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Believe it or not, sleep can change your child's future. This may sound dramatic and extreme, but the average amount of sleep a child gets can directly affect, not only his future financial status, relationship choices and career success, but who he is. With this in mind, the focus in getting your child to go to sleep reaches further than bedtime, the focus is on what it means to his future. Keeping this focus, the methods of getting a child to sleep take on a very different (and more amicable) style.

What about getting your child to go to bed on time? I believe it's important to first explain the reasons for getting enough sleep. Tell your child that among the most important things that happen during sleep are: growing, healing, processing things they've learned during the day, working out problems and worries, and so on. Among the benefits of good sleep are: feeling happy and energised, and being able to concentrate and focus. Explain to him that if you have to wake him in the morning for school, those important processes are interrupted. Tell him you feel very strongly about this, and are not prepared to deprive him of his sleep.

The Sleep Foundation (www.sleepfoundation.org) refers to "Sleep Debt". Losing sleep one night and getting the normal amount the next is not good enough. You need to get the normal amount AND catch up on the sleep you lost last night.

I can't imagine a child who, on hearing this, will simply say, "Okay, no problem, I'll go right to bed." But, by explaining the reason and logic behind your taking a strong stand regarding bedtime, you are giving the message that you are acting out of logic and reason, and not simply out of authority.

The next step is to put your foot down in the nicest way. Having impressed upon your child, the importance of sleep, you now need to explain to him that: because getting enough sleep is so vital to his well-being, health and development, if he doesn't get enough sleep tonight, he will need to catch up tomorrow night. A way of putting it is: "You really need to go to sleep now. Unfortunately if you're not in bed by and asleep by , you're going to have to go to bed earlier tomorrow night to catch up on sleep." and later "If you're not asleep by the time I come back in ten minutes, you'll need to go to bed ten minutes earlier tomorrow night to catch up."

All of this should be said and meant in a genuinely caring way. Your concern is that your child consistently gets enough sleep. If he needs to stay up later one

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