Back to School – a blog about sleeping Zzzzz

With January behind us, we are well on the way to getting 2018 in to some sort of routine. The chaos of Christmas and the festivities are but a distant memory as we hurtle to the first half term of the calendar year. But how adjusted are you and the children you know in dealing with the everyday reality of normality once more?

We read an interesting article recently on the BBC website that talked about 13 weird ways to get your children sleeping better. Sean Coughlan, Education Correspondent for the team reports that this time of the year is when Google (other search engines are available) receives the highest enquiries for problem sleepers – specifically children.

Of course we want our children energised and ready to learn once they are seated at their classroom desk. But just how do parents achieve routine again after a break in the day-to-day activities of family life?

We spoke to some of our staff across the organisation who talked about the weird and wonderful ways they achieved hallowed bedtime objectives with their own families.
Jon Evans, Branch Manager for our Cardiff Additional Learning Needs Team tells us how he finally ensured that night time was no longer an issue for him and his family:

The Lightbulb Moment

“The key with both our children is a low energy night light on a timer plug. My kids both hated the dark and could not settle on their own. Since using a night light, we have got both children sleeping”

Helen Lloyd-Jones who is our Internal Training Manager talks about how traditional techniques really helped her family with creating slumber for her children:

Traditional Methods and Lullabies

“I did the usual of bath time, stories, milk and then played a Classical Lullaby CD on low until they went to sleep. Both my boys loved their routine and always slept well.
As they got bigger we stopped the milk and CD just read lots of stories and a cuddle then sleep”

Parents throughout the ages have endeavoured to find that one perfect solution for getting a successful pattern at bedtime, but one colleague took a more laisser-faire approach with her offspring. Alyson Harrington, Branch Manager for our Cardiff Primary Team tells us boldly:

“Well I was a working mum and went back to work when my daughter was 13 weeks old. I never got home until 6.30pm so early to bed was not a priority for me as I wouldn’t have seen her. To be honest I was very laid back about bed time and never made a big deal of it.
I would always try and get her to bed before 9.00pm but if she wasn’t tired we would read stories or watch a DVD, or have a cuddle in my bed and sometimes both of us would fall asleep. Sometimes parents are too anxious with bed time routines and this can then reflect on the child. Go with the flow I say and enjoy and cherish them when you can as they grow up too quickly anyway”

Coughlan offers 13 top tips in his article including ‘Play a recording of a chapter from an 18th Century Scottish economics book, read by a really boring teacher’ – we giggled.

Hopefully February will see a much more energised and focused school-aged population. Our team are proud to work to support inspirational teachers, teaching assistants and schools who are quite simply so innovative it would be hard to be tired in their classrooms.