I bend down to give my son a good night cuddle. His chubby little arms wrap themselves around my neck and he plants a soggy kiss on my cheek. I love this time. His scent of slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails. I love this time when he actually stays in his room and goes to sleep.
I whisper the Magic Words to him.
The words that tell him it’s time to go to sleep.
There are times when the Magic Words don’t work. There are times when my children are in and out of bed about a billion times after lights out.
It drives me crazy.
But most of the time, the Magic Words work.
When they wake up at night time, I give them a cuddle and say the Magic Words.
If they keep waking up, or are having problems going back to sleep, I might just say the Magic Words from the door.
A gentle “sssh” and the Magic Words.
Want to know how the Magic Words work?
It’s no secret. It’s all to do with establishing a good bedtime routine.
A good bedtime routine signals to your child that it’s time to wind down and go to sleep. We all have a bedtime routine, you probably just don’t think about it. How would you feel if I told you to go to bed without brushing your teeth? Sure, you might be worried about your teeth. But that’s not it. You’d just feel…weird!
Your body knows. Brush teeth go to bed. That’s what we do.
It’s the same with kids.
You establish a bedtime routine. For most kids that’s bath, PJs and a bedtime story. We also sing songs.
Then I say the Magic Words.
And they go to sleep.
Does it work ALL the time? Of course, not. Nothing works all the time. But they’re pretty good.
Do you want to know what the Magic Words are?
That’s the best part. They can be whatever you like. You just have to stick to them. Sebastian’s Magic Words are “night night sleepy head”.
When I say “night night sleepy head” he knows. There’s a signal to his brain that contributes to the winding down process. Bath, PJs, stories, say goodnight to everyone, cuddle 20 teddies, get a couple of my favourite trucks to take to bed, listen to songs, give mummy a snotty kiss, kick the duvet off a few times, give mummy another kiss, make a fuss about needing some water and wanting another truck…
This is a toddler we’re dealing with. We could go on for hours.
I step in.
“Night night sleep head, time to go to sleep now.”
I give him a final goodnight kiss and move to the door.
“Night, night sleepy head, see you in the morning.”
I turn out the light.
“Night, night sleepy head. I love you.”
I softly close the door.
And my beautiful toddler goes to sleep.
Click here to view more details (affiliate).
Feeding Toddlers.
Would you like your kids to eat more healthily? Check out the book!