Back to School Finale: Bedtime

We've had some bedtime frustrations in our household, particularly because we have 4 kids.

If we could just put them all to bed at once, life would be so easy.  But apparently they all need different bedtimes so in the past my entire evening would be spent on the bedtime routine times 4. 

We used to send our kids to their rooms 30 minutes before bed so they could get ready, do their devotions and read.

We have come up with a different solution now that has helped us out.  This doesn't work out every night, but when we can, we have a family quiet time at 8:00.  Each kid has to be in their own room to do their devotion and read for 30 minutes.  During this time, Dino and I can then read with the youngest and have any discussions necessary with the others.   At 8:30, our youngest goes to sleep and the other 3 are free until their bedtimes which are 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00.  However, as those bedtimes arrive, we can just tuck them in and say good night.  

We also used to spend time reminding and giving warnings but now we have an agreement that any child not ready and IN their bed at their specified time will go to bed early the following night.

It has been much nicer not to spend my whole evening watching the clock.

I think I've shared these before, but here are the devotion books my kids are using.  It's probably time to switch it up again.   I'll put it on the Christmas list.