Putting Kids to Bed

Putting kids to bed in our house is exhausting. All of our kids hate to go to bed, so it's always a pain. The three year old still won't lay in her bed long enough to fall asleep (someone has to hold her and "snuggle") so that's time consuming. That is if she isn't throwing a temper tantrum loud enough to wake the neighbors.

Then, the big ones ALWAYS find things to complain about, like:

"I've got a bug bite on my ear and it really itches!" (supposedly this happened in the afternoon, but I never heard anything about it prior to the moment of tucking in.)

OR

"I'm still hungry, dinner wasn't enough!" (Wife made an announcement 30 minutes ago about getting anyone who needed a snack a bowl of cereal... no takers.)

My 6 year old will occasionally ask us to brush her teeth for her because she's so tired, but then will declare wholeheartedly that she's not tired at all 5 minutes later when we tell her to get into bed.

Come to think of it, the 6 year old is the one who gave the two aforementioned excuses also... sometimes when you start tucking her into bed, she won't stop talking in an effort to get you to stay with her.  It sounds mean, but sometimes, you just have to walk away and say, "Good night, I love you" as you are walking out the door.  Funny enough, we notice that the more tired she is, the more tactics she uses to try to not go to bed.

The 6 year old (just thinking about going to bed)

Then, sometimes, we think she's in bed asleep when... all of sudden, as if we are in a horror movie,  she is standing right behind us, just watching us - saying nothing. She appears before us in the living room as we are reading, watching tv, writing a blog post, whatever.  When the lights are off, it can be downright creepy. And we're all, what the heck?! (Once our hearts start beating again) You're supposed to be in bed!  Go to bed!  You need to sleep!  She starts to talk, and we don't want to hear it - if you have to go to the bathroom, go!  If you need water, get it!  And GO BACK TO BED!

It's at this point, the tears start and the wail resounds through the house! It's not just a typical cry; it's like a siren. Why the tears, why?! Just go to bed!  You're tired! That's why you are crying! Finally, she goes back to bed and five minutes later we go back there, and she's talking to the 9 year old who is in the bunk above her, "keeping her awake."

We have to start talking punishments now, and it's too tiring. We're getting mad, because WE'RE tired!  Then comes the ultimate question of obnoxiousness from a child:

"Why do you have to be so harsh?"

ARGH.  These kids. This is a serious question to them, although, it is utterly ridiculous. You mean, after we have asked you to do something that kids all over America are doing at the exact same time (or earlier), something that is a legitimate request, and you have refused to obey after 20-30 minutes? Our tone gets a bit angry and YOU'RE SURPRISED?  Unbelievable. Overall, it's not a pretty end to the day.

Bedtime. It's a harsh reality. Can you tell what's happening as I write this?