Rock-A-Bye, Baby...

I’m an insomniac. So are my father, all of my brothers, and every one of my children. Considering our familiarity with the wee hours, our family tree must have several vampires and an owl or two. According to our natural rhythms, it is much more likely to find us still up at six in the morning than just getting up at that hour--which makes participating in the traditional world a constant battle. People who see that it’s bedtime, tuck in, and fall asleep until the alarm rings are a complete mystery to our kind, and make me crazy envious. One of the worst aspects of troubled sleep is lying awake staring into space, knowing that your chances to start the next morning well-rested are ticking relentlessly away. Another equally awful component is the anxiety that develops early in the evening as you contemplate the approach of your nightly war against sleeplessness. So, when my kids have dawdled or stalled in the bedtime process, I have always had to fight my inner demons and try to second-guess myself. Is it just normal kid foot-dragging or are they beginning to dread the bed? Do I force the issue in the name of consistent parenting, or am I more flexible since I know how they feel? Mercer Mayer’s Just Go To Bed follows Little Critter through reluctant bedtime preparations, including annoying an exasperated dad. I understand kids need sleep, but, speaking as a lifelong nocturnist, you can only count just so many sheep.


http://www.littlecritter.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Just-Go-Bed-Little-Critter/dp/0808563963