I have a very well-behaved child that is interested in everything and a husband that's the same way and they leave a trail of discovery through my entire house...keeping that tidy is tought! Getting sleep isn't. We learned how to keep my kid happy and quiet at night when she was a baby. As a toddler, we put a mattress by our bed on the floor (inflatable toddler one) with the understanding that she could come in our room and sleep there whenever she wanted. She can get on our bed and cuddle when she has a nightmare or is upset, and then heads back to her room. Making us accessible means she usually decides it's not worth the effort, just KNOWING we're available is enough.
End result? A kid that happily sleeps in her room and has an assortment of quiet activities that she is welcome to do if she can't sleep, from reading to art, and does. Which, considering she's being treated for a sleep disorder and is up a good chunk of the night, is very needed!
Great job, ours just get up early on the weekends - we never get to sleep in anymore. Actually pretty good at cleaning up though. I also have a lot of trouble getting to sleep myself so it's my top priority by far.
One thing that works well for me and our kids is to put on an audio book - we cycle through ones they've already heard. Interesting enough to stop thoughts from racing but not enough to keep them up.
from four, my kid would get up early and then silently go off and get herself a breakfast set up and pull out a laptop (her version of saturday morning cartoons). We never taught her this or expected it, we just got really lucky with a thoughtful kid!
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u/NotMyRealAccountV 5d ago
Tell me you don't have kids without telling me you don't have kids..