How a Sleep Chart Can Help Kids With A Bedtime Routine

We all know how important it is to get the correct amount of sleep each night, but sometimes our kids do not always understand. Knowing how much parents struggle with this issue was the main reason we created our Good Night Sleep Tight Chart.

Routines are key for children, particularly at bedtime. Here are some tips that we found on Web MD blog which we thought would help you  to create a much smoother bedtime plan for your child and stop those battles now!

• Make Sure Your Child's Bedtime Is Early Enough
• Keep Your Child's Bedtime Consistent
• Let Your Child Wind Down
• Establish a Routine for Your Child's Bedtime - check out our Good Night Sleep Tight Chart to help with you with a consistent routine.
• Offer Lots of Choices for Kid's Bedtime
• Take Charge and Set Limits
• Provide a Transitional Object
• Create a Comfortable Sleep Environment
• Teach Your Kids to Fall Asleep on Their Own
• Be Consistent

To view these bullet points in more detail click  here  to view the original post.

Toddlers Need Sleep to Avoid Obesity

We have often shared posts and articles regarding the relationship between sleep and obesity but we thought this article taken from Liberty Voice would be helpful to share.

Habits of overeating can start as young as when a toddler is first teething on Cheerios. A new study conducting with 2,600 children shows that toddlers who sleep less tend to eat more, which can lead to obesity later in life.

 

University College London (UCL) researchers found that 16-month-old toddlers who slept less than 10 hours a day consumed 10 percent more calories per day than children who slept 13 hours or more a day. On average, they consumed 105 more calories each day than their peers. One theory may be that parents are soothing over-tired, cranky kids with food or drinks rather than encouraging them to sleep more.

Studies have linked eating habits and sleep in adults, but this is the first to suggest that the nexus can start as a baby. Published in the International Journal of Obesity, the researchers noted that the extra calories consumed in the toddler years establishes the pattern of overeating that leads to obesity and health issues as adolescents and adults.

The UCL study tracked the sleep and eating habits of 1,303 sets of twins, who were 16 months at the onset, in the United Kingdom for five months. Those children who slept less tended to eat more (1,087 calories) throughout the day than the others, who averaged 982 calories. The research also showed that the increased energy intake was observed before difference in weight emerged.

The study established an association between sleeping less and eating more, but did not establish the cause-and-effect relationship. The researchers indicated that the reason for the difference in energy consumption was also not clear, but suggested that the body’s ability to regulate appetite hormones may be affected by getting less sleep. Previous studies on adults have indicated that lack of sleep can create a hormone imbalance, which can affect the metabolism and also increase the appetite. Even a little sleep deprivation in grown-ups was found to affect body weight regulation, changing levels of insulin and other hormones.

To read more
http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/toddlers-need-sleep-to-avoid-obesity/

We believe that sleep influences our entire family’s life and wellbeing. A good night’s sleep is important for every member of the family, it helps us to feel refreshed and full of energy. A night without enough sleep can leave us feeling exhausted and irritable impacting how we perform throughout the day.

Our Good Night, Sleep Tight reward chart provides a complete system to help parents create that good, solid bedtime routine. Available from www.VictoriaChartCompany.com or www.VictoriaChartCompany.co.uk in the UK. Use coupon code VCHART15 to save 15% at checkout..

Teaching Sleep Manners with The Good Night, Sleep Tight Sleep Chart

Guest post by Christina Gantcher:

Is bedtime a battle with your preschooler? It doesn’t need to be but our preschool aged children have so much to explore and learn everyday that it can easily turn into several rounds of 20 questions. Many times when a parent approaches me for sleep help and their child is between 3 and 5 (sometimes even 2 ½) I will say it’s time for “sleep manners” which I learned through my own experience with author Kim West, best known as “The Sleep Lady.” I love the idea of teaching children the skill of sleep and during the preschool years it’s really about manners and a skill, not punishment and judgment.

When parents look for a way to get their child to cooperate at bedtime we discuss the role of sleep manners. Just like we teach our children to say “please” and “thank you” we can teach them they need to learn sleep manners. Getting into bed at an appropriate time should not be an on-going negotiation; it should be a matter-of-fact event. Going to sleep should be a calm, peaceful routine, not one of struggle and heart strings being pulled (“just one more drink”, “just one more book!”).

A sleep chart, like Victoria Chart Company’s “Good Night, Sleep Tight” is ideal for helping kids learn sleep manners. It’s colorful and easy-to-use, complete with great stickers, and a list of appropriate expectations for our preschool aged children at bedtime. Some of those behaviors are “I’m getting into bed” and “I fell asleep by myself.” It’s important that there are morning manners too, like “stayed in bed until it was time to get up”, a common difficulty for young children in beds, able to get up at hours adults would not consider morning.

As a sleep coach I help parents understand that our children actually learn to sleep. If they don’t learn this skill independently, with something or someone doing it for them, they will always need that thing, action or person to go to sleep. As a child gets older it is important for them to understand their own role in getting a good night’s sleep. Part of self-care, like feeding oneself or learning to get dressed, is taking responsibility for falling asleep unassisted.

A sleep chart can be a helpful reminder of routine for both parent and child at bedtime and in the morning. The chart itself is best put into action during a pre-set family meeting where your child learns about the new tool and how it is going to help them learn their sleep manners. The conversation at the family meeting should be a positive, upbeat one, asking for your child’s ideas about what good manners might be and focusing on the rewards (a fun outing/experience with a parent, not necessarily a toy) after successful sleep manners for several days, and eventually weeks. Every morning you can review the previous night and how things went. This way both you and your child can stay consistent about new good manners and see where there’s room for improvement.

Wishing you a good night’s sleep!

Christina Gantcher is a licensed and certified Gentle Sleep Coach. For more information go to www.goodnightsleepcoaching.com

Order your copy of the Good Night Sleep Tight chart from The Victoria Chart Company, and 'Like" our Facebook page to save 15% and to download your child's Sleep Certificate.http://www.victoriachartcompany.com/sleep-chart.html

A Parent's Dream! - Good Night Sleep Tight Chart, the ultimate sleep reward chart for children

PRESS RELEASE

The Victoria Chart Company, a leading UK developer of behavior and reward charts for kids, has teamed up with Rebecca Michi, Child's Sleep Consultant to create a reward system to help families build a solid bedtime routine for children.

Sleep influences our entire family's life and wellbeing. For a parent a good nights sleep can be determined by the sleep routine of their child.
We all know how important it is to get a good night's sleep. It helps us to feel refreshed and full of energy. A night without sleep can leave us feeling exhausted and irritable impacting how we perform throughout the day. For a parent, a restful evening and a good night's sleep can be determined by the routine of their child. If there isn't a routine then it can make for a stressful family time.

"One of the most important things we can do for a child is to create a good bedtime routine" says Rebecca Michi, Seattle based Children's Sleep Consultant. "That's why I teamed with The Victoria Chart Company to develop the Good Night, Sleep Tight chart"

Infant and toddler sleep problems can have a detrimental effect on parental mood (i.e. Depression and anxiety), marital satisfaction and parental stress level. Increasing evidence shows that sleep disruption or lack of sleep is harmful to children's learning ability, concentration, mood, attention, behavior. Sleep deprivation in children has been linked to, lowered immune systems, diabetes, depression, hindered physical development, stress and anxiety.

The Good Night Sleep Tight chart is fun, simple to use and brings great results for both parent and child. It is designed as a simple reward chart system using fun colored stickers to acknowledge sucessfully completed steps. A free printable Good Night, Sleep Tight certificate complements the chart and is available to download from The Victoria Chart Company's Facebook page.

The Victoria Chart Company's President and Founder Victoria Ballard says "We are at the forefront of knowing what parents struggle with, the pressures of modern day life can be very disruptive to the simplest of routines. Our Good Night, Sleep Tight chart with its supportive information sheet provides families with the necessary tool to create the all-important, regular bedtime routine for their child".

About The Victoria Chart Company
The Victoria Chart Company was founded in 2004 by Victoria Ballard. Victoria discovered that a reward system she developed worked fabulously well for her children. The system worked so well that she has dedicated her time to creating tools for parents and professionals to help children and their families realize the power of developmental progress that comes from the simple process of Encourage & Praise . The Good Night, Sleep Tight Reward Chart is available for $14.99 from their website. The Victoria Chart Company also produces the My Big Star Chart which is an excellent tool for parents when used as a potty training chart. For help finding something on the website contact Victoria at info@VictoriaChartCompany.com Coupons can be found at http://www.fb.com/VictoriaChartCompany