Little Bird has always been the catalyst to which we determine if bedtime will go smoothly or not. Lately she has been providing us with her rendition of just how terrible the twos can be. Any little thing could set her off, so when bedtime would roll around, Rob and I would brace ourselves for some terrible unpleasantness.
For several months now, Little Bird has only allowed me to get her jammies on and read the bed time books. She does let Rob give her a bath, but I have to dry her off, get her dressed and read the books. If Rob tries to do any of these things, she has a huge tantrum and because we are not willing to wait out the tantrum so close to bedtime, we give in.
I know giving in wasn't the "right" thing to do because soon we had two little girls that only wanted mommy to help them get ready for bed. I am, many times, the only one getting them ready for bed (many times Rob is out of town or working late), so I can see why it might be hard for them to change up their routine when Daddy is around.
But, they need to change it up. I would love the help and more importantly Rob wants to be involved.
So, I invented a game.
I put several pieces of paper with the words Mommy or Daddy on them, into a cute little bag and the girls draw out a slip to see who will get their jammies on for the night and who will read the bed time books. It's actually kind of fun because they get so excited to see who they'll draw. What's even more cool is that they can "read" what it says without our help. And the best part is that they accept who they received and are actually excited about it!
So, while sometimes both girls draw Mommy or both girls draw Daddy, it's nice to change things up a bit.
Bedtime has gotten to be more pleasant these days and I'm giving myself a pat on the back for my brilliant idea. Hopefully the newness of the game doesn't wear off too soon and we can ride this wave of pleasantness for awhile!
Side note: The other night, I left the house a little before bedtime to get my 4 mile run in, so Daddy wasn't sure how the girls would handle just him putting them to bed, so he rigged the game. Amazingly they drew his name every time! ha!
I know giving in wasn't the "right" thing to do because soon we had two little girls that only wanted mommy to help them get ready for bed. I am, many times, the only one getting them ready for bed (many times Rob is out of town or working late), so I can see why it might be hard for them to change up their routine when Daddy is around.
But, they need to change it up. I would love the help and more importantly Rob wants to be involved.
So, I invented a game.
I put several pieces of paper with the words Mommy or Daddy on them, into a cute little bag and the girls draw out a slip to see who will get their jammies on for the night and who will read the bed time books. It's actually kind of fun because they get so excited to see who they'll draw. What's even more cool is that they can "read" what it says without our help. And the best part is that they accept who they received and are actually excited about it!
So, while sometimes both girls draw Mommy or both girls draw Daddy, it's nice to change things up a bit.
Bedtime has gotten to be more pleasant these days and I'm giving myself a pat on the back for my brilliant idea. Hopefully the newness of the game doesn't wear off too soon and we can ride this wave of pleasantness for awhile!
Side note: The other night, I left the house a little before bedtime to get my 4 mile run in, so Daddy wasn't sure how the girls would handle just him putting them to bed, so he rigged the game. Amazingly they drew his name every time! ha!
Ooh...great idea! Glad it's working for you guys! I wonder if I could wrangle up a little game, where the girls had to draw whether they would nap peacefully or not...and I might just weight the cards... ;)
ReplyDelete