go back to bed!

Mitchell was up and wandering around his room before 6:00am this morning. By 6, both boys had sprung forth from their room and headed down the hall to the kitchen. They don't come and crawl into our bed these days.

Steven and I, being the World's Best Parents stayed in bed. A minute later we could hear drawers open and close and cutlery being dropped on the floor. Steven finally huffs down the hall and yells at them to go back to bed. They decide they don't want to. He tells them to go downstairs and play then (great follow-through eh?). He comes back to bed. They go downstairs. Two minutes later there's yelling and crying. Then they're screaming and fighting on the stairs. They come into our room. Steven chases them back into their room and tells them to go back to bed. He shuts the door. Now they're crying, screaming and mad. They're kicking the door. Steven goes back in another time, gives them each a smack on the bum and tosses them into their beds. They scream and cry some more, and pound on the walls. The saga continues.

Now, I've heard of this product called the Good Nite Lite. It's a programmable night light that glows blue over night and then in the morning it changes into an orange sun. You set the time. The kids are supposed to learn that night time isn't over until the sun comes out.

Given the joys of this morning so far, I feel that the night light would be a good idea. It might be nice if we weren't already disciplining kids before 6am. I'm all about smoother mornings.

Steven thinks it's dumb to spend (after shipping) $46 on a nightlight. I've already ordered it. The laptop makes early morning impulse buys so incredibly easy!

What do you think? Good idea? Or silly? Vote in my pole!

Comments

Q&L said…
one of my cousins put a digital clock in her sons room, she told him he had to stay in his room until 7:59. She just got him to learn the 5 and 9 numbers i think. If he got up before then, he had to spend quiet time in his room. I know he was doing it when he was 4 already. And somehow it works, crazy?!
Patkau Life said…
My friend has that clock and she loves it. Her daughter grasped the concept. I know that some kids at stubborn, lazy or get frustrated with trying to figure out the number all the time. This is a bit easier. Plus if they just have to look up and see that it is still blue they may just roll back over and go to sleep. If they have to make the mind work to see the number they will for sure be awake so there will be no going back to sleep.

She loves it and says it was well worth the money.
Hope it works for you as well as it did for her.
Tiffany said…
I've considered the alarm clock thing too, but I'm not sure if Mitchell is quite there yet. Tennyson would be able to check the time out, but Mitchie is only just 2. I figure that by the time Elliot transfers to a bed, Mitchell will be able to use the alarm clock for sure and I can give the Good Nite Lite to Elliot!

I told Steven that I wasn't paying $46 for an alarm clock, I was paying $46 for the joy of staying in bed until 7!

I'll let you know how it goes.
Lora said…
Jake has a clock, and it worked for a few months, but then he'd just start the whining by saying, "mom, I know it's not 7 o'clock yet but I'm having an emergency thought/nightmare/conversation in my head/whatever that I really need to talk to you about"

I want this nightlite too, so I'm voting yes!
Naomi said…
I think that $46 is not too much to spend if it works. I'm sure it will. We started using a clock for bedtime/naptime with Ashton a long time ago, as soon as we realized he could recognize his numbers. We just say bedtime is at the 12 or whatever time we wanted and when it got there, all we said was "what does the clock say" and off to bed he went. Lately it has been a bit trickier, if the minute hand goes past the number just a bit, he thinks he can stay up because "we missed it". But it still works pretty good. I think the light thing would work well, the kids will find it fun, at least for awhile, hopefully long enough to get them "trained"

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