I used to mock, in the privacy of my mind, those parents who were chained to their kids' beds, chained to an endless nightly routine of lying down wth the kid, lying down in silence and stillness, hardly daring to breathe, sometimes for hours until said kid finally fell asleep, sometimes not until the wee hours of the night.
"Stupid jackasses," I'd mutter (in my head). "How do parents become such suckers?"
Then, one day, I became one of Those Parents. And now I understand:
Sometimes You Do What You Have To Do.
End of story.
I have FOUR kids, by the way, and it wasn't until #4 that I became the mom whose kid demands/insists I lie down with him. Because otherwise he won't sleep. Otherwise there is crying. Or, worse, he impinges upon my parental Alone Time and comes downstairs and starts playing like he belongs there, ignoring my futile pleas/commands to go back up to his bed. I have learned my lesson with that. He's 4 years old next week, and every night we lie down together on MY bed, whereupon he promptly goes to sleep. Then I get up and sneak away like any self-respecting parent would. Then when I return a couple hours later I scoop him up and put him in his bed. Every night. Every freaking night. Without fail, without deviation. Because any deviation results in a Night of Horror, and who wants that?
So what to do?
Rachael bribes her kids with candy to get them to stay in their beds (sorry for outing you, Rach). I haven't resorted to this method yet but it's tempting. But lots of parents grapple with this. I know I'm not alone. Listen to this:
"Look at your own emotional reaction. [to bed-sharing] If your emotional reaction is anger or guilt or frustration, something's wrong,"
Anger? Well, no. Guilt? Not at all. Frustration? BINGO!!
"Experts" agree that any transition away from such an arrangement takes "a few weeks". Gah. Anybody have any easier, sure-fire methods of getting my kid to sleep in HIS bed, without me? Tonight?
