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1 Real Tip for Work-Life Balance When Putting Kids to Sleep

Guest post by: Sheryl Nicholson

Article Overview: One of the advantages of having a child that's 31 and one that's 8 is that I have different sets of parent/friends. And the way we raised or managed kids 20 years ago has certainly changed from today. What I find about parents with small children today is that they've almost become a maintenance issue. It's all we can do to pick them up from daycare, rush home, feed their faces, wash their bodies, throw them in bed and start the process all over the next day. I actually know lots of parents who tuck their children into bed with a quick kiss and video. We can take advantage of the little time that we do have and get a big return on that investment at the end of every day. How do we do that? Create Bedtime Rituals....Tuck ‘em in! Most people think they don't have the time to tucks kids in properly but if you'll get an eggtimer you'll

1 Real Tip for Work-Life Balance When Putting Kids to Sleep

Tuck ‘em In One of the advantages of having a child that's 31 and one that's 8 is that I have different sets of parent/friends. And the way we raised or managed kids 20 years ago has certainly changed from today. What I find about parents with small children today is that they've almost become a maintenance issue. It's all we can do to pick them up from daycare, rush home, feed their faces, wash their bodies, throw them in bed and start the process all over the next day. I actually know lots of parents who tuck their children into bed with a quick kiss and video.

We can take advantage of the little time that we do have and get a big return on that investment at the end of every day. How do we do that? Create Bedtime Rituals....Tuck ‘em in!

Most people think they don't have the time to tucks kids in properly but if you'll get an eggtimer you'll see it's a minimum of a few minutes to a maximum of 15 and the results can last a lifetime. I often wish all my money would bring those types of legacy returns don't you?

It doesn't mean that is has to be that same old bedtime story either. Here are four suggestions. When Sara was just 2 years old, she started "filling I the blanks" of bedtime stories I would tell. This gave me an opportunity to know more about what she thought and it also reinforced the information she needed to know for self-preservation.

For example: Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl named _____ and she lived at ____ and her Mommy's and Daddy's names were ____. Her phone number was ____ and Sara had ____ brothers and ____ sisters. She also had a cat named ____ and a dog named ____. Today Sara did this ____ and what she loved about it was ____. Her favorite color is ____ because ____. You can see this story can be as long or as short as you'd like it...and it's always revealing!

Another advantage of this story telling in the confidence we both have in the event my child ever gets lost. They have known was a VERY young age - their parents' REAL names, their own address and contact information.

Another example comes from my brother Joe. His son Joseph has never had alligators under his bed or monsters in his closet. I can remember spending the night at his home next to Joseph's bedroom. I watched my large brother sit down on the floor next to his son's bed and ask "Hey buddy, what did you enjoy about your day today?" There was laughter and giggles and then hugs and a positive mind set created as Joe walked out of the room. What a wonderful way to go to sleep...for both of them.

Try starting a new ritual tonight and see what kind of positive and lifelong results YOU gt.

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Article Tags: bed, bedtime, kids, life balance, sheryl nicholson, sleep issues, worklife balance



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