How to Get Kids to Sleep In the Same Room

The sleep experiment has been a success, hooray!!!

A few posts back I wrote about the troubles of getting the boys to sleep when they sleep in same room and prefer to play rather than sleep once the lights go out. (see A Sleep Over Every Night)

My solution to sit on the floor at the door of their bedroom has been a tremendous success. The first couple of nights I sat for 45 minutes, and had to tell them off very frequently, and sometimes had to put them in the naughty corner. I also became very bored sitting there.

The second night I brought along a book 'The Power of a Praying Parent' by Stormie Omartian, and I've been using this opportunity to work through the book every night.

The third night the boys realised that I wasn't going to go away (even though they asked me to). We'd also had a long day. They slept within 15 minutes.

The fourth night I realised that I didn't need to wait for both to fall asleep, I just had to wait for one party to sleep and I could sneak off, because they don't act up if the other one is sleeping!

It's about over a week now since I started this, and I can safely say that the boys no longer equate going to sleep with having a party! Getting kids to sleep in the same room is not impossible!

Now getting them to sleep is a cinch!

A Sleep Over Every Night

JJ and SamSam sleep in the same room. They've slept together since JJ was two and a half years old, and SamSam one and a half.

Their beds, which are cots without one side on, are positioned head to toe. The door has only just enough space to open and close, but we found this configuration frees up a lot of room for play.

I remember when we first put them in the same room, I was a little apprehensive and wondering how many times I was going to have to get up to settle two crying toddlers! I needn't have been so worried.

Putting them together was a really good idea. It freed up time as I could put them down to sleep in one go, rather than two separate rooms at two separate times. It also freed up an extra room for a guest room.

It took a couple of nights before JJ totally ignored SamSam's cries in the night, and soon SamSam stopped waking up too - I realised he was having dreams because I'd dressed him too warmly! (they have totally different heat and cold sensitivity).

The first year they shared a bedroom was very good. They went to sleep really well. We would tuck them in, pray with them, kiss them good night, turn on their bedtime music, and switch off the lights. They'd fall asleep with no issues.

However, as they've grown they've become more playful and a bit mischievious. To add to that, now that they can communicate verbally with each other it's been taking a really long time for them to go to sleep. There's just so much laughter going on in there! Sometimes I have to go into their room five times before they finally settle down. Sometimes I find toys in their bed, or JJ is reading in the dim glow of the window light! But most times they're rolling on top of each other in SamSam's bed!

The solution I've come up with a few nights ago seems to be working. I sit on the floor at the entrance of their room until they sleep!!! Night number 1 and number 2, it took them 45 minutes before they slept! (I had a sore bum afterwards). But last night, it took only 15 minutes. I think they now understand my no-nonsense policy, so they've given up trying to play, and just settle in to sleep. We'll see how they go tonight anyway!

I'm hoping that after a week of getting used to my watchful eye, they'll just automatically go straight to bed, and I'll quietly slip away.

An unexpected benefit of sitting and waiting for them to sleep (which was so boring the first night), is that I decided it was a good opportunity to start reading. Not only that, but I've realised I can really make the most of this time by praying for my boys. The book that I'm reading and praying through is 'The Power of a Praying Parent' by Stormie OMartian.

I believe that prayer can make an incredible difference. Prayer is so powerful. It has the power to change lives, to heal, to protect, there's so much! In my life, prayer is vital. It is the way I receive strength, peace and wisdom to live my life - through talking and listening to my loving Father in heaven.

'The Power of a Praying Parent' is a really good, practical book, that has chapters about different areas of your children's life that you may want to pray for. At the end of each chapter is a specific prayer that you can pray for them. Some examples are for their protection; resisting rebellion; good family relationships; purity; freedom from fear and many other areas that I would not have thought about, but I now see are very important.

Hey, I should pray that they sleep faster!!

I had started to read the book last year, before I went to bed, but somehow I got distracted - probably by sleep... Now that I have a set time to sit and wait for the boys, I have very good discipline and good motivation!

I couldn't recommend this book highly enough.

Road Trip

Yesterday was a big day of cleaning, tidying and packing the van. The boys watched DVDs all morning and into the afternoon!! But it was the only way to ensure we could get everything done.

We've got some friends who will be staying at our house while we are away, so we have to do a good job making it look good!

The trip took four hours in our van which was packed fit to bursting! I was disappointed that there wasn't room for the boys' bikes :(

The boys are seasoned travellers whether by car, train or plane, and so we don't have much trouble when we are on the road. In the van, which is a small campervan, there is a small shelf of books which the boys help themselves to during the trip. I have no idea how they don't get carsick when they look at books in the moving van, because both me and their Dad get really carsick if reading in a moving vehicle!

They hadn't had their nap by the time we left, so it was really good timing that they slept for about half the trip up.

We got some drivethu Maccas on the way through, and two quick toilet stops, but other than that drove straight through. The Maccas was good in that the boys were occupied for a long time eating their fillet of fish - half each! It's handy that they're packaged in cardboard boxes so that the boys can balance the box on their laps and eat.

Before we got to our destination, Bright, a beautiful alpine village on the way to the NSW border, it started to rain in the distance. Suddenly JJ spoted a rainbow in the sky! It was the most incredible rainbow we have ever seen! We could see both ends of it, and it lasted for a good 10 minutes! The colours were so vivid, and it was so BIG! I saw it as God saying that he would bless the time we spend with our friends and our family.

My parents and siblings are driving down to meet us in a few days, and we also have many friends who will be meeting up with us while we're here. So it will certainly be a great time of friendship and laughter :)

The boys were a bit hyperactive when we arrived after being cooped up for so long. It was 8pm when we finally got in! They ran up and down our friend's house and made lots of noise. After a yummy BBQ, and many servings of fresh berries and yoghurt, the boys finally went to bed close on 10:30pm!!!

The boys get to sleep in our room for these holidays - a whole month! They each have a mattress on the floor next to our bed. We were here only a few months ago, and so it's not totally unfamiliar to them. However, they are very good with adjusting to sleeping in new places. I think it's because we have travelled so much since they were small.

Some Tips On Getting Children to Sleep in New Surroundings When on Holidays!
To get children to settle into new surroundings it's a good idea to spend time in the room they will be sleeping in during the first day so that they get familiar with it. It's not just what the room looks like, children are very sensitive - even the smell of the room, and feel of the room they need to get used to. If you play some games or read a book with them, they'll feel much more settled when they have to sleep there later.

Bring their pillow slips from home, and blankets that they're used to, a soft toy etc. this will help them feel more at home with their new surroundings and settle faster.

Let them watch or help you prepare their beds and tell them specifically who is sleeping where. It's also nice to point out where you are going to sleep, and reassure them that it's very close!

If you turn on special music for them to sleep to, take all efforts to bring it with you and play it! We have a beautiful lullabies CD that we've played for the boys since they've been tiny babies. Playing the music is incorporated into their sleep routine. It's called 'Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies & Peaceful Worship' by Twila Paris, it is soooo awesome! The lyrics are just amaaazing, and the music is restful. I also believe that the words will sink into their spirits while they sleep. We've put a copy on our mobile phone and play it through some compact travel speakers.

The boys were asleep without any problems (except for rolling on each other because I put their mattresses too close together - I had to intervene and put more space between them). By the time the third song on the CD started, they were both fast asleep.