How many of us have had trouble putting our highly disregulated adopted children to bed at night? Though we are beyond most of the bedtime issues we used to have, I remember those days of wondering if we would ever get a good night's sleep again. Of course, there are many things we do to make our kids feel safe when it is time for sleep but Tim and I accidentally stumbled upon a "kill 2 birds with one stone" technique that we still use from time to time.
We like to use everything we can to our own advantage--that only makes sense, right? Why not use your child's desire to stay awake as a way to get some more valuable teaching time in for the day? Many activities lend themselves to bedtime. Here are a few examples...
Gabriel was having a hard time memorizing his Math facts but HATED to do flashcards. We have some math games we played with him and he did at least one worksheet every day but he was still struggling and we knew flashcards were the best way to get those facts solidified in his brain. Tim started bringing the stack of flashcards to Gabriel's bedside at night and voila! suddenly, Math flashcards were very desirable. He would do as many as we wanted him to because he knew the more he did, the longer he got to stay awake. It worked like a charm!
Even with our oldest son, who doesn't have a trauma history, we have been able to get extra practice for Latin, Grammar, and Math in at night before bed. With him, he enjoys the quiet and the extra alone time with mom and dad so learning subjects that would be considered too hard during the day, suddenly become fun if they are done at bedtime. Who knew?
Here are 4 Activities you can do with your child at bedtime:
1. Spelling practice--take turns quizzing each other on Spelling words
2. Read historic fiction at night before bed as family reading or read each child his own book that coincides with your current studies.
3. Singing educational songs that practice skip counting, multiplication facts, or other drills
4. Have your child read you a bedtime story so he gets in his reading practice for the day.
We have started to use this concept in other ways since we discovered it. I often give history and science lessons over lunch--then, we clear the table and do an experiment or craft that fits with the lesson. Lunchtime provides time where kids are sitting at a table because they want to in order to eat, AND their mouths are full so you can actually get a lot of teaching time in for your auditory learners. Come on everybody--chew with your mouth closed! After lunch, you can reinforce the lesson with your experiment or craft.
Anything that may normally be met with disgust can be moved to bedtime or the lunch table if you are creative enough. For instance, our kids don't like new experiences. They like to know what to expect, so when I first introduced the "Classic Kids" series of audio stories to them I didn't do it during normal "school" time, I started playing one of these wonderful CDs at lunch (when their mouths were full--remember, take what you can get and use it to your advantage!) and they were immediately hooked. If I had tried to set up the stories and made it look like a lesson, they would have squirmed and complained. As it is, they now request these CDs and even take them to their rooms to listen over and over again. How gratifying!
Pick one subject your child is struggling in and try to come up with a creative bedtime activity that will reinforce what he has learned. See how willing he is to jump in and learn when he feels he is getting "extra" time to stay awake. Ah, the art of being a parent...
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