Yesterday we conducted an experiment, me and my mom to find a way to peaceful nights. No protests of being put to bed, no crying saying, “but I still want to play!”

I asked my mom not to let Pristine have her afternoon nap.

She goes home at 1 pm after school, eats and watches a short movie afterwards or reads/colors books. By the time she’s done (or the time my mom gets tired, whichever comes first), she’ll sleep at 3 - 5 pm. The result? A properly recharged, energetic kid at 9 pm! We strictly want to observe early bed time for her since she has to wake up at 6:30 am for school. I want her to get at least 8 hours of sleep so don’t want her to be still awake beyond 9.

So yesterday, my mom did not put her to sleep in the afternoon. When I came home at 7 pm, Pristine was so ready to go to bed! She actually invited me over to read her a story and declared bedtime!

I am impressed.

I read her a story, gave her a head massage (she likes head massages where I run my fingers through her hair and scalp) and in 5 minutes she dozed off. When she woke up at 6 in the morning, she had no complaints and was actually all happy and very ready for school!

I spent the night working in the kitchen without any disruption or guilt. When she is still awake, it’s either she tugs my apron incessantly to disrupt my cooking or plays alone making me guilty.

Our little experiment is working.