wake me up, before you go go
Filed Under Stuff | May 31, 2010
As the days get longer it’s getting harder and harder to convince our little ones that it’s time to go to bed when it’s still light out and not necessarily time to arise just because the sun’s up. So rather than continually asserting this tiring truth, we’ve come to rely on the GoodNite Lite.
A cunning combo of a night light and a very basic clock, you set the GoodNite Lite so the moon shines at bedtime and the sun starts to shine when it’s a realistic time for them to face the day. It’s designed for little ones from three to five who are just starting to differentiate night from day and aren’t great at telling time. Billed as a “behaviour modification device” we think of it more as a very handy way to help your kids get the sleep they need and establish a routine as well as a great way for us to avoid 5 am wake up calls.
We put it to the toughest test of all, the kiddo sleep test, and we’ve been astonished by the results. After explaining the concept we sat down (okay, went to sleep) and waited to see what happened. Lo and behold our little ones have consistently stayed in their room until their virtual sun comes up. But we do wonder why our kids seem to put much more faith in the sun and the moon than our assertions that it’s “only six in the morning and you need to go back to sleep.”
There have been a few blips however. Early one morning a distraught tester woke us early in tears proclaiming “the sun must be broken! Surely it’s time to get up, I’ve been awake for ages.” They’ve also started to anthropomorphize their light and making comments like “I think the sun got up a little late today.” And as for getting them to stay in bed at night, that’s been a little more challenging but generally they take it as moonlit gospel when we assert “it must be time for bed, look the moon is up.”
Our next step? Figuring out how to reprogram our GoodNite Lite to include an extra hour of shut eye on weekend mornings…
GoodNite Lite*: www.goodnitelite.com
*Please note: you do have to order your lite from an American site, however we received ours without issue and a yoyomama reader has also ordered and tested hers with no problems (or crazy duties).
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Brilliant. One of the best ideas I’ve heard of in a long time. Certainly helps when trying to convince a savvy 8-year-old that just because it still looks like daytime, doesn’t mean it IS daytime. Keeping a reasonable bedtime in summer is certainly challenging. This cool Sun/Moon light along with ‘blackout’ blinds is a sure fire hit. Thanks for sharing.
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