Bedtime from hell

[bakewellbride]

Nearly ) year old wouldn't listen at bedtime. Had to ask him a million times to do basic things like put his pyjamas on. He ignored all our warnings and now has zero screen time tomorrow.

2 year old is just being a real challenge. We recently moved her into her big girl bed and instead of lying in it and going to sleep she gets up, walks around the room, laughs in my face when I tell her it's bedtime, kicks me.

I've just had enough. Is anyone else in the same boat. I'm currently sat on the floor in DD's room just desperate for her to go to sleep.

6 that should've said, nearly 6

Get the reward charts going!!!
A sticker fir each completed task...get so many stickers get a BIG reward.

6 year old wont want to be outdone by the 2 year old.

Tons of praise for even the littlist thing

2 year old, keep putting back to bed, even if 50 times, consider stair gate over door

With the eldest we do lots of praise type things. He has a marble jar which he usually loves getting to put marbles in for doing good things but at bedtime it just goes out the window for some reason. He also has a special lucky dip box and if he does something REALLY good he gets to reach in and get a new Lego mini figure. Again he doesn't care at bedtime. He also has a chord chart and gets a sticker each day if he completes his household chores. When the chart fills up he gets a prize. I really don't want to add a 4th reward style thing into the mix as that would just confuse him but thank you anyway, I get what you're trying to say.

The toddler is lying in her bed now so that's something 👍🏻

Chore not chord!

There is a beavers trip in a few weeks and if ds consistently behaves like this I have actually said I'll pull him out of it and he won't be going. Harsh perhaps but he has to learn, I can't be dealing with this every night.

Pointless waste of time. The punishment has no correlation to the 'misbehaviour'. He may seem very able but his brain is still very undeveloped, you need to stop treating him like an adult. For this I wouldn't be looking to punish but to change the routine to something that suits him better, like earlier bedtime if he's overtired etc. There's no such thing as a naughty child, just an unregulated one

@movingonsaturday there is no need to call my parenting 'a pointless waste of time' how rude. Hiding this thread now and never returning, was just looking for a few people to offer a handhold and don't need to be ripped to pieces after sitting on my daughter's floor for nearly an hour. I would never talk to another poster the way some people talk to each other on here.

Massive overreaction to an perfectly valid opinion - the poster wasn't being rude or ripping you to shreds!

Do you want a handhold or do you want advice?

I get you are really stressed but to be perfectly honest this is a normal part of parenting. Its a phase and you will get through it.

You don’t mention a partner but if there is one what do they do to help or hinder this situation?

Perhaps it could have been phrased differently but @movingonsaturday is right. The consequences need to be related to the behaviour that you’re trying to change for them to be effective.

No screen time tomorrow sounds like you’re making life hard for yourself. Is he overtired so not able to do things as well as he can when he’s not? Do you have a bomb proof evening routine so he knows exactly what to expect from you and what you expect from him?

with your dd you need to be very cool and calm. She gets out of bed you put her back in, she gets out, you put her back……. Repeat ad infinitum for as many nights as it takes for her to get the message. Yes it’s a pita but it’s completely worth it in the long run.

You can do this @bakewellbride

Didn't mean to offend you op. I was calling the decision to ban him from his beavers trip a pointless waste of time because it will not impact his behaviour in the slightest except to maybe make it worse as he'll be upset about it. Some child psychology books might be helpful to have a quick skim through, they definitely helped me to understand my kids when I was struggling

My 6yo has no capacity to listen at bedtime. He's getting tired. Various strategies get used here. DS loves 'racing' so either I time him or I also get ready for bed (well I put my PJ's on and pretend clean my teeth) and let him win the 'race'. He also loves to think he's putting us (particularly DH) out in some way. Let him use DHs shower gel and then get DH up to jokily ask who's used his shower gel or letting him use the ensuite shower and he's in there like a shot giggling away! The tickle monster comes out at bedtime - 'anyone not brushing their teeth is being tickled in 5,4,3,2,1'. It's exhausting and some nights it's still carnage but once you've found out what motivates him at least you have tricks up your sleeve. Even when my DD is telling DS he's being tricked he finds racing one of us so hilarious he does it anyway!