Bedtimes

Why do kids dislike bedtime so much? Just about every night is a battle at our house. My siblings come back downstairs several times after being put to bed. I remember, when I was probably 7 and Sarah was around 5, Nathan and Rachel were both young enough to still need naps so Mom would make all of us go upstairs for a couple of hours and lay down (I’m sure she was desperately hoping we’d go to sleep). One day Sarah and I decided we weren’t tired and that our room needed a makeover….Mom came upstairs a little while later to find out what all the noise was and found we had rearranged our whole room, including our beds and dressers. She was NOT very happy. 🙂

Sarah and I hated nap time so much that it got to the point that after we felt we’d been lying down for at least an hour (when in reality it was probably 15 or 20 minutes), we’d go to the top of the stairs and yell to Mom, “Mommy?!? Can we come down now? We promise that if we whine or cry even one time, you can send us straight to bed!” Looking back, I can’t believe it worked most days. 🙂

As my siblings got ready for bed tonight, I was just struck with how much things change as you get older. When you’re younger, you look for any excuse, no matter how far-fetched – like “I can’t sleep because I smell popcorn,” or “I forgot to ask; are we going anywhere in the morning?” to avoid going to bed. But when you’re in college, you set your alarm 30 minutes early just so you can hit snooze 5 or 6 times. Or you try to escape for an hour to go take a nap. No big, deep post tonight. Just reminiscing and thought you’d like to go back with me. 🙂