What Can I Do To Help My Child Sleep
Every parent who has wrestled through bedtime with their little ones knows the importance of doing the groundwork (read: heartwork) to be able to love your children through rough nights. Once you’ve taken the time to reorient your heart and mind for the task ahead, it’s time to begin putting some practical tools in your toolbelt. The goal is to help redirect your kids’ attention from wanting to get up, while simultaneously helping their bodies slow down long enough to get comfortable and fall asleep.
Here are three tools to help your children stay in bed and stay asleep through the night. And the good news is—these tools are the same ones that we would use with ourselves.
1. Plan Out the Last Few Hours of the Day
There are a few ways to ensure your kids are physically ready for bed. First, schedule their last meals close enough to bedtime that their tummies will be full, but not so close that their bodies are still digesting (which will keep them up). If your little ones don’t like sitting down for a big meal at dinner time, try letting them come back to finish their meal about 30 minutes after dinner has ended.
Second, you’ll want to let them be active before it’s time to get ready to sleep. This doesn’t mean we should be riling our kids up right before we tuck them in (because then they’ll be ready for play). Before jammies and teeth brushing, have your kids spend some time getting their energy out. Go for a walk, make an obstacle course, or have a dance party! Do something together as a family that will help you bond, while also tiring them out before bed.
30 minutes before bedtime, have your kids start winding down. Too early and they’ll get a second wind. Too late and they’ll still be excitable. Try a relaxing group activity like a puzzle, reading books, or talking about the highlight of the day. Do something that everyone enjoys, doesn’t risk anyone getting upset, and doesn’t require too much thinking or physical movement.
2. Read Something Relaxing
Once your children are all cozy and tucked into bed, read to them! It’s great to read a picture book together, but once they’re in bed, find something age-appropriate that doesn’t have pictures. This gives them fewer reasons to climb out of bed. This might be a children’s chapter book or a children’s Bible.
3. Pray with Your Little Ones (and Teach Them to Pray)
After you turn out the lights, pray with your kids. This not only gives you one last calm interaction with them, but it also invites God into their bedtime routine. You can say a prayer for good sleep, pray away bad dreams, or even teach them to pray themselves if they’re up in the middle of the night. You can find some prayers here.
A Heart of Compassion
Children aren’t so different from you and me. They have fears, worries, hopes, and dreams. They want to explore the world, observing life with an open-minded curiosity. With such a rapid expansion of understanding in so many new areas comes confusion, questions, and uncertainty. Whether it’s wrestling through bedtime, struggling to obey, or testing out boundaries with others, children need us to be there for them. Not with iron fists, but with tender, compassionate hearts.
“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:13 NLT)
