Conquering Bedtime Procrastination: Tips for Parents -

Bedtime Procrastinator: Master Level

I need to make a confession.

As a child, I was an Olympic-level bedtime procrastinator.

I had tactics. Strategies. Advanced negotiation skills.

My personal favorite was spotting a tiny spider or dust bunny in the corner of the ceiling and screaming like the house was on fire.

Suddenly I had all the attention I could ever want, although it was negative in nature.

Bedtime Procrastinators at Your House?

Do you have any of these creative, mischievous littles in your castle? Let me jog your memory:

water
needs to use the bathroom for the 8th time in 5 minutes…
another hug
another blanket
a stuffed animal they haven’t seen in ten years – slight exaggeration
the need to pray for children in Asia
a story
deep life questions, ALL of these ONLY happen after laying down in bed… anyone else?

If kids put the same energy into school that they put into avoiding bedtime, we’d have a nation of child geniuses.

Bedtime Procrastinators: The Motive

Possible reasons:

• they don’t want the day to end
• they want more connection time
• they’re overtired
• the routine is unpredictable

I’ve personally thought it is mostly fear of missing out and separation anxiety. But who am I?

Bedtime Procrastination Solutions

When my kids were younger, bedtime sometimes felt like negotiating with tiny caffeinated kittens.

What helped the most wasn’t being stricter. It was having a predictable nighttime rhythm.

And what finally brought the most peace? This may be a wet blanket on your hope, but… the biggest relief was when I decided to lay in the kid’s rooms until they fell asleep. Otherwise, I got more steps in after 8:30pm, then I did all day. (True story). Think massive trips with said items in hand over and over again.

These things did help:

• bath
• quiet time
• reading
• lights out routine

But what really brought peace is when I’d lay on their floors and read my grown up books silently, or catch up on emails. My presence helped them relax much quicker with so much less chaos. (Sorry, not sorry – it’s the truth).

Free (my favorite F word), Procrastinator Deciminator…

After going through years of bedtime chaos, I eventually wrote down the routine that helped our house settle down in the evenings.

I turned it into a little guide for other tired parents.

If you have a bedtime procrastinator in your house and want the routine, you can grab the guide here. (Although, I left out laying in their rooms until the “knock out moment”).

You can grab your free Peaceful Routine Sleep Guide Here. Thanks for stopping by today. Please share your kids procrastination schemes. It would help us all to take a break and giggle. We sure get creative when we want to avoid stuff.