How to Build a Better Bedtime Habit For Kids?

In today’s lifestyle with parents working longer hours and more extended after-school activities, developing a good sleeping habit among kids is not easy and easy task, especially with 24x7 cartoon channels and easily assessable games on tabs and smartphones, putting kids on sleep is becoming really tough. According to psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo, today’s kids sleep less than the kids from 80’s and our children are at risk of developing a weaker immune system, obesity and poor emotional health in future due to their poor sleeping habits. Here are some tips that parents should follow to build better bedtime habits for kids.

1. Try to read a bedtime story to your child every day: Try to read a bedtime story to your child every day: You already know reading out to kids helps them learn, but hearing storybooks is a great way for kids to head off to dreamland. According to research, reading printed books appears to be most relaxing.

2. Never let your child to play mobile or PlayStation games prior their sleep. Computer games, especially the violent or action ones can trigger the child’s brain to generate extensive psychological stress during their sleep.

3. Create a strict sleeping routine: create a strict bedtime hour for your child, if you set the time for 9:30pm, no matter what, make sure the child goes to bed at that time. Initially it would be difficult and as a parent, you may need to sacrifice some personal outings or professional work but for your child’s well-being you are suggested to follow the strict sleeping routine for the first three months and soon the kid's biological timing will get habituated to that hour.


4. Routinely audit your child’s sleep: you must periodically (weekly) measure your child's sleeping hours. It’s very difficult to identify sleep deprivation amongst kids in early stages, when you track your child's sleep and make a consistent effort to get him/her to bed for a month, the problem will soon get much better. 


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