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A woman has shared a genius tip for getting children to sleep on Christmas Eve, saying there’s one easy trick she swears by.
Find out how she does it here:
The excitement of Santa coming means it’s often difficult to any of us to get to sleep on 24 December, but for children it becomes practically impossible.
Some of you may have your own techniques at bedtime – whether it’s reasoning with your little ones or resorting to straight-up bribery – but even these can fall flat at Christmas.
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However, one woman thinks she’s got the perfect solution, and you’ll only need your phone to hand.
TikToker Brooke Ceslak (@brookeceslak) posted a video explaining how to get kids to go to bed, saying it works ‘perfectly’.
She said: “Here’s my tip on how to get kids to go to bed on Christmas Eve when you want them to.
“I’ve done this the past two or three years for my little brother, and it works perfectly every time.
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“On YouTube, search ‘Santa Call’, and find one that you like – there are some that are kind of better than others.”
You essentially find a video that you can play to make it look like Santa is calling you on your phone, so that you can pretend the big man’s giving you an update on his ETA.
Ceslak continued: “Pick one you like and then you basically just tell your kid, ‘You’ve gotta go to sleep now, because Santa’s on the way and he’s not coming if you don’t go to sleep.’
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“I don’t know, it works for me every time I’ve done it.”
There are a number of other things that also might help, according to the sleep experts at Bed Kingdom.
To help parents this festive season, they shared a list of ticks and tips that might work well on Christmas Eve:
- Fill the morning with exercise
- Keep them away from sugary foods after midday
- Keeping them up late will prevent a good night’s sleep – a later bedtime may seem like a good idea, but actually it will have the adverse effect
- Give them a sleep-inducing snack before bed – try bananas, which calm the body and relax the muscles, with a class of milk, which contains sleep-promoting amino acid tryptophan
- Keep things calm in the evening
- Don’t alter their night-time routine
- Avoid using technology too close to bedtime
- Don’t forget to countdown before bedtime – counting down in windows of an hour, half hour or 15 minutes before bed time will help them prepare for sleep
A spokesperson from Bed Kingdom commented: “Spending Christmas with the family is something that many of us look forward to all year, but having little ones around makes it that little bit more special.
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“However, it can sometimes feel as though there’s nothing to prepare them for bedtime on Christmas Eve, resulting in a restless night’s sleep.
“Thankfully, there are several tips and tricks to keep them calm and avoid any tired children on Christmas Day.”
Good luck, parents...
Jess Hardiman