The Overtired Phenomenon
Monday, June 12th, 2017There are days when our young children wake up early, run around like crazy, skip their naps, and simply crash after dinner, just before you can get them in the tub. This time of year, they’re snoring, utterly done with the day, when it’s still bright light out. This is what I call the jackpot. It’s sort of a reward for being up since the crack of dawn and going strong for hours. Sometimes it seems like there’s not enough caffeine in the world. But we manage. And when they succumb to their sleepiness, it feels like a major victory.
But for every time bedtime goes down easily, there are nights when they refuse to give up the good fight. When you look at the clock and look and them and think, “how?” How is this possible? How are they not passed out? It’s not something that people without children easily understand but it’s so true: sometimes children are too tired to go to sleep. When they are infants, you know how cranky they can be if you miss their “sleepy windows.” But the pattern persists well into the toddler years.
I do think the light evening hours exacerbate the issue. Often when I’m trying to get Hudson down he will stare at the window and say, “it’s not night.” Very hard to try to convince a two year old to ignore daylight savings time and get some rest!
Fortunately, all kids eventually go to sleep. Hopefully there’s even a small window within which all of your children are sleeping at the same time and you can relax enough to sleep, too!
Have a restful week, everyone!