21: The Bedtime Marathon – On your mark, get set, go (to bed)!

Embrace the bedtime race.

About this episode:

Shortly after dinner, your brain reminds you that you’re getting ready to run the final race of the day: the kids’ bedtime.

Maybe this will sound familiar: you rush to get the kids clean, then you rush to make sure they’re all simultaneously getting dressed, brushing teeth, hanging up towels, and putting away dirty clothes. Then begins the actual bedtime battle: story time, prayers, lights out… lights on again… (repeat), then maybe some thumping or loud whispering. And if you’re lucky, silence comes shortly thereafter. But just when you think you’ve crossed the finish line, someone needs you to get them a drink of water. (And maybe Mommy and Daddy need a drink of something else.)

It seems like it never ends. After all, it’s a marathon even if you choose to sprint through parts of it.

And while this would be busy enough for any family, as we all know when you have a bunch of kids: if there’s drama, it’s multiplied. And then you realize it’s only Sunday night, and you have a few more “school nights” ahead of you this week.

But take heart: you’re not alone. Like any parent, we love our kids, and want to enjoy time with them – not always just get the evening over with.

Show notes:

In this episode, we talk through all this, including:

  • Accepting that bedtime can be a challenge
  • How to make the process a little more bearable
  • What our routines look like and what we’ve changed
  • Out of all the kids running around: who gets baths when?
  • The actual bedtimes we have in our homes

You can listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher, or in the player below: