It's September and we're still getting back into the swing of school routines. It can be hard to transition from relaxed summer days to getting up early in the morning and heading to school. Not to mention after school sports, homework, and getting to bed on time. So far things have gone smoothly for us. Mostly. My littlest has had several tearful drop-offs, which are so hard for both of us. And my oldest just wants to party all night and skip bedtime altogether. So we are refocusing on our bedtime routines. From the time they are babies, bedtime rituals are important in helping kids wind down for bed. Today I'm sharing routines that I've found work best for us and many other little ones too. Orajel™ asked me to share my family bedtime routines and Scholastic reading resources and I agreed because I know how important reading and routine is for kids of all ages.
Bedtime Routine
You can mix up the steps, but following a set order does help.
1. Family Dinner. Dinnertime is the one time of the day where we slow down from our busy lives and connect as a family.
2. Bath. I like to add a few drops of lavender essential oil or bath fizzies
3. Brush and floss teeth. My kids loved the Orajel™ PAW Patrol™ products they received are a great way to help protect against cavities to keep young teeth and gums healthy.
4. Put on jammies and snuggle up in bed
5. Read
6. Lights out (we turn a white noise machine on)
In college I studied to be a teacher and learned that reading to children, even when they are infants and can't understand the words, does wonders for their development. Reading to children fosters a love of reading, promotes speech development, and more. The reason I'm sharing this post today is to hopefully encourage parents and grandparents to read to children as much as possible, and add it to your bedtime routine. In this age of electronics, many kids will gravitate to iPads and YouTube before books. It's important we help them learn a love of reading while they are little and set them up for a lifetime of learning.
My kids love getting Scholastic book orders from school. Scholastic.com/read2me contains tons of resources to get parents excited, including a free Scholastic e-book called The Three Bees, the 100 Best Read-Aloud Books, and essential articles from the editors of Scholastic Parents. The Three Bees is such a cute story about a family of bees getting ready for bed.
This post was sponsored by Orajel™. The opinions and text are all mine.