Summertime and bedtime

Does your child have the same sleep schedule in the summer
and during the school year? (Adamophoto/FreeRangeStock.com)

Before school let out for summer break, I promised myself that I'd keep my daughter on the same bedtime schedule. That would make it easier to get her up for day camp, festivals, visits with family, and other summertime goings-on.

The promise lasted only two weeks.

I learned quickly that I have no hope of sleeping in if she keeps waking up at the normal time. So I first started letting her go to bed fifteen minutes later, then thirty, and then an hour.

But with her summer camp just days away, I am now desperate to get her back to her old sleep schedule. Once the camp session begins, she'll need to be dressed and out the door at around 8 a.m. each day to get there on time. So I've been trying to get her to sleep earlier.

"Time for bed," I'll say. She doesn't put up a fight. She just takes her vitamin, visits the potty, gives me a hug and goes to bed. But five minutes later, she'll call out to me. I'll go to her room and she'll say, "I love you."

"I love you, too," I say. "Now go to sleep."

A few minutes later, she'll call out again. This time, her blankets aren't right. So I fix them, and tell her again she needs to go to sleep.

Ten minutes later, she'll be standing in front of me, saying she just wanted to give me a hug. And so on. When she finally does fall asleep, it's actually later than it was the night before. That's how it's gone all week.

Funny how quickly letting her stay up a little later so she'll let me sleep a little later can get so out of hand so.