Busy parents will find it helpful if their children go to sleep early on Christmas eve. giving them time to prepare for the following big day.
When I was a girl, my mother always told my sisters and I that if we went to bed early on Christmas eve Christmas day would come quicker,
I also told my sons the same thing, to which, my husband laughed and said that the time would’t go any quicker; what we meant was that if you are asleep you are not so aware of how long the night can be.
Once we reached the age when we were starting to wonder if father Christmas did actually exist, we would try to stay awake to see him deliver our presents, however, we never managed and fell asleep before he came,
When my eldest 2 sons were growing up Christmas eve was an exciting time as it was also their dad’s birthday so we often had visitors bringing both Christmas and birthday presents throughout the day.
Tips for helping children to go to sleep early are:-
To keep sugar to a minimum and avoid a sugar rush, this is easier said than done when there are sweets in the house ready for Christmas; try to not be tempted into opening them until the big day.
Attempt to tire children out on Christmas eve, if the weather allows take them for a brisk walk, a cycle ride or have a game of football together.
A local attraction used to hoist a free entry for local people on Christmas eve as their way of thanking people for keeping them ‘going’ outside of the tourist season This was a fantastic way of tiring children out and keeping the entertained on a day which can seem never ending to children who are getting very excited,
Give your children a warm bubble bath before bed to help with winding down then read them a festive bedtime story. Snow in the garden here or Pick a pine tree here are perfect for this.
If my tips work and hopefully they will. I suggest that parents also get to sleep early on Christmas eve because the children will be up again soon in a few hours!
Merry Christmas to all my readers,
As always questions, comments and topic suggestions are welcome and please share on social media if you think others would benefit from reading this post.
Until next time.
Karen
x
Great tips, especially the ones about parents getting to bed early too, getting up at 5am is not fun 🙂
Thanks for the tips, we try to be as active as possible in the day to tire them out. Also lots of outdoor time as they are likely to be inside all of Christmas day. #KCACOLS
I am lucky in the sense that my children love going to bed at night, so Christmas Eve doesn’t make much difference to them. By nine o’clock they are exhausted so it really isn’t difficult. They are only five and three though so I am aware that this could change in a couple of years. I think your advice about as parents trying to get to bed early ourselves is very good. It really is the sensible thing to do if you can manage it because Christmas Day is a very long and tiring day, especially if you are up early that morning. Easier said than done though!! Thanks for linking this to #globalblogging x
Tiring them out was always the one that worked best for me #KCACOLS
getting them out we find is great and also calms them down and us going to bed early is a must #stayclassymama
We go out for a walk to look at the outdoor lights in our local area to try to wear them out. Please remember to add the #dreamteam badge
Will add the badge soon
Great tips, of course, the sweeties and chocolates are all gone by xmas day in our house! Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time
Yes absolutely. Always try and get a walk in on Christmas Eve to wear them out. I try not to talk about it too much on Christmas Eve either. Keeping it calm is way forward. One thing I will not do is to take them to Midnight Mass as they will never get to sleep and I will be absolutely pooped on Christmas Day. Thanks for linking up #StayClassyMama
I’ll be using these tips next year! Thanks for linking up with #stayclassymama and please add our new badge when you get a chance
Will do the badge soon
Great tips. We always try and have a really active Christmas Eve so the kids are tired, but it still doesn’t stop them from getting up early on Christmas day! Thanks for linking up with #KidsandKreativity, hope to see you back next time.
Almost 13 years in and I’m still to find a sure-fire way to tire out our boy, haha! The advice you offer here is very good though, and especially that parents should make sure they go to sleep as early as possible too. Christmas Day on too little sleep is not much fun x #KidsandKreativity
Popping back from #KCACOLS, thank you for linking up this round, hope you come back again next time! x
I did a post on this subject too – it’s such a difficult one isn’t it when they’re so excited! #KCACOLS
Great post! Next year my niece will be almost three and starting to understand so these tips will come in super useful! x
We always used to try and stay awake and my mum would tell us Santa wouldn’t come if we didn’t go to sleep. My kids are older now so it’s a bit easier. Thanks for linking up to #stayclassymama