy these days.

Bath (sometimes), story and bed - see you in 10 - 12 hours, hopefully.

Why is it dull Franny, is he stringing it out?

ROFL at this thread, especially Bundle's suggestion.

i liked bundles one too! franny is on form tonight

Ha ha, I;m still at work! DH will hvae put dd to bed 10 minutes ago,

me too! did bath dd earlier as my dad let her pour a cup of coffee all over herself

oh, i've got 3 hours to go

Open a bottle of wine a bit earlier in the evening , helps bed time go by in a bit of a haze !!

I do find it sometimes boring especially when I do it 98 % of the time on my own, even more so this week as hubby is away !!

Yes yes yes!!!
I feel exactly the same. They are in the bath now and will probably remain so till Property Ladder has finished and I can be arsed to get them out.
My 9 yr old Ds does read to my 6 yr old but then there's always the "I'm hungry,thirsty,bored,hot,cold,expiring" calls.

spot on, mummydear! AND keep telling yourself that it's not forever.

what i find helps, too, is i remember times w/dd1 has been ill, and how sad i felt for her - her little toys unplayed with, no happy bedtime story, spraying her pillow w/our special 'sleepytime' spray, picking out jimjams, etc.

and i think, i'd rather it be this way

i think of my good scottish pal, whose kids are all grown, and how he savours all his life and always says, 'you're a long time dead.'

my daughter went through a stage around 4 years ago when I had to read Percy the Park Keeper every night-the same tedious book!! Then it was the rainbow Fairies series- for the unaquainted-don't even go there!!

My two older boys had a serious Postman pat obsession and smallest boy who's 17months is obsessed with Topsy and Tim Go Swimming-YAAAAWWN..

However, they grow up so darn fast that I now would give anything to be doing bedtime routines with the biggest ones

I have tried pointing a ruler at them whilst shouting "Dormio!" in my best Hermione manner, but oddly it doesn't work...