Your Kids Having a Set Bedtime and Your Sanity Go Hand In Hand!
I have no clue as to why a lot of parents don’t have a set bedtime for their kids!... But you have the nerve to look at me CUH-RAZY when I say my kid's bedtime is 8pm. From around 5 months to a little after one years old, his bedtime was 7pm. Oh the stares I got from other parents at that age.
Reasons my child and now "children" have bedtimes:
💤 For 1, I'm grown.
💤 For 2, I'm married.
💤 For 3, I'm grown and I need my rest after running around like a chicken all day tending to 1 kid that lives like his name is Prince Hakeem from Coming to America. At age 2, they literally just can say one word and you jump. He says, "Cup" and you jump to go get it. He says, "Snack" and you jump to go get that too. They live the life. They have no worries and you're their butler, chef, maid, teacher, baby sitter, nurse, sugar mama, personal assistant, biggest fan, you name it. The other Prince is "fake" coughing, doing duck lips while spitting, jumping up and down until my arms feel like noodles and everything else that I don't understand at 5 1/2 months. He's HILARIOUS!!!... However... It like never ends when you work from home with your kids and have a whole husband and a house to maintain. It gets real.
In my house at 7pm, bath time begins so while the youngest is getting a bath, it's run-time for our 2 yr old which means one of us has to run wild with him and we play catch, we race, tickle, tackle, anything to wear him down because boys have ENERGY! 😫 Afterwards is story time then bed. We try to have both down by 8pm, then we either fall out on the couch talking and laughing because it's over finally (😂), we catch up on a favorite show, or we will both finish up on some work. I, however, cannot stay up too late or I will miss out on sleep since our 5 1/2 month old has not started sleeping throughout the night yet. We try to be in bed by 10pm.
OK hott mamas, let's get real for a minute... I know you really want to spend every waking minute with that little blessing (Ha!) but it's imperative that your kid(s) have a set bedtime on the weekdays. When you become a mom, your time for things gets cut in half. When you divide up all the time you had before kids, it's cut down to about a 4th of time; for some it is less 🤨. Not only that, but if you are married, that down time can be for your spouse. You can pretty much do whatever you want with that time...wink wink😝. You can look like a duck if you want. It's your world at that point. Most importantly though, they still need lots of rest when they're young. It helps them to function, comprehend, and retain at high levels the next day without the struggle. I don't know about you, but I CAN NOT STAND a grumpy, irritable baby, toddler, or kid. They can have the worst attitudes EVER IN LIFE! Lack of sleep interferes with their behavior as well so you want to set them up for success when they're not around you. You don't have time to be running up to their school or anywhere else because they acted up.
ALSO, it would be remiss of me not to mention the health aspect. After all, it's my life's mission. So let's talk about it... Kids need waaaaay more sleep than adults. With that being said, lack of sleep is not only linked to poor performance but to weight gain. Not enough hours of sleep cuts down on your body's ability to perform all of it's necessary actions dealing with your metabolism and a host of other things. It causes us to crave carbohydrates (i.e. bread, chocolate, chips) tremendously when we don't get all our rest! This we all know is NO BUENO!...
[This is how that waistline gets THICK and the muffin tops go crazy and the thighs and cellulite show up and then the STRETCH MARKS when it goes too far for too long!😫😤👎🏽]
Nonetheless, all this over time leads to heart attacks, diabetes, and on and on to what I classify as a slow suicide. Too many kids are dealing with this nowadays than it was 10, 20, and 30 years ago. Now that's food-for-thought.
Moral of the story is, you may not see it as a problem, but it is. It's the sneaky domino effect that it has that no one tells you about. Parents don't feel guilty about something so natural and beneficial to both you and your kid(s). It's ok if you let them stay up late on weekends but weekdays need to be more structured. You'll feel better about LIFE all around having a set bedtime for them! EVERYONE BENEFITS! It's a win-win!
In the meantime Beauties, have an awesome week and remember that you're already absolutely AMAZING!
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