It seems obvious that what a child does right before they go to bed will affect how they sleep, but did you know that a child’s inability to fall asleep could also be linked to their daytime habits?
The good news is, changing their daytime habits and establishing a pre-bedtime routine will help you to work with your child to get quality rest and to get rid of those sleep problems once and for all!
Whatever you are feeling at the moment, your child is feeling too. They feel scared, vulnerable, uncertain of what the future holds, not knowing when they’ll go back to school or see their friends again. They also sense all of your anxiety. None of us have ever experienced anything like this before. Of course, your little one’s behaviour is going to change, and unfortunately it won’t be for the better. They may have more meltdowns or tantrums, they may get angry and fight you on everything, they may become really anxious or wake in the night with nightmares, or not be able to get to sleep at all. This is all normal.
We’ve talked about children’s fear of the dark before, but this is such an ongoing problem for many of us, so we thought we’d revisit it. After all, sleep deprivation is no one’s friend!
In a study by Muris et al 2001 children aged 4 -12 and their parents were interviewed about children's night time fears. Results showed that 73.3% of the children were afraid of the dark.
In a few, short days our beautiful little people will head back to school. For most families it’s a combination of excitement mixed with sadness because the school holidays are over. For some, like us, back to school time is quite challenging due to back to school anxiety. Much to my surprise I’ve realised that we are not alone, there are many families who struggle at this time of year.
Now back to school jitters are completely normal and fade after a few weeks but for children who struggle with anxiety, it can be quite stressful.
The nightly ritual of reading your children a bedtime story is such a crucial part of childhood for so many wonderful reasons and one that my children and I look forward to every evening.
I thought that I’d share with you some of the positives that I’ve found from reading with my children and a few of our favourite bedtime books.
