Sunday, April 6, 2008

UPDATE on Wyatt! PEACEFUL parenting works!

Well, I just tried to think about what it feels like to have insomnia. We have all been there and its miserable. I have done so well with peaceful parenting and it killed me to try going back to conventional parenting during that week during the night with him. I reverted out of fear and yelled at him and threatened to take things away. I had to step back and realize that conventional parenting has never worked to begin with, yet I couldnt come up with a way to peacefully resolve this til I really thought long and hard and placed myself in those insomniac shoes. I would never go back to sleep with someone yelling at me or telling me I would lose my beloved things if I didnt get to sleep. I know what works for me on the occassion when I get insomnia is to have Nate rub my back or even just pet my hair and talk sweet to me. He has always been so good at helping me fall back asleep when I am aggitated and cant. I decided to pay my son this same respect. When he woke up 2 night ago once again like every other night for the past 8 days or so, I smacked myself in the head, came out of my sleepy stupor and made myself be kind and tucked him in and reasured him that his tv would be there for him in the morning and it wasnt his fault he was awake and I wasnt mad at him. I rubbed his back some and spoke lovingly to him. To my surprise, he went back to sleep in only a few minutes and slept in til 8 am!!!!! OMGOSH this is proof in itself to me that peaceful parenting works. Getting mad at him never solved anything and I wasnt proving anyone wrong but myself and losing much needed sleep because I was simply being a jerk. Last night, he woke for a few seconds and Nate went in and did the same thing I did the night before and WALA, it worked again. He was so happy in the morning as well because he conquered the sleep that he desired. He was so tired last week from no sleep and it was really upsetting him. Thank goodness.

1 comment:

Amanda said...

I think Mason has a bit of Insomnia as well. We catch him often about 1-2 in the morning downstairs watching TV. The only way I catch him too is by waking up for my middle of the night pee run lol and I see lights on. We've always just gone and put him back in bed and told him it's no where near morning yet and he can get up when the sun starts to rise. It works for us and there's never been a fuss. Glad you found something that works for you as well. :D