I was skeptical, but let me lead with this: so far, this book is working. And it may work for you too. If nothing else, you’ll likely learn from the concept. The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep debuted in 2015 and I had heard a lot of the buzz, but felt it may not be necessary for us. Until our last pediatric appointment. As I suspected, our bedtime routine was not ideal. My son was 3, now 4, and he loves to hear bedtime stories. We’d gotten into a routine where after we tucked him in, I would tell him a story off the top of my head and he would follow with a story of his own. Which was awesome! I discovered that I’m a decent story teller and I had fun coming up with new characters and settings. And I LOVED hearing his imagination come to life when he told his own tales. But while this practice was very endearing, it was also ramping his brain up into overdrive. Doc’s advise: read the same story every night. Lame.
Geared toward kids aged 3-7, The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep claims to be a revolutionary bedtime story. It essentially forces you to use your voice to put your child in a trance. With instructions at the beginning, you softly emphasize some words, while slowly whispering others. It seems that the end game is legitimate hypnosis. For all parties involved. You’ll get your little one to wind down at the expense of any energy you had remaining at the end of the day. Turns out, fake yawns lead to real yawns. We did a total 180, from wild imaginations to a monotonous snooze-fest. The strange thing is, he really likes it. He asks for it every night. I’m still a bit skeptical. It may not be sustainable, for him or for me, but so far so good.
If nothing else, this book has taught me a new method for storytelling before bed. So, if you’re not up for committing to another sleep experiment but want to try your hand at hypnotizing your kiddos, here are my tips for reworking your bed time stories:
- Slow down and speak softly. Be dreamy. The trance thing is real.
- Don’t be afraid of repetition every night. Maybe each story starts a little differently, but then falls into the same plot and ends the same way. This allows their minds to stop working so hard to keep up.
- Fake yawn. I’m serious. It’s contagious. It’ll get you chilled out too.
- Talk about sleep. Work it into your plot. Sleep should be a central theme, not just the last line. I was so guilty of this! Talk about crawling in bed, laying down, tucking in, deep breathing. Sleepy stuff from beginning to end.
- Minimize the action. Your characters should be calm and quiet. You’re not selling a screenplay. Your standards for what a story should be are WAY more complex than your child’s. Keep it simple with very simple plots and activities.
- Make sleep cool. For your characters, sleep should be a desirable goal. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Tell a story about a character who wants nothing more than to fall asleep.
Remember – the primary goal is to let their brains cool off from a long day of navigating a world that is completely over their heads. Help them let go of all that pressure. Use repetition and your soothing voice to give them the gift of relaxation.
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