SOMEONE HELP ME!!!
I am seriously almost at the end of my too-short tether with this issue. Bedtime with my 5, almost 6yo, is total hell (ok, that was a strong word, sorry). I do NOT know what to do! Nothing I try seems effective. She does NOT stay in bed and it's always for a different reason. She goes in stages. When she was a baby, we did the whole "Healthy sleep habits, happy child" thing (it's a book, a good book, imo!). She slept like a dream. Then she turned 10mo. She started walking at 9mo, and could climb out of her crib and open the door at 10mo. Bedtime has never been the same.
She used to get up and sneak around the house all night long as a toddler. we turned her doorknob around to lock her into her room for her own safety. She's gone through a stage where she would keep getting up and running around after that, and we'd have to send her back to bed. She hates to sleep. She fights sleep. Now she is playing like she's scared every night. She wants her bedroom light on. But then she reads and plays on her bed until 11pm or later
she wants to sleep with her brother, but they play all night. She has 3 nightlights in there, and a door open and hallway light on (daddy's idea, all of it). And she still claims to be scared. her bedtime is the same each night, her routine is the same each night. I am seriously going insane. I hate bedtime with a passion, I turn into EVIL mom at that time. I hate myself because I get so angry and my blood pressure rises.
That's my vent. Anyone has any reasonable suggestions, please let me know. Btw, just further information-- she is very bright and manipulative, can be very charming and loving (I do so love her! reall, I do...) she is assertive and has all these qualities that will make her one excellent woman to reckon with some day. But she is totally resistant to any sort of conditioning! Praise her, spank her, cuddle her, yell at her, it's all the same. she does what she likes. seriously, none of it makes any difference. Daddy can spank her and she does the same thing 5min later, if it's what she wanted to do. I should have known, when I found her on the countertop digging in the cupboards for food at 8mo. She gets what she wants. she's probably the only kid who could have survived just fine in the jungle as a toddler. *sigh*.