I battle with my son every morning! And he is impossible to get to bed at night.?

Question

He stays up as late as he possibley can and when I try to put him to bed he cries.
He won't fall asleep unless I am right next to him in bed.

He refuses to get up and get dressed in the morning
He has the worste possible attitude and it frustrates me to no end and when I drop him off at school I feel terrible about how the day started, I feel guilty for yelling.
He refuses to eat breakfast
Takes his sweet time about getting out the door in the morning making us all late.

Answer 1

Your kid is powertripping. They find out early how to run the show and they like to see your reaction - even if it is negative. You are the adult. Take charge and get this kid back ontrack.

Answer 2

He sounds like the classic brat im sorry but thats how he sounds to me and you you put up with it until it gets too tough. He won't fall asleep unless you are right next to him??? How old is he?? You said he is in school. Yoou shouldn't be sleeping with him he's way too old for that. You need to get ahold of this situation before he takes right over. You need to show him who's boss. Start by putting him too bed at a normal time and if he screams and crys tell him that then next day he will have to go to bed a half hour earlier and stick too it and keep doing it until you see signs of improvment. The same with getting dressed in the morning if he refuses to do this on his own take away privlages and the key is STICK WITH IT. Be consistant this child needs consistansy. Good luck.

Answer 3

First of all, you are to blame. You are the parent.

Make sure your child isn't drinking caffeine at all. This could keep him awake or prevent him from sleeping well, even if he drinks it earlier in the day. Secondly, is he still napping? If so, stop putting him down for naps.

The rest of the problems you mentioned happen because your child is overtired. Start a set bedtime, no exceptions. You didn't say how old he is, but 8 or 8:30 is good for most elementary kids. When it's time for bed, put him in bed. If he gets up, don't say a word, just put him back in bed. Do this over and over and he'll learn that it's useless, that you won't give up. (They do this on the nanny shows and it works every time.) By the third night he should go to bed on time and stay there.

Also, lay out his clothes at night. When it's time to get ready in the morning, either he gets up and gets dressed, or he goes to school in his PJ's with messy hair. If he won't eat breakfast, put a breakfast bar in his backpack. If he takes too long to get out the door, leave without him. (Usually a quick drive around the block works! Worked for my little brother!)

Again, I think if he gets enough sleep, most of the morning problems will solve themselves. You need to send the message that YOU control the schedule and YOU are in charge, and you will NOT sit around waiting for him.

Answer 4

Yes, this is a problem for you, your husband, and your son. It could be a lot of things, usually kids learn to sleep by themselves before school starts and on occasion, they get scared so they might want to sleep with their parents. It could be some thing such as school that can trigger this. It sounds like he might need some reassurance, maybe there is something that is bothering him and he might not express it so eloquently. Talking about it can help, if you don't know how to start this conversation or don't know how to ask him, approuch him by like saying this " you know that its ok to feel scared some times, some times I get scare"(give an example) and then ask him to give you and example that way you might have a better understanding why he has this anxiety . Re-assuring him that you guys will always be there for him and leave your door open as a way to show him that he can come in but also explain to him that he needs to sleep in his own bed too. Some times kids, don't know how to express them selves, so they might draw things, or act out their fears while role playing, watch out for these things, it can help. Every now and then my son gets scare of the night so I sign to him his favorite song, I've been doing this since the day he was born and it not only re-assures him but gives him comfort too. He associates this with love, warmth, and he knows that I'll be there for him. All of my kids have a song that I sign to them and it builds a strong bond with them. Hope this was helpful. Good luck.

Answer 5

I feel for you. My son is the same way. If he doesn't get to bed on time he is hell in the morning. Maybe he is not going to bed at night because he is not tired enough. You may want to try not giving him a nap during the day. Or you can make sure you set him up with a bedtime routine. Make sure you let him eat, take a bath, and put him to bed at the same time every night. As far as crying unless you are beside him, he has to learn to go to sleep by himself. It usually takes about a week, but just put him to bed and let him cry it out. Check on him in five minute intervals, 5, then 10, and so on. Sooner or later he will learn to go to sleep on his own. I hope this helps. It worked wonders for mine.

Answer 6

My daughter was HORRIBLE like this. She always wanted to stay up until 11pm-1am and I had coslept with her and was having trouble weaning her off it. I used to go in there with her late in the evening and beg her to go to sleep. If I could keep her in the bed she'd just lay there being silly (fidgeting and making noises). Then she'd be a complete bear in the morning. I had tried lots of different approaches. In the end, the method that worked was so simple it was ridiculous. I took a piece of paper and drew 10 circles. I told her every night she slept by herself we would draw a face on a circle and once we got 10 faces she would get a prize. I would just buy little dollar store things (stickers, coloring books, cheap toys, etc) and she was thrilled. I also told her when it was time for bed that she would get to pick out 2 books for me to read. The prizes gave her the motivation to sleep by herself and to go to bed at a decent time. The book reading helped establish a routine and would calm her down at night, it also gave her some control (as in she got to pick out what we read).

Answer 7

First of all, you need a bed time routine if you don't have one. Second of all, you don't state how old he is but, let him cry it out. As long as you know he is safe and not sick, let him cry. He will only do it for a few nights. Once he realizes you are serious and don't give in to him, then he will give up. Make sure he is going to bed at an early enough time for him. For instance, my son is 3 and when he was younger went to bed at 6pm and now goes to bed at 7pm. Otherwise, he is a monster in the morning. There are other kids around his age that go to bed at 8pm and they function fine, so you need to find out what bedtime your son needs and then stick to it. Once he is sleeping properly, you'll find alot of the bad behavior in the morning will disappear. I know with my son, when we get off his schedule and has a few late nights in a row, I can't get him out of bed either and then it's fight after fight the entire morning. So it sounds like the key to me is getting your son to bed early and stick with the schedule. Hope it works out for you, cause I know how it can be

Answer 8

It's all about ROUTINE! Try to do the same things at the the same times every single day for at least a week. He will know what to expect and won't give you such a hard time. It will be very hard for you to do but stay strong and start doing it when you feel the courage to stick with it. Make yourself a daily schedule so you don't forget either.
Good Luck!

Answer 9

This is what I have to do with our son:
Before bed:
-15-30 minutes of quiet reading.
-15 minutes of quiet "cuddling" time. No books or stimulants, we just talk quietly about the day and what we have to do the next day. If he starts getting worked up I get him to calm down again.
-usually he is quite relaxed and goes to bed very easily

In the morning:
-I get up 45 minutes before my son so once I have finished showering I turn on the light in his room. He is a very sound sleeper so this helps to transition him to morning.
-Some mornings are better than others but it usually takes him about 15 minutes after waking up to actually be awake.

Try starting to wake your son a little earlier, give him some more time to wake up. I know if I just wake up my boy & get him to get going it doesn't work because he gets mad & than doesn't want to do anything. This is why I started waking him up earlier, he had more time to adjust to being awake.

Once you wake him up leave him alone for abit so he can get his bearings. How would you feel if someone started in on you first thing to get dressed & to get going?

Good luck!

Answer 10

Wow, sounds like my daughter except for the bed time routine. She stays in her room, but doesn't fall asleep until around 11 pm. It is so frustrating. This morning she refused to get dressed, so I said it was time to go, and I started putting her in the car in her jammies to take her to school. She was so upset about having to go to school in her jammies that she let me dress her. Good luck, it sucks!!!

Answer 11

My mum tell my little bro to stop crying and says if i get to 3 or 5 then she starts counting like ONE, TWO and he usually calms down by two then she puts him in bed think best thing is to do the saem thing over till he/she gets the idea and into the routine so following the same rouitne each night could help e.g. bath, pj's on play for an hour then bed.