It is National Bed Month – so chill out at home and relax! Relaxation breaks can help bring calm and stability to your household and also benefit your child both physically and mentally. Relaxation is great for improving concentration, anxiety and stress levels.
Here are some tips to help get the best out of your little one’s bedtime routine:
Routine: Have a regular schedule and make sure that your children get up in the morning and go to bed in the evening at a time set by you. Do not let this alter too much on weekends and holidays.
Snacks: Avoid giving your children caffeine before bed and keep sugary snacks to the daytime. Did you know that Marmite on toast, porridge and oat biscuits are great snacks for night time as they contain amino acid tryptophan and they make you drowsy!
Boundaries: Keep TV and video games to a minimum especially as night time approaches. Set clear boundaries and stick to them so your child get used to discipline.
Worrying: Stress is only going to leave your child restless. Set up this exercise: Place a jar in another room and make it part of the routine that every night before bed, your child puts their thought into the jar – it doesn’t have to be written down, it can just be imagined. Giving their thoughts a place means they don’t have to go to bed thinking about it!
Environment: Dimmer lights, night lights, black out blinds: whatever works for your family. You may have to trial and test a few approaches. You can even get alarm clocks that light up and work on a timer so that it feels like you are waking to natural sunlight – never mind the season!
Exercise: Encourage regular exercise for 20-30 minutes a week. However, completed too closely to bedtime will keep energy levels high and will lead to a restless night.
Relax: Play some soothing music, give your child a little massage or complete some breathing exercises.
Here are some relaxation exercises to try with your child:
Rock
Imagine you are a rock in the ocean.
As you lie there, feel yourself becoming more and more still and calm.
Say to yourself: “I am still, I am still, I am still, I am still”
As you stay as still and calm, see if you can listen to all the sounds around you.
Stay as still and focussed as you can as you listen to all the sounds around you.
How still can you be?
Keep practicing this often and watch how your concentration and focus improves.
Squeeze
Whenever you feel tense and anxious, tighten all your muscles as tight as you can and then relax them.
Notice the difference and how you feel when you relax your muscles.
See if you can let your shoulders and jaw go and just relax.
Butterfly
Imagine there is a butterfly on your chest.
Each time you breathe in and out, the butterfly gently rises and falls again.
Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in and breathe out.
Positive Self-talk
Repeat to your self I am calm, I can stay still, and concentrate, I am calm and peaceful.
