OMG! My children climb in my bed every night. As a working mom, I don’t get enough time with them and I like the snuggles, but the little buggers keep getting bigger! There just isn’t enough room in our king size bed for all those people (one blessing of the German Shepherd getting too old to climb the stairs is that he can’t sleep in there, too). Our parent coach gave us some great tips on how to get the children out of our bed and they work, but we are not consistent about it. It’s also hard, because sometimes I don’t have the energy to discipline. After a full day of work (and G-d forbid, a workout), I do the bedtime routine: brush, tinkle, read, snuggle, water, kiss, threaten, yell, ignore, give up, try again, cajole and finally relent. EVEN if I win and they got to sleep in their own beds, they crawl in to mine in the middle of the night when I am too tired to argue – these are very clever children). Listen, they go on sleepovers and deal with it (even the 4 year old). My coach would yell at me, but what can I say? I’m a slave to the snuggles.
Hi. Robin Necowitz, Parenting Coach here, Nothing wrong with snuggles. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just make snuggles a special morning activity—not one that can happen in the middle of the night. Don’t argue, cajole, give in, etc. Just give out consequences in the am. http://www.parentassist.net
p.s. I would never yell at you, Melissa.
Robin would never yell at me.