Bedtime Routines

I'll bet you used a bedtime routine or ritual to help your baby get to sleep, a cuddle in a rocking chair, a lullaby, perhaps a gentle back rub. Well don't give up this lovely practice just because you think your child has outgrown it. Just a few minutes together every night can give you and your child the best quality time of all.

• Read, of course, even when kids are old enough to read to themselves. A nightly chapter of a long and interesting book is a favorite bedtime routine for my own kids. Or sometimes, listen together to a record or tape or some good music.

• Insure sweet dreams by decorating a jar or box and filling it with slips of paper on which you and the kids have written every good dream you can think of. The kids can draw a slip from the "dream jar" every night.

• Talk over the day's events; here's a great chance to compliment your child on a special accomplishment or a quality you admire.

• Let older kids take on some of the routines for younger ones; they can lead the bedtime parade and read the bedtime story too. And remember, even pre-teens like a good bedtime snuggle in your bed or theirs.

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