Dad, I can't sleep because there’s dancing in my head!

If there's one thing I know about what works with kids it's keeping a routine. I remember someone telling me a few years ago that kids really love routine. Without knowing all the ins and outs of the psychology I guess they feel safe and secure in routines because they think mum and dad have life under control.

If they only knew!

So a few months ago our son starts staying awake later and later at night. Regardless of putting him to bed every night at 7.30pm he started staying awake longer and longer till finally hes dropping off at around 11.30! Ok he's happy enough reading, and playing cars and generally turning his room upside down.

The other night when asked why he wasn't sleeping this cute four year old says “Daddy I cant sleep because there is dancing in my head”. Talk about a conversation stopper?!? "Dancing in my head!" has he all of a sudden caught ADHD. I'm told by his mum don't worry most parents at some stage think their kids have ADHD.

I don't know why we automatically think the worst. Our family circumstances have changed over the past months. We've moved houses and locations, started a business, started studying and Ryan has had to change from pre-school to kindergarten. All things that of course can disrupt routines especially in the eyes of a four year old.

So I talked to a mate of mine - Dan. He had a few really good suggestions around what our son is eating and what he's hearing before bed. Ok I'll admit it some of our bedtime stories involve spaceships, adventures, fire breathing dragons, running from danger etc so I'm going to change tack there and keep the exciting stuff to other times of the day. And I guess the chocolate ice cream is not such a great idea in the last hour before bed. Dan also came up with a gem and said – "why don't you sing him a lullaby". A lullaby! Yes a lullaby – think about it - it's a lost tradition. Parents have been singing lullabys for thousands of years to settle and get children to sleep. Now in the age of internet, video games, TV, Busy Lives, cellphones we have lost the tradition and lost the art.

So two nights later after some pretty basic lullabys I think we may have come across a winner. NO he's not dropping asleep at 7.45pm but we are just slowing things down. In his room we whisper. Tell a nice story about dreamland and sing a slow lullaby. Makes perfect sense and I'm sure we'll see the results soon. Here's a bit of inspiration from Jack Johnson if you're thinking "singing lullabys ... what is he on!?!":

Some great stuff to be learnt from mates ... thanks Dan.

Jeff Smith - Ryans Dad