What is your bedtime routine? In the Mellow household I had been really worried about how a bedtime routine with two was going to work but for the first 13 months things seemed to have naturally found a rhythm with Lara and Holly both going to bed more or less at the same time now. If you've read this morning's blog post you will know that we are currently struggling a bit with Holly at bedtimes so maybe it is time for a rethink?Fairy Non-Bio recently conducted some research into little one's bedtimes. They found that bedtime is usually Mum's domain, compared to dads. I was really interested to hear that their research showed that among working mums, such as me, an active involvement in bedtime was seen as a priority (although most working mums admit that bedtime happens later and sometimes things such as an evening bath have to be skipped in order to fit in the rest of the bedtime routine).
Fairy Non-Bio found that 1 in 10 parents they spoke to found that bedtime was a cause of stress and tension in their families. I know that in our house right now, bedtime can drag. Lara likes to have LOTS of stories and will often try and squeeze in a bit of play, or 'spotting' before she has to settle down to sleep (as I type this Mr. B. is rushing upstairs for the 3rd time this evening to try and coax her back into bed. Holly thinks that the world has too much to offer her to waste her time sleeping and will scream and scream until she physically can't stand up any more. Lullabies, rocking, music and soothing scents don't seem to be helping her right now. Bedtimes could be mellower... I'll admit.
But for me, as with 8 out of 10 of the mums that Fairy Non-Bio spoke to, the best part of Lara's nightly routine is the bedtime story because it is the very last part of the routine and helps to calm her down and settle her off to sleep. Lara loves to hear a story. Lara loves books. In fact, one of the main reasons why I'm in the process or decorating the play room is so that we have a room that can house Lara's massive children's book collection!
To celebrate the importance of bedtime reading, Fairy Non-Bio is currently running an on-pack promotion where parents can write in for three new Timmy Time books, developed exclusively for Fairy Non-Bio. To me, this is FABULOUS news because in summer 2010 they previously joined forces with Timmy Time and we collected all of the Timmy Time books and they proved so popular that a couple of months ago the books started disintegrating because we had read them so often (and taken them with us abroad on holiday)... I suspect I can recite the books by heart now so I am looking forward to some new Timmy Time books!You can find out more about Timmy Time at http://www.timmytime.tv/ and about Fairy Non Bio at http://www.softeningyourworld.com/dosing-guide.html.
