How To Make Bedtime Fun For Kids
As online education becomes a trend that’s here to stay, kids continue to spend a huge amount of time indoors and at home. While this has its pros and cons, the one big challenge parents face is putting the kids to sleep. As outdoor play time reduces and they spend more time on screens, it can become a challenge to get them to sleep at their regular nap and bedtime. In such a situation, it becomes important to make bedtime fun rather than forcing them to sleep. Here are some simple but effective ways to make bedtime fun for kids even when they spend more time indoors and are not exhausted enough to call it a day.
Pretend play on bed
Of course, kids love a good bedtime story. However, instead of reading out a story or simply narrating one, how about pretend play? Make the bed the central place of your story – an island of fairies and dragons or a magic carpet that doubles up as a bed when a good-hearted kid falls asleep over it… Use your imagination to create a fun pretend play time where they enjoy spending time on the bed. Gradually, steer your story to include night time or a power nap for earning a jetpack for the story’s hero. Use your kids’ dohar or kids’ towel to create a makeshift canopy and watch them fall asleep a lot more willingly.
Bring their favourite characters to their bedroom
Kids are more likely to listen to their favourite heroes and characters than anyone else; imagine the Frozen princess herself arriving in your kids’ bedroom and in fact, on your kids’ bedding to put them to sleep. It is simple yet definitely an effective way to make bedtime fun for kids. Once you have bought home a kids bedding set or kids dohar from SPACES’ wide range of bed linen for kids, remember to tell them why their favourite character has chosen to spend time in their bedrooms. Just like kids are good when they believe Santaclaus is keeping an eye, they are likely to be obedient when their favourite character comes home.
Introduce ‘yes day’ to reward their bedtime behaviour
A big reason why kids hate being told they must go to sleep is because it makes them feel unlike adults. They want to have more say, just like what they believe their parents have at the end of the day. So depending on how old your kids are, consider a barter. If they are obedient about their bedtime rituals – cleaning their teeth, having a shower, setting out their bath towel to dry, and going to sleep on time – they win a ‘yes day’ at the end of the month.
A ‘yes day’ is where you meet all their demands, except when they conflict 2 or 3 ground rules which you can set at the start. This arrangement lets the kids feel that they are in control of their bedtime behaviour, and works to everyone’s advantage.
Well, now that you have a couple of ideas to make bedtime fun for kids and easy for you, go ahead, and try them out.