The Politics of ‘Night Night’
One of the hardest parts of being a dad is putting my baby girl to bed. She’s 2.5 and very active at night and when bedtime rolls around, she wants no part of it. She has this quirky fear of sitting on her bottom in the bath. She either likes to stand and play or get on her knees. Maybe she’s afraid she’ll drown? I dunno. Anyway, I was trying to get her to sit tonight and she would not do it. When it was time to get out, I held up the towel and said: “Okay, it’s almost night night.” She yelled “no” and FINALLY SAT, as if you say: “I’ll do anything, please - no night night.” After I got her out of the bath and got her all cozy in her PJ’s, she started running away from me when I uttered “night night.”
When I finally caught her and held her in my arms like a little princess, I saw her mama’s spunky spirit in her face and I saw my own iron will and I just felt SO bad for her that she had to go to bed. Part of me wanted to let her stay up with us, but I knew that she was exhausted so I had to follow through. She was screaming noooooo. I sang her a song and caressed her little head and then closed the door. Her crying instantly ceased.
She obviously needed a boundary. I know that is my job as a parent, and it may not come with warm fuzzy feelings all the time.
My kids don’t have even a fraction of the experiences I have as an adult. That’s why I have to draw the line many times on any given day. This I know in my head, but some days, it’s hard on my “heart.”
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Tags: Family, relationships
I'm Damien Riley, author and teacher. Here you'll find "think outside the box" posts on psychology and inspiration. 
We must all have our babies on our mind tonight. The can be sweethearts and they do need limits, but sometimes you just want to let them stay up and be hugged. I got a visual of her sitting down in the tub!
Oh, I remember those days! When the kids were all cute and cuddly and sweet…you know, not teenagers! I miss that!
Oh, it can be tough for parents. You really captured that, Damien. Bedtime can be a fair old challenge!
But sleep they must. :)
Thanks Rory! Nice to be empathized with!
Hey man, thanks for the comment on my blog. It’s all about the kids. The experiences that we had growing up will be far different than the world they are being raised in. We didn’t worry too much about terrorism (at home and abroad), pedophiles, etc. Enjoy them while they are young. They grow up too fast!
You’re welcome. You’ll probably see more of my comments since I have almost all three of your title terms in common! Yes I know about all that bad stuff, what’d ya hafta go and remind me of it for??? he he he. Seriously though . . . now more than ever, kids need their dads.