So here it is..my daughter will be 3 next week actually. She has been in a big girl bed for over a year. Same bed, same room, same schedule.
Here's my problem, for the past few months she has not been wanting to go to bed. (Normally our routine is bath, jammies, snack, books and rocking) She will come up with every excuse from "just one more Dora" to "I'm hungry" a million times and screaming and yelling, just plain throwing a fit (which I know is completely normanl at this age)Then she wants me to lay down with her and I really don't mind doing that (if it was for like 10-15 minutes) but she does NOT go to sleep for at least an hour. I pretend I'm sleeping but shes poking me or tickling me or being loud and wiggley. LOL I cannot lay down for that long, I have so much to do after she is in bed. (BTW I would really like her to be in bed by 8 and sleeping by 8:30-8:45 because she has to get up at 6 in the morning for daycare so I can go to work)
Anyway, my issue is I know I have let it get out of hand with her not getting enough rest and her n I not have very good evenings after work/daycare. I alway give in and give her exactly what she wants because I don't want to listen to it. I know that it's not right and I also know that at this age I need to have boundries and rules that cannot be broken.
Getting to my point: I do not spank her and I try not to raise my voice so I was using empty threats (privledges taken away, etc). I've had it though, I am done. So yesterday I told her (multiple times) if she did not go night night in her bed by herself I was going to take all her movies away and some of her favorite toys and she will not be able to watch TV or play with those toys until she starts to go to bed like she used to. We talked about it alot yesterday and when bedtime rolled around she did not do what we talked about. I ended up laying down with her for over an hour. As soo n as she fell asleep I got out of her bed. I then, packed up all her movies and her fav toys and put them away. This morning I asked her if she was a big girl and went to sleep last night on her own. She told me "no" I asked her if she remembered what I told her would happen, she said "yes, take my stuff away". We had quite a long conversation about it. I know she understand and I know she thinks I will give in. I plan on taking away one thing a day for every day she fights at bedtime. When she is a good girl I will give her something in the morning, and make sure I encourage it positively.
My question to you all is:
Do you think that this is a bit harsh or that a 3 year old isn't ready for this yet? I don't like to lose my cool and I will not spank her. If there is anything you have done or anything you think I need to change that could help both her and I have more fun and better sleep please let me know.