Mom Life | In bed by 8 + No peeps in the morning

Are you having trouble putting your little one in bed? How about having trouble with your morning routine?

Because GIRL! It was tough out here! But I am happy to announce that I found a solution that has worked for my child and me and I'm hoping that you can take something out of my experience to help you.

I managed to get him in bed by 8pm on school nights and having a smooth morning routine with no complaints.

Now this was not easy. Andre was use to sleeping at the same time I was (and I'm a night owl) and would not go to sleep until all lights were off. I knew things needed to change because he was starting school and needed a set schedule, and because (yes, I'll admit it) I needed a few hours to myself before bed.

Not only that, but also getting ready in the morning was so dreadful. It was complaint after complaint and taking too much time for a single task. (Andre has ADHD so with that alone we needed extra time). Our morning routine was tough and I knew that wasn't the right way to start our day and needed a solution ASAP!

We decided to go to the store and he picked an alarm clock for himself (with a nightlight that changed colors - this really got him excited) and we used it in reverse. We set the alarm for 9pm as a bedtime and when the alarm went off it meant to go to bed.

We started with a set time of 9pm as his bedtime and he did good at first but about a week later he would start to wake up tired and cranky again.

I explained to him how I couldn't change the time he would start school, therefore I couldn't change the time he would have to wake up, but what we could change is the time he would go to sleep. I also explained if he goes to sleep an hour earlier that would mean he would get that extra hour of sleep.

He agreed and we changed his bedtime to 8pm. I told him if he was still tired in the morning we could then change his bedtime to 7pm. He of course didn't like that very much and stayed committed to the time that we agreed on and as long as there were no peeps in the morning we would stick to 8pm.

No peeps! Meaning zero complaints about waking up or getting ready.

Now no, its not perfect all the time and there are days that he stays past the 8 o'clock mark (and I let him, but he knows the one rule still stands of no peeps in the morning).

This has been working for us for the past 3 years and I can't imagine it being any different. This really keeps us on top of things like homework time, shower time and dinner time so that he can be in bed by 8.

Now if we all know, we have to be creative with these kids. What works this week may not work the next. So we have to remember to stay consistent but yet be open to change little routines that work best for our children as we go.

Funny Story:

It was around 8:45pm and Andre was not going to sleep so I told him "Andre, I don't want any peeps out of you in the morning."

His response was "You won't mommy, not even the candy kind!"

Yup! He's my child!