because the child is groggy and can’t tell you much that’s
useful.- Assume the child has to go to the bathroom. Your son
appears at your bedside at 2:30 a.m., mumbling incoherently.
Somebody is probably going to have to get up. This is an
interesting situation, one in which certain people could win
Academy Awards for sleeping performances. Dad’s snoring
deepens and the covers go over his head. Even though they
don’t or can’t say it, many kids are awakened by the need to go
to the bathroom. But they’re so groggy they can’t verbalize the
physical sensation. So try steering or carrying them to the toilet
and see what happens. - Be gentle and quiet. Handle and guide children softly as you
stagger through the dark. Don’t push them around, even though
you may be irritated. You want them to remain sleepy. - No lights! Lights wake up parents and children very quickly,
which then makes it hard to go back to sleep. Your eyes should
be dark-adapted in the middle of the night, so move around as
best you can in the dark. - Don’t let the child sleep with you regularly. Sleeping
together can become a habit that’s hard to break later on.
Unfortunately, letting the child crawl in bed with you is the
easiest way to quiet him down immediately. In addition,
staying in bed certainly is tempting, but you will pay for these
moments of weakness in two ways. First, you will pay right
away if the child really has to go to the bathroom, because he
will remain squirmy. Second, you will pay later on when you
cannot get the child to return to his room without having a
tantrum.
One exception to this rule is this: if there’s a terrible storm going
on outside, complete with thunder and lightning, it can be beneficial