It’s easy as a parent to let your children’s bedtime slip later and later throughout the holiday break. It begins innocently enough, with you coming home later than normal from a holiday function, causing your kids to see the first part of the nine o’clock hour, but after a few can’t miss TV specials are watched by the family, the bedtime has become closer to 11pm. With the return of school barreling down on kids like a light at the end of a train tunnel, it’s time to work them back to a regular schedule.
5 Tips for Getting Your Children Back to Bedtime Post Holiday Season
1) Soda
Now is the time to really crack down on your how much caffeine your kids have. If they are old enough to have any at all make sure it’s not after two or three PM.
2) Return To Old Habits
Do your kids normally eat dinner then bathe right before bedtime? Now is the time to start kickstart those routines again.
3) Scale Back Screen Time
At the end of a long day, or when you just want a moment of quiet time, it can be common for parent to turn to the TV. You don’t need to take away screen time all together, but it should be turned off at least one hour before bedtime.
4) Rise and Shine
No parent loves letting their kid sleep in more than myself, but time has come for the sleep gravy train to be de-railed. Set the alarm clock to wake up the kids 15 minutes earlier than the day before until they’re back to the normal time
5) Bedtime Enforcement
The last and hardest step to getting your kids back on track is scaling back bedtime. Start off slowly by moving it up 15 minutes at a time until your reach the pre-holiday schedule.
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