Since our oldest was born, I, as a father, have been adamant that I will do the bath and bedtime routine every night with our boys. I get an equal amount of puzzled looks and statements of agreement when I tell any other working father that this is what I do. I would rather get up early, go to work, be home for dinner, bath, and bedtime for our boys, then go back to work rather than miss out on that quality time. I would not change it for anything…
Though as our oldest has grown, bedtime is not simply a bottle, book and into the crib. It is now a long drawn out process coupled with negotiation. We have managed to include our youngest in the reading routine and all are satisfied with that. Keeping our oldest in bed after bath and book is a whole different set of challenges.
We have heard it all – “I need water. I need to go potty. I am hungry. I don’t want to be here. I want to check on my brother.” And the list goes on and on. While the premise of our routine is the same – dinner, bath, bed – the last part takes a new spin most nights. We sing, we tell stories, we have our oldest tell stories, we make “deals,” or whatever means necessary to get him to agree to stay in bed. Occasionally, it is easy. That is not usually the case so we have to think on our feet a lot and combine that with a little bit of luck.
Some nights we can tell it will be difficult. Other nights it comes as a surprise. It is only a matter of time when our youngest will be out of his crib and this bed time challenge will be doubled…
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