We recognise the struggle so here's some tips to give you some reassurance that it is possible!
Christmas Eve is one of the most magical times of year when all the kiddies run around excitedly waiting impatiently till Santa arrives and with the amount of excitement how exactly do you get the little ones to bed never mind to sleep? We here at Family Friendly HQ recognise the struggle so we created this list of tips to give you some reassurance that it is possible to get them to sleep before midnight or before you lose your marbles!
- Wake them up very early on Christmas Eve- This is kind of cruel but it works I promise, waking up the kiddies earlier than usual will give them plenty of time to run around and burn off their excess energy! Of course you need to consider that if the kids are up so are you, so it could be a very long day but hey it is Christmas after all!
- Run around all day- Take the kids to the park, go swimming, go for a very long walk and let them play around the house while you prepare dinner for the next day. If you usually take the car into town stroll down with the kiddies taking in all the magic outside, and get the air into their lungs which will hopefully tire the little monkeys out!
- Visit family and friends- If you are having Christmas at home and won’t be seeing the extended family go now and let the kids wreck other people’s houses! Let them rip open their gifts from family members and allow them to play freely while you relax and try gather some much needed energy before later.
- Stick to your normal evening routine- Have a rule that there will be no visitors after a certain time so you can chill the beans with the kids and watch a family movie. Don’t stay out all day and run through the doors in a manic frenzy trying to catch up as the kids will pick up on this and go mad themselves. Calm is the best policy here!
- Do a calming bedtime routine- Watch a movie, put them into a bath, give them a hot cocoa and read them a book before bed. These should all encourage a soothing evening and one that encourages them to want to go to sleep quickly for Mammy and Daddy.
- Send them to bed early- Consider sending the rugrats to bed a half hour or an hour early as they will hop around the bed, toss and turn and call down a number of times. Getting them off early means they should get to sleep at a reasonable time so you can get Santa in as quickly as possible!
- Play the Santa card! - Tell the kids Santa will be coming soon and if they don’t go to sleep he will skip your house and move on to the next one. Remind them that they are to stay in their rooms as if Santa arrives and they are on the move he will disappear up the chimney once again, which could mean no gifts!
- Once they have nodded off get to business and enjoy the gentle snores of the tiny tots dreaming of Christmas morning, it really is magical for them!
