Scenario
Scenario
It’s 9 pm, the children’s bedtime, and the oldest just then informs you that he needs to take a bath. Okay, it’s summer break anyways, I think to myself. The conversation between everyone begins at 9:15 pm, and as you are reminding them of the need to go to bed, it continues anyways. It eventually escalates into the youngest and oldest yelling over each other. What to do?
Practical Parenting Advice
First, I want to thank you for sharing your concerns. This is quite ordinary, especially as children get older.
Children want to push the boundaries. That is their main job in life. While they are not born blank slates, they do not understand healthy eating, sleeping, or the need for healthy exercise. It is our job as parents to show them these basic building blocks of life.
Children need repetition over time to build these healthy habits. However, like most people, they will inevitably slip to the point of least resistance.
The human psyche, like all measures of beauty, must be worked upon over time. Through repetition, we chisel away at the raw material to release the beauty within. However, this takes work, both gross and refined levels of precise movement over time, the beauty of Self we can create.
Here a few points I think we can expand upon.
- Set a regular Bedtime
- It does not matter what time they fall asleep, but how long you and your children need sleep.
- Children sleep schedules
- Infants (12 – 15 Hours)
- Toddler (11 – 14 Hours)
- Preschool (10 – 13 Hours)
- School Age (9 – 11 Hours)
- Adult Sleep Schedules
- 13 to 18 (8 – 10 Hours)
- 18 to 64 (7 – 9 Hours)
- 64+ (7 – 8 Hours)
- Turn of Blue Screen Devices 1 to 2 Hours Before Bedtime
- We have to work into sleep.
- Before bedtime, allow the brain to rest.
- Develop healthy wind-down time
- No television
- Family conversation
- Bathing to relax and wipe away the dirt of the day
- Ritualize over time
- The Human Body, Mind, and Spirit Needs Ritual Behaviors
- When Implemented Over Time, These Behaviors Become Happiness Habits
- They Also Create Healthy Boundaries Over Time Between You and Your Children
I hope these suggestions help. For more guidance on raising emotionally healthy children, please feel free to comment below. As always, my friends, namaste. May blessings find you along your journey to be the best parent you can be, and let that inner voice guide you to advance confidently in the direction of your dreams.
