4 year old and bed time

Anthillmob

sh1305 wrote: »

Do you usually let her sleep in until whenever, or is she up at a se time each day?

It would depend how you look at it - you want her to go to bed at a certain time, to ensure she gets enough sleep.

(I am aware I am waffling and I can't quite explain what I'm trying to get at - sorry!)

her and boris usually wake between 6.30am and 7am and play in their room. the only day we have to be up this early is thursday and friday when they go to nursery when i go to work.

we thought we cracked it then and she went up but then she came back down again so back to ignorance.

HannahIOW

To be honest wouldn't really recommend waking her up at 6am as that's just making a rod for your own back.... she could be tired and cranky all day and therefore even more of a nightmare lol. Although then there's the chance she will go to bed later without fuss if she's tired?

viktory

I appreciate you don't want the baby woken but bringing her downstairs is absolutely the worst thing you can do, she has got what she wants.

Personally, I would keep the baby up until she is well asleep for now.

Zazen999

Personally, I'd have told her if she keeps on, Boris will be allowed to come downstairs if you hear any more nonsense; now we'll read a book if you are quiet or I'll go get Boris if you aren't. Your decision.

but act on it if she still misbehaves.

She's won if you take her downstairs.....if you take Boris she will see it as him getting a treat which can be resolved by her being quiet.

By making her promise nana you are just drawing everyone's attention to it; so again she is getting the attention. Stop talking about it!!!

Firefly

She's one powerful little girl, isn't she?

She doesn't want a nightlight, doesn't want a landing light on, wants this and that and seems very capable of controlling a whole situation.

I have migraines and do see lights when my eyes are shut so I wouldn't diss the 'lights issue' entirely but she's got you just where she wants you.

I'd be moving to balance of power back towards parents very very quickly if I were you before she becomes a bit bigger and even more difficult to control!

Don't let someone so small rule the roost because that's what she's doing.

daniel_owen_uk

I know it sounds a little "Pavlov's dog", but whenever our kids start with something (often a phase), whatever it may be, we normally try to solve it with a reward chart.

Worth trying, and you can always throw a few other things in there too (get yourself dressed, play nicely etc), that way it doesn't 100% focus on the bedtime issue. Make sure you put one thing on that she is good at, allowing you to show her the reward chart working.

Anthillmob

oh deary me...last night we had 2 hours of 'exorcist'. when boris went off we put him on the sofa to sleep covered with a blanket. did the whole supernanny routine of ignorance and back to bed.

i was punched, slapped, bitten 3 times, kicked...had the emotional blackmail of 'i love you', 'but im all on my own up here', 'speak to me mummy' and offers to sit on the naughty step instead of go to bed. told i was a meany mummy and to go down stairs and look after nathan [boris is his nickname]. after an hour i took up residence outside the bedroom door so every time she opened it i was there waiting to escort her back to bed and eventually she went quiet and i assumed she had calmed down and came down the stairs. she shot down after me, this is when i was bitten. its bloody hard work for me to carry her coz of my hands and back and she knows this. got past me, scared the living s*** out of boris. the OH scooped her up and took her back to bed and broke the rules and shouted at her.

and then silence. and not a peep after that.

2 hours. my sister phoned halfway through to see how we were getting on and she was OMG at the noises coming from the little madam.

tonight. 20 mins of nonsense and only once did she come outof her room and come downstairs.

she was given a choice of who was taking her to bed and told that the other would not now come up until she was asleep to put boris to bed who was quite happily asleep on the sofa.

im amazed. i thought she had gone quiet and was plotting. too soon? she is very intelligent so maybe she has ot the idea. thank god it was 20 mins tonight. im not expecting a miracle though.

elektra-2007

Just keep perservering, it will get better most kids go through this stage and shes just trying to control you. my friends lad at 5 used to scream " help me please, sombody please help me!" for ages when he was sent to bed and of course it got him the reaction he wanted, brought back down to quieten him. It got worse, eventually she had to leave him every night, even tho she had concerned neighbours knocking on! Eventually he stopped. My lad is 8 and he still finds an excuse to come down stairs occasionally, to tell me somthing, see somthing ect ect. Just stand firm and keep going. Well done for your progress so far.

Firefly

Fantastic! Keep up the good work.

Indie_Kid

Anthillmob wrote: »

im not expecting a miracle though.

I think with something like this, it's going to take a lot of time and patience. You just have to keep doing the same thing and not give in to her.

Well done and keep on with this.