4 year old playing up at bedtime.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

I have a just turned 4 year old who has been rather spirited of late...

We’ve had a few issues with him but the latest one is that bedtimes are a nightmare.

He gets in his pyjamas quite happily, has his wash and brushes his teeth etc, he has stories and gets in to bed ok but the problem is that for about an hour afterwards he’s just messing about in his room.

He gets his toys out, starts playing games, he gets in and out of bed constantly, he comes out his room and then runs back in when he hears me or DH coming and this goes on every night. Previously he’s always just stayed in bed and drifted off to sleep within 20 minutes or so but now we are dealing with this and it’s quite annoying now as our evenings are spent constantly dealing with this. Our son is also pretty tired come the next morning as night after night of this takes it’s toll on him too. It’s been going on for a good few weeks now.

Has anyone got any advice or suggestions as the best way to address this?

I have a 4 year old too who constantly finds new ways to push those boundaries....
He started doing this sort of thing one night having previously gone to bed ok and I decided to read him an instalment of a book outside his bedroom door once he's in bed each night. I read it in the most boring voice I can manage and I choose a story that's not too exciting to him. I recommend something with old-fashioned language like Wind in the Willows or Paddington.
So far that has worked but if he starts doing it again plan B would be to play an audiobook CD.
Also through trial and error I have found that in general when he's playing up, especially at bedtime, I need to stay very very calm (easier said than done!!) and not give him any sign that he's winding me up. Then calmly counting to 3 and giving him consequences if he doesn't listen (eg reduce stories, remove toys). So do your best not to turn it into an exciting game of who will win.... Good luck!

I think firstly you should for now remove toys from the bedroom if you can so he can't get them out. There are a lot of documentaries about kids struggling to get to sleep I would suggest watching them for advice. Finally on the weekends when you and your kids don’t need to go to work or have any plans, if the child keeps coming out and usually DH would go to the child and the child runs back to the room, then I would suggest that DH ignores the child and then wait for the child to get bored and go back to bed on their own when they are tired