Method acting is a technique popularized by the late Marlon Brando in which an actor literally tries to become a character. They want to emotionally be inseparable from the part they are playing. If their character is mean, they act mean all the time, even when the cameras are not rolling. If they are supposed to be playing a tired character, they might stay up super late the night before. If their character is hungry, they will not eat. They take it to the extreme. This method of acting has been taken up by such greats as Dustin Hoffman, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Day Lewis, and, more recently, Jared Leto, who really took his part as The Joker a little too seriously.
So what does this have to do with parenting? Well hold on, because I am going to give you the best piece of bedtime advice you will ever receive. Kids won’t go down? Kids are a bundle of energy? Kids are not tired at all? Go full method on them. It works (almost) every time.
Edward has often been difficult to get to bed. I think I spent a year writing posts about it, half-asleep at the computer. But now we have a routine that works. Routine is very important. But also important, I have noticed, is the method bedtime routine, in which I also become very tired and almost fall asleep. Here’s how it works.
Step 1 – Right at the start of the bedtime routine, which for us is reading stories, you need to start yawning. Subtly at first, but then more frequent and wide open, lion mouthed yawns. Yawns are contagious. They also can make you feel tired. Once I start the yawn machine, there is no stopping it. He is yawning along with me. I am yawning right now, just thinking about it!
Step 2 – As you progress through the bedtime, start to lower your own energy, as if you were also about to fall asleep. Keep your voice low and whispered, make your movements slow and lethargic, and keep that yawning going! Make sure that all of the energy in the room, especially yours, is a tired sort of energy.
Step 3 – By this time your child should be yawning and slowing down, but they may still be fidgeting in the bed or rolling over a lot. Now you play your ace in the hole. Lay your head down on your child and finish up the routine that way. Close your own eyes. Yawn. Relax. Cuddle up to them like you are both about to fall asleep. Bam! Out like a light.
Now there are risks involved in method bedtime, the primary one being that you may actually fall asleep in your child’s bed with them. But hey, if your biggest risk is getting an extra nap in, why are you complaining? You probably needed more sleep anyway. The other risk is that you might fall asleep before your child, and they were maybe tricking you the whole time, and once you are snoring they will use the opportunity to escape and wreak havoc. I’m not saying that this has happened to me before, but I’m not saying it has not happened either.
Good luck with bedtimes. I hope this technique works as well for you as it has for me. And now I’m going to go try out method room cleaning and see if that has any effect. Here’s hoping!