Skip to main content

Sleep - is it just a fairy tale?

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there were families with children who slept - and allowed their parents to sleep... 

It seems like sleep is simply a fairy tale.  Once upon a time, I slept.  Or, if I didn't sleep, it was a conscious choice on my part.  A late night study session or cramming to get a paper written.  Talking with good friends until the wee hours of the morning.  Or, watching the marathon session of a BBC miniseries. 

Nowadays, I think that sleep has become this fairy tale of hope.  I daydream about it, but never actually reach it.  I lay down at night thinking, "Tonight could be the night!" But, then my child needs to go to the potty one more - or fifty more - times (obviously important).  Or, they need one more hug and kiss (who can deny these?).  How about one more book? (Ok, this one is easy to say "no" to).  They've lost their favorite toy, blanket, snuggle item.  They continue to tell you that they're not tired, despite the ever-present yawning and head nodding - or tantrums which, just as with a wind up toy, seem to spin up right before they're completely and utterly exhausted.  My children even attempt to prove to me that they are sleeping through telling me that they are sleeping.  They forget: I wasn't born yesterday.

"Mommy, go away! I'm sleeping."  ...Sure, I believe that.

I sometimes believe that I have actually fallen asleep.  I'm not sure that I can prove that it's happened.  It feels like it might have because I'm suddenly stunned awake by a deafening scream announcing a monster under my child's bed or the fact that it's dance time (despite the fact that it's 3am).  Or, perhaps, I'm awoken by the dreaded sick child - something that pulls on the heartstrings of every parent.

I've had moments where I've brought my child into my bed simply for the hope that they will fall asleep there.  And, most of the time, they will - after finding the most optimal way for their tiny body to occupy a majority of the bed.



Sleep is important for both parent and child.  But, as Murphy's Laws for Moms continually prove, when a parent most wants and/or needs sleep, the child/children will find any and every excuse (often going down the complete list of excuses) to stay awake - no matter how tired they actually are.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Leadership Mom: SWOT Analysis

In business, leaders often analyze our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats through a SWOT analysis.  So, if we are going to look at our role as moms as being the greatest leadership opportunity to us, let's start with analyzing ourselves and our kids.  Here's the SWOT I developed for my family: Family SWOT Analysis As a doting mother, there are hundreds of strengths that I could put up here for my kids.  Their hugs, kisses, bedtime stories and prayers, the fact that they come to me when they're seeking healing from an injury (physical or emotional), the notes and drawings they make for me, their precious hearts when they try to help me or that they've learned how to use the Keurig to bring me coffee in the morning...I could go on and on. Now, here's the part where we get honest with ourselves.  Yes, we love our kids and we love our family (or, hopefully, most of the time), but we are not perfect.  Nor should we be perfect.  As we analy...

Cybersecurity 101

One of the things that continually amazes me as a parent of young(er) children is their ability to quickly understand technology and its uses.  Not only have my children learned the art of swiping to use different devices, but they've also learned how to access apps, take pictures, answer calls (both phone and Skype), and more.  My children could teach their grandparents a lesson or two on how to use technology. But, as a student of cybersecurity, I have seen a greater need to educate my children - as well as so many others - on the cybersecurity.  This goes beyond posting inappropriate pictures and unfriendly words on social media (although these lessons must also be taught).  This goes into the nature of understanding the benefits and risks of using technology and the privacy lost to it.  The major premise that must be understood in regards to cybersecurity is that information/data is money.  It's value is continually increasing.  We need to secure...

Why can't they just be friends?

Why can't my kids just be friends?  I must ask myself this question hundreds of times during the week.  I thought that having kids relatively close together was going to be great.  They'd have a playmate and an automatic friend.  However, the truth is that - most of the time - they don't get along.  It's not that they're enemies...it's that they drive each other crazy.  They each want the other one to do what they want to do.  Then, when the other one does what they want, they get mad at them because they wanted to do it themselves. They don't want to share their toys.  Then, they play together only to then get mad and purposefully break the other sibling's toys. They want to get the other one in trouble so that they look like the "good" child and get more rewards.  Then they get upset that the other sibling got them in trouble when they *tattled* on them. At mealtimes, they want to sit where the other one is sitting.  They wan...