Help me fix bedtime - please!

[musicianswidowAKAmumofmonsters]

sO, DS1(4) and DS2 (2) share a room. DS2 has the side off his cot as it was safer for him that having him stand on the window ledge every night!

Night times at the moment are horrible! DS1 used to just go to sleep when we put him to bed and that wa s it until morning but recently DS2 is being a monster and they are messing around, which inevitably turns to fighting. Last night it was gone 9 when i ended up separating them,ds1 in my bed and ds2 inhis cot. DS1 had been jumping on DS2s back !!

I don't know what to do, shouting doesn't work , naughty space not working and i haven't got any space to move them in sep rooms! I try and ignore them if they ar eplaying nicely and quietly but its getting ridiculous.

The only thing i can think of is that i take one of them to bed later but whichever one it is will Always wake the other up.

put one to sleep in your room

when you go up, move said child back to his bed

do that for a few nights until they get the message and then move them back together. If they muck about excessively, immediately take one out.

They don't like being separated because it means they don't get to have as much fun!

I do think, though, that you have to let a certain amount of pissing about happen. The problem is that yours are too young to understand that there comes a time where they need to settle down iyswim.

Can you put your older child to sleep in your bed and carry him through to the shared room when you come to bed? The older child should be capable of going to bed without waking the other up - have you tried a reward chart?

mine are 6 and 5 (and in together) and still muck about a fair bit

Young one to bed first, then older one next, with threats of toy confiscation if he touches, talks to, or goes close to other child.

i am doing the transferring at the mo. to be fair, its not the mucking around that i am bothered about. they are only young i pretend not to notice iyswim. its when one of them starts screaming or crying or i hear thumping and bumping that i go in.

I do sympathise. I try terribly hard not to lose my cool with the kids but it's the one thing that almost guarantees a massive sense of humour failure on my part - when they are still messing around at 9pm and I KNOW they will be overtired the next day!

i agree with colditz, re threats of taking toy away also reward him with something nice if he behaves