04 Aug HOW TO TEACH CHILDREN TO SLEEP SEPARATELY FROM THEIR PARENTS
Case description:
A family living in a safe region faced a problem when their two daughters (10 and 9 years old) refused to sleep separately from their parents. Despite the fact that the parents live together, the children insist on sleeping together. Each daughter has her own furnished room and the parents try to put them to bed separately, but the children still come to their parents’ bedroom.
The request to the project experts: to develop recommendations for parents that will help gradually accustom children to sleeping alone in separate rooms without causing stress and discomfort to the children.
Recommendations for parents:
- Offer children to sleep together, but in a separate room from their parents.
- Create an atmosphere of safety and comfort in children’s rooms, discuss the design of the rooms with the children, allow them to choose the color of the walls, bedding, and toys.
- Introduce a daily evening ritual: a warm bath, reading a fairy tale, and calm music. This will help children tune in to sleep and create a sense of stability. Discuss with children that after the ritual they go to sleep in their rooms.
- Gradually increase the time spent in a separate room. At first, you can start with short periods: 15 minutes at first, then 30 minutes, and so on. Encourage children to spend more time in their rooms playing, reading, or just relaxing.
- A system of rewards (carefully). Offer small gifts or privileges for spending nights in their room. However, do not turn it into a competition
- Introduce a schedule: days when children sleep alone and when they sleep with their parents.
- In times of war and blackouts, weaning children from their parents’ bed can be a particularly painful process, so take your time.