Children love to share a bed with their parents 5 ways to help children transition to sleeping alone

Written by: Fong Yueling, Family Dynamics Marriage and Family Therapist  

 

 

The weather is starting to heat up and summer is approaching, which is a great time to prepare your child to sleep alone, in addition to quitting pills. Many times, new parents also think that their children are too young and are not at ease to let them sleep alone in the bedroom. As a result, after the child is born, it sleeps in the same bed or in the same room as the parents. Over time, the kid’s bedroom becomes a utility room or a place where dad sleeps alone.

 

Of course, parents will also feel the “difficulty” of sleeping with their children in the same room, including not being able to gossip in the room, and turning around while sleeping for fear of affecting the children, so that the family cannot have their own space and have a good rest.

 

Children sleep alone, nurture growth

When the child grew up a lot, parents also began to discuss whether to let the child sleep alone. What is the right age for a child to sleep alone? The author has seen quite a few families where some children have slept alone since birth, and some children are 12 years old and still share the same bed with their mothers, while their fathers have also slept alone for more than 10 years.

 

 

Every family is different, and for different reasons or reasons, children should be arranged to sleep in the same room or bed as their parents. Will sleeping in the same bed with children for a long time affect the relationship between husband and wife? Regardless of the situation in your home, I believe that if your child can sleep alone, it will be positive for your child’s self-confidence, independence, and sense of responsibility.

 

Here are a few ways that may help children transition smoothly from sharing a bed with their parents to sleeping alone:

 

 

1. Involve children in designing their own room

By participating in the selection of their favorite beds, sheets, wall patterns or lighting, children will become excited about this change and will be able to face the “separation” from their parents with a positive attitude.

2. Let the child choose the object to sleep with

 

 

 

 Children like to sleep with their parents while expressing their emotional attachment to their parents. Everyone has emotional attachment needs at different stages. If part of the emotional needs of parents can be transferred to some objects, it can also reduce the anxiety of children sleeping alone. Let the child choose objects to sleep with, such as fur dolls, handkerchiefs, pillows, etc., will also make the child feel more at ease sleeping alone.

 

 

 

 3. Take a nap in the kid’s room

 

 

 

 At the beginning, let the child take a nap in his room first, let him get used to the new environment, and gradually he will easily accept the new world he has.

 

 

 

 4. Parents act in unison

 

 

 

 Sometimes, it is not that the child is unwilling to sleep alone, but the parents are unwilling to be separated from the child. If parents agree to let their children sleep alone, they need to support each other and act in concert.

 

 

 

 5. Persevere and persist

 

 

 

 In addition to being a new experience for the child to sleep alone, parents also need to adjust. In the process, it is inevitable that there will be some challenges or times when you want to give up. As long as parents understand that this is an inevitable process, they can naturally support and persevere with each other. As long as parents face this change with a positive attitude and a normal heart, the child will readily accept this change that is beneficial to his growth and development.