Bedtime Routines

There is nothing that can prepare you for having a newborn baby in your home, but if you’re like my husband and I you will try to be prepared. We did all kinds of research. We read all kinds of books and one thing we decided was the importance of starting a bedtime routine. I believe it was one of Dr. Dobson’s books that stated once you pick out a bedtime routine you should stick with it. The consistency of it will be comforting to your child and help them relax and be ready for bed. You can include whatever it is that suits your family like maybe taking a bath or a shower.

Reading is often on the list for families and as well as tucking your kids in with a hug and a kiss.

Our family opted for reading together in the loft. There we have prayer time as well. As they were too little to pray themselves, we prayed for them. Then as they were older we had them pick out people to pray for and we each prayed for at least one person. Then we tucked each of them in, told them how much we loved them and something special about each one and of course gave them a big hug and kiss.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my dad tucking me in.

Bedtime Routine Ideas

I’ve been reading My Bedtime Story Bible this week with my kids and inside the intro it mentions a few ways to start a bedtime routine if you haven’t already gotten one started. My Bedtime Story Bible says that after bath time you can start off with a quiet song. Then you can read one of the stories in the book with a quiet soft voice and reinforce the gentle speech of the characters as they are also getting ready for bed. Each story ends with Good Night to the character in the story and “good night, sleep tight”. The purpose of a good bedtime routine is to help your child relax and wind down. Each of these stories in the My Bedtime Story Bible are showing ways that characters in the Bible might have wound down for bedtime. For example, Noah may have taken care of all the animals and said good night to each one before going to bed himself. There is a story of David falling asleep while he was playing his harp while watching his sheep. And there are many stories of how characters in the Bible had an exciting day and that by either praying or just resting thinking about God they were able to fall asleep – such as after Josiah became King, and after a young girl walked following Moses across the parted Red Sea, and after Joshua defeated Jericho.

Each of these stories can remind your child how to find peace as they are trying to fall asleep.

And to help you reinforce these ideas each story is ended with a Tuck-In activity. These activities are either words or actions you can quietly do with your child to help them relax. I like the My Bedtime Story Bible because my son has trouble relaxing and falling asleep so it’s nice to have a few new ideas, but – even better – it’s nice to have more ways to remind him that he can count on God in all things, even for help falling asleep!

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Your Turn

Do you have a little one who has difficulty getting to sleep? Do you share Bible stories or read the Bible with your kids at bedtime? What is your bedtime routine?