There is no reason we should expect young children to enter the nocturnal darkness of sleep and dreams without help.
When I'm awake, I don't want to go to sleep. I don't want the hassle of turning the light off, putting my head down and then all the thoughts. I don't want al those thoughts... thoughts feed on thoughts feed on thoughts feed on thoughts feed on thoughts and I'm: 'I don't want this'. I have to knock myself out to go to sleep.
I've always had a complicated relationship with sleep. Even as a little kid, I never wanted to go to bed - it always seemed unfair in some way.
I don't know any kid that's not afraid at some point going to bed with the lights off, totally. That's why they make nightlights.
I never liked sleeping in the dark. I have, like, twinkle stars around my bed, so it's not so bad.
I feel no shame getting in bed at nine.
When the kid goes to bed, you get a little bit of time for yourself and maybe your partner, so being delayed in that departure can be particularly frustrating.
When you say 'Bedtime, bedtime, bedtime!' that's not what the child hears. What the child hears is 'Lie down in the dark... for hours... and don't move... I'm locking the door now.'
Well I'm a 5 year old at heart; I still think that there is a monster under my bed - and I'm not joking. It's pathetic, it's really not cute.
You can't force your child to go to bed. Well, you can, but it doesn't work.
I still don't like going to bed alone.
I don't have a night stand. If I read at night in bed or too close to sleep-time, I lie awake thinking in the dark for hours.
When I was a kid, it was always very embarrassing for me if I wet the bed - I was 5 years old. I didn't want my parents or my brothers to find out because they'd bust my chops to no end.
I'm not great at bedtime stories. Bedtime stories are supposed to put the kid to sleep. My kid gets riled up and then my wife has to come in and go, 'All right! Get out of the room.'
Sleep resistance, bouts of insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, crawling into bed with parents in the middle of the night - all these are so common among children, it seems fair to call them 'normal.'
I used to sleep with the phone right by my pillow but I'm getting better. Now it sits on the table a few feet away.
