Getting your kids to go to bed early can be quite a challenge sometimes.  I dread it when I have to be up for work at 5am and my 5 year old son is awake in his be down the hall singing songs and making noises because he can't got to sleep.  Alot of nights he would not go to sleep before 10 or 11 pm no matter what toy I said I would take a way from him permenantly or how much play time I told him he would lose before bedtime the following day.  Nothing seemed to work and I had to do something.  After trying many options to get him to sleep early I finally found out what the problems were and needless to say his sleep time became earlier and earlier.

Below is a list of thing you can try to get your little one to go to sleep earlier.

1. Try giving your child warm milk right before bed.  This helps to relax them.

2. If you child is in day care then check with the teacher to see when the last time was that your child had taken a nap.  I found that the later the nap time was then the later my son would go to sleep.

3. Don't give your child anything sweet after 5pm to give them time to burn those the energy produced by the sugars out of their systems.

4. Spend a little extra playtime with your child to tire them out more.

5. I also found that it helps if I give my son a bath right before putting him to bed.  He feels better when he is clean and he's more relaxed.

6. Set the timer on the t.v. if your child has one.

7. It sometimes helps to play soothing music in your child's room.

8. Check to make sure that your child didn't sneak any toys into bed to play with.

9. Have a little talk with your child about them needing to go to sleep early.  Believe it or not kids understand much more than we sometimes give them credit for.

10. Say prayers with your children before bed.  If its something that your child is used to doing then breaking this routine can sometime cause them to not sleep waiting to say prayers.