Tips to Get Kids Sleeping Better

Kristina: Welcome, Impactful Parent. Today, we’re going to talk about seven actionable tips that will help your child start sleeping better, improve mood and behavior, and then pave the way for them to reach their full potential of the day.

Hello, my name is Kristina Campos. I am the founder of The Impactful Parent. I help parents of school-aged children turn their chaos into connection with their adolescence. I offer free parent education videos every week, online courses, and coaching. If that wasn’t enough, I bring experts in other fields onto The Impactful Parent stage to teach you even more. And today I have a special guest. Her name is Missy Morrison Charko. And Missy is a certified pediatric sleep consultant and founder of Say Yes To The Rest, pediatric sleep consulting. She helps exhausted parents with one-on-one support to get their children to sleep so that they can start to feel like themselves again. Thank you for being here, Missy.

Missy: Thank you so much for having me, Kristina. I’m super excited.

Kristina: So tell me, why is sleep so important for both kids and parents? Let’s start there. The fundamentals. Why is this important for people?

Missy: Absolutely. Sleep is a necessity for everyone. When we wake up exhausted, our whole day is affected the next morning. It affects our workday. It affects our personal relationships. It affects everything we do for that next 24 hour period. For our teenage kids, it affects their day at school. Suppose they’re not getting a good night’s sleep; it affects their moods and behaviors. It affects their growth and development, too. So it’s absolutely an important part of a healthy lifestyle and a necessity for all of us from babies up to our adult and older years.

Kristina: I know that it’s just horrible if I don’t get enough sleep. I also got teenagers who just refuse to accept that they need sleep.

What is the first tip that you believe parents need to use to help avoid bedtime battles with their kids, whether they’re young or they’re teenagers, so that we can get those kids in bed?

Missy: Boundaries and making sure that we’re holding our ground is an important part of all of this. It’s amazing how much you can do during the daytime that can come into the bedtime routine. Some kids want to push boundaries too. But parents need to stand their ground and be consistent.

Kristina: I love boundaries because boundaries create security for kids. They are more than rules. They create feelings of being secure with your caregiver. However, many people don’t realize how important boundaries are. Do you have any tips for how to establish boundaries, especially for our older kids that are definitely going to be fighting back?

Missy: Absolutely. And I love what you just said about boundaries, Kristina. Children feel safer, and they feel secure when they have boundaries.

My first suggestion for you is to establish a bedtime routine. Bedtime routines are important for everyone, even teens and adults. Set a consistent bedtime routine every night, doing the same things every single night. Being consistent every night can help set those boundaries and create that consistent routine they need. Routine cues our body and our brain that it’s time for sleep. Try dimming the lights when your child is getting ready for bed. Things like that can get that melatonin production going and help children fall asleep easier and quicker.

Kristina: One mistake that I see parents make is creating a bedtime routine that is too elaborate or long. As the child gets older, they’re exhausted because it takes 30 minutes to an hour to put their older children to sleep. I want to clarify that a bedtime routine must be consistent but not elaborate.

Missy: Absolutely. We usually recommend a 15 to 30 minutes bedtime routine. If the routine is too long, the body and the mind forget that they need to sleep.

Kristina:  What’s the biggest reason older children have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep?

Missy: Screen time. I also hear that kids pick up those screens in the middle of the night. Electronics are detrimental to sleep. Artificial light is the number one hindrance for adult and teen sleep disturbances. Blue light from screens decreases your melatonin production. It causes the cortisol hormone to jump instead. I recommend getting rid of screen time after dinner or at least a few hours before bedtime.

Kristina: How many hours should kids sleep, too?

Missy: We’re looking for nine to 11 hours of sleep at night for our tweens and teens. We’re looking for eight to 10 once we get to our adulthood.

Kristina:  What kind of advice do you have for parents that have children with bedtime fears?

Missy:  Try using soothing items to help your child calm their body. Sound machines are good. Special blankets and stuffed animals can also be helpful. If you’ve got a child who has a fear of the dark or is having nightmares, try a worry eater jar. Have your child write down their worries and put them into the jar. At night, their worries will disappear by the morning. It gives kids a little bit of peace of mind. That’s just a fun little thing to do.

Also, do calming exercises or meditation. There are many apps that you can use to help bring anxiety down. If your child is afraid of the dark, you can try playing games in the dark with them during the awake hours. Dim the lights of a room and play shadow puppets or Hide and Seek.

Kristina: You are a great resource for our parents, but I know sleep problems tend to be more for our younger kids. So do you work with younger children as well?

Missy:  Absolutely. I love working with babies and toddlers. When we establish those healthy sleep habits early on, we’re much less likely to see issues in these later school-age years.

Kristina: How does the audience contact you?

Missy: You can go to my website, www.sayyestotherest.com, where you can book a complimentary 15-minute child’s sleep evaluation call with me. Those just allow me to get to know the family, see what sleep struggles they’re going with, and see if we’re the right fit to work together.

Kristina: That’s not all! Missy has a freebie! Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Missy: I have a PDF available for you that lists all of the topics I touched on today.

Kristina: Thank you, Missy.  

Audience, if you want to get that free PDF, you can find it Free inside the Impactful Parent app! It is available on the Apple App Store and Android Play Store or with this link: https://theimpactfulparent.com/app

And parents, if you want to become a more impactful parent, check out all them my website has to offer. I have parenting courses, family coaching, a free downloadable app, and many free resources. But until next time, you got this. I’m just here to help.