It’s an hour before bedtime and your toddler has officially hit the wall. You’re now officially stuck between a rock and a fussy, whiny munchkin. You can’t put babe to bed, unless you want a 4am wake-up call (groaaan), but how to keep them entertained for the next 60 minutes? Don’t panic. Over the last year few months, I’ve discover 5 guaranteed ways to distract your toddler before bedtime:
Help them to discover something new
A few weeks ago, I caved and gave my toddler a container full of pens. Inside, there was a pad of Post-its I’d entirely forgotten about. After half an hour removing and replacing the pile of pens, she spent another 40 minutes plastering herself, and mommy, with multi-coloured Post-its. Remember, don’t blow everything at once. You’ll need to stockpile cool stuff for the next episode.
Invite your toddler to assist in household chores
They are surprisingly willing participants, especially when it comes to stacking (or crawling into) dishwashers, un-separating and un-folding laundry, and opening and slamming washers and dryer doors over, and over, and over again.
Have fun with food
Dinner time may be over, but if there’s one thing toddlers LOVE doing, it’s exploring new textures, tastes, flavours and feels. Give them a spoon. Give them yoghurt. Get out of range.
But first, let them take a selfie
I’m not going to lie. My phone is being held together by a thread. But the silence that got it there, is golden.
Bath time
We bath the wee one every other day, but on nights where I’m counting the minutes go by, I strip her down, run some warm water, throw in some toys and watch the clock. Tick tock!
