[Seek] Sleeping Children

Through my over twenty years of parenting, bedtime has been an interesting adventure at times.

My youngest, at just over a year old, used to tell her older siblings to go back to bed at night should they venture to the bathroom after they were put to bed. She, however, felt she and she alone had the right to stay up and wait for Daddy to get home from work.

The same child, at age three, insisted I read her "scary" books before bed. Books like "Beauty and the Beast Friends are Sweet" and "Babar at the Seashore." Then she would insist on listening to the theme from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to help her not be scared.

At one point in time, my children were very into workbooks and would beg to stay up late to do more math. I had to decree that there shall be no math after 10PM. Then one night I asked how much longer the show we were watching was ... it was 10:15PM and I wanted to go to bed when it was over ... and was told they couldn't tell me because math.

One night more recently, my husband and I requested that the children settle down and go to bed ... well, to their rooms and do quiet things so their parents could have a bit of peace and quiet before bed. They, in turn, requested to stay up a little while longer. I said they could only if they made brownies. They made brownies.

And the excuses for not going to bed or to sleep have included things such as these gems, "Haley's sleeping is keeping me awake" and "all the darkness is keeping me awake" and "my breathing sounds are keeping me awake" and "my brother's sleeping is keeping me awake."

I thought going to bed issues would be a thing of the past by now. My kids are ages 12, 15, 18, 20, and 21. But no. Just the other night I found myself yelling up the stairs to the noisy children, "Stop talking about human rights and quiet down so your parents can sleep!!!"  Why they feel the need to have a passionate discourse about human rights at 11PM is beyond me...but I suppose they could be talking about worse things.

Apparently the adventure continues!