by Libby Anderson

Created on: May 11, 2009   Last Updated: May 13, 2009

Making the Bedtime Routine Easier for Children of Any Personality Type (not to mention their parents)

Can't get Jr. to go to bed on time despite your most valiant efforts? Does the mere idea of putting your child to bed conjure up images of the WWF? You're not alone. The problem isn't necessarily your methods. The problem probably isn't you or your kids either. The problem may be the combination of the methods you are using and the particular personality type of the child or children you are trying to use them on.

Different personality types are influenced by very different types of motivation. What may sound like a great idea to you, or may work perfectly well with one of your children, may not even come close to influencing a different child. If you have more than one child, you know too well already that different children need to be parented differently. Even parents with only one child are often confused about how to parent a child with a personality type vastly different from their own. It's actually not as complicated as it seems to determine your child's basic personality type and learn to parent them in a language they understand. And the results are worth any effort you put into it as a parent. Here's a quick breakdown of the different personality types of children and the best way to motivate each type to go to bed at night without the threats.

The Strong Willed Child

If your little angel is one that likes to call the shots, this is the paragraph for you. The strong willed child is outgoing and opinionated. They have their own ideas long before they're even able to talk (and don't even try to convince them their ideas aren't right). They're natural born leaders and will go far in life. And that's good, right? It's just not so fun trying to get this personality type to go to bed when it wasn't their idea. The reason? They didn't have any say or any control over the decision that it was bedtime. The solution? Give them some say. Instead of Bedtime! Get your jammies on and brush your teeth. try, Bedtime! Do you want to get your jammies on first or brush your teeth? Now your strong willed child has a say in what will happen. They have some control in their own life, which is really the issue here. So instead of dictating what they will do, give them a set of choices (all of which are acceptable to you, the parent) and let them decide which ones they will do first.

The Happy, Active Child

If you have an outgoing, talkative little people person,

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