I’ve seen the Disney movie Frozen more than 500 times.
Not because I particularly like it, but for a couple of years it was the only way we could get our daughter to go to sleep.
Allowing your child to watch her favourite film every night while the rest of the household comes to a standstill for 102 minutes sounds indulgent, and perhaps it was.
But we tried and failed everything else suggested by friends, doctors and the internet, from the orthodox (warm bath and nighttime story – futile), to the unconventional (giant bowls of mashed potato at 7pm – unsuccessful), to the desperate (driving from Hamilton Parish to Dockyard and back while listening to Tiny Dancer by Elton John – unsustainable).
Our toddler simply loved to gallop around the room, whatever the circumstance. This was a delightful experience for about 22 hours a day, seven days a week, but wore a little thin the rest of the time.
When, to our great surprise, we discovered that she would lie quietly on the couch next to Daddy throughout the entire of Frozen, we decided to run with it. Every night, she contentedly sighed and nodded off, immediately after Prince Hans was unceremoniously punched in the face by Princess Anna. The very last part of the movie. For our daughter, this probably signified all was finally right with the world – and for me too, because she was asleep and the hell was over for another 24 hours.
Getting your child to sleep, indeed, can be an unrelenting ordeal. Our daughter is now seven and we still haven’t completely cracked it, but we’ve learnt a few things along the way.
Here are RG Best Health’s top tips for parents who have reached the end of their tether:
- Don’t lie in bed googling solutions. After you’ve gloriously failed with every idea under the moon, multiple times, the last thing you need at 4am is some wise owl boasting that they get their kid to sleep by giving them a bath and warm milk at the same time every evening. Thanks Einstein, why didn’t I think of that.
- White noise. We recently bought an electronic gadget that supposedly soothes the little one to sleep by mimicking womb-like noises. Our daughter adjusted the setting, so it sounds like a police car speeding to the scene of a crime, with flashing blue and red lights to boot. But it’s mostly worked for the past two weeks, so that’s good enough for us.
- Sliding-scale rewards chart. A trip to MarketPlace for mango ice cream is the ultimate prize if our youngster completes a certain number of nights in her own bed. But you also need a smaller incentive, for those nights she’s never going to make it all the way through. Therefore, she accumulates stars on the fridge: five stars for a perfect night, one star for a terrible night, zero stars if she burns the house down. I believe they use a similar system to encourage good behaviour in prisons – or at least they should.
- See things from their perspective. You can say there’s no such thing as monsters until you’re blue in the face, but young children have a vivid imagination and their fear is real. It doesn’t wash to say there’s no such things as burglars or kidnappers, either, because – well, there is. We found it’s best to agree it’s scary but remind her about the mango ice cream in her future if she can show how courageous she is.
- Don’t stress. Every child learns how to sleep the night through in the end, even if it takes some children longer than others. And if your child really needs Mom or Dad in the middle of the night, remember it’s because they love you – so cherish it.
