Creating and establishing bedtime routines or habits for our preschoolers is not a simple task, but it is a vital factor to help them get a good night’s sleep.  However, with so much fun and excitement going on around them – playing, eating,  watching TV, running, dancing, singing and other activities that keep them awake, the last thing they have in mind is to go to bed and sleep.

Here are 3 tips to establish bedtime routines for your preschoolers.

1. Create a Consistent Schedule for Bedtime Routine.

A bedtime routine should start consistently every night. At least one hour before you want your child to go to bed, start the cooling down the process so bedtime would not come so suddenly.   You can also give them a thirty-minute warning to let them know that bedtime is coming so that their body clock gets used to bedtime routines, and it helps them go to sleep more easily.

2. Create a To-Do List Bedtime Routine

Brushing their teeth, putting on pajamas and saying prayers are a must bedtime habit. However, your child may want to talk about their day or read bedtime stories for children like Little Book Of Bedtime which is filled with sweet poems and Bible verses that gives you and your child a wonderful way to pray and spend quality time together as they get ready to snuggle in for the night.

3. Leave the Room, but Promise to Come Back

Don’t allow your child to become dependent in your presence to fall asleep, but instead reassure that you’ll come back in a few minutes to check if they are sleeping tight. Turn on a lampshade, play soft music like “Sweet Dreams Little One”- Music Box and tuck her/him with their favorite sleeping buddy as you say goodnight and sweet dreams.  

Establishing bedtime routines can be intimidating, but with a system in place, your child will wind up getting a good night’s sleep that is essential to their growth and development.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  — Proverbs 22:6