Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Bribery. It's what's for bedtime!

The past few weeks have been really tough around here. The Princess hasn't slept worth a damn since we got home from Disney World. It has been taking two hours or more to get her to go to sleep. Every. Damn. Night.

Not fun. By the time she falls asleep the wife and I either so worn out that sleep is immediate (her) or so worked up from the fight that sleep does not come at all (me). The Princess had never been good about going to bed, but she does fine 99.9% of the time at nap. What's the difference? We've got no freaking clue.

But I need some sleep and I need it last week.

Last night I decided we would try an all out assault on bedtime for The Princess. A $7 bag of M&Ms from Costco seemed like it might do the trick. Yep, we are bribing her to sleep. 10 M&Ms went into a cup. If mom or dad has to come into the room after lights out, then M&Ms start disappearing from the cup. Whatever is left in the morning can be a breakfast appetizer.

Last night she got up two times. But she was back in bed without a fight and asleep in 20 minutes or so. The remaining 8 M&Ms were the first course of her pumpkin bread and milk breakfast. Good eating!

Yessiree. Just call me the Godfather of Snore. I'll pay kickbacks for a good night's sleep. You should see what I would do for maid service twice a week.

3 comments:

jen said...

This is pure genuis!

Ginger said...

We are not above bribery here in Alabama either. The newest thing is to take away Nintendo time. What motivation!

Mike said...

My hope is that we can stop bribing for sleep soon. Then we can START bribing for potty training! And hopefully all before we run out of M&Ms.