Light Up the (Kids’) Room

Hi,

I just recently read your advice on sibling co-sharing bedtimes and bedrooms. Genius! Love it and going to try it with my two.

I did want to ask though if during this time that you shut the door and said “it’s bedtime just stay in your room and go to sleep whenever”…. did you shut the door and turn off the lights or was there a night light? Would you recommend a night light?

Would be interested in your thoughts. Cheers. 

Yes, we’ve always provided our kids with night lights. They always liked to look at picture books in bed when they were tiny and now all still typically read for awhile before falling asleep. Which is great! And is absolutely a pre-bedtime activity that I actively encourage (as opposed to, say, wrestling or scaling the furniture or upending the Bionicle bin FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME THAT DAY.)

I don’t want them reading in the dark, but also don’t want them trying to sleep in a super-bright, fully-lit room.

So instead going with a small outlet night light, I bought them all clip-on reading lights that attach to the bed rails or headboard. The lights are bright enough so they can read comfortably, and the light is targeted enough that they won’t bother the other sibling if they decide it’s time to fall asleep. IKEA makes great ones, but you can find lots of options on Amazon or at bookstores.

If given the choice between a plug-in light or battery powered, I recommend one that plugs in. They sometimes (or always) forget to turn them off so the batteries would die very quickly and annoyingly. Oh, and go with LED bulbs as well. I’ve never bought a particularly fancy or expensive model because…well, kids be kids, so I’ve replaced a LOT of clip-on reading lights over the years.

So if your kid likes to read or color before bed (like many adults do, especially if we’re trying to be good and stop staring at our phones until 12 a.m. and then wondering why we can’t fall asleep), definitely provide them with a small personal reading light. If they’re just plain scared of the dark, a little personal night light of some kind can still be more comforting than something plugged into the wall far away.

My youngest is still wary of sleeping in a dark room but his brother prefers it to be pitch black. We’ve solved this problem by attaching a small lantern-type nightlight I found at Target to the underside of the top bunk. The bottom bunk is comfortably lit with a nice warm light, but his brother doesn’t see it from the top bunk and can turn off his reading light and sleep in peace. (Of course, the lantern light runs on batteries that I’m constantly replacing because sometimes I don’t follow my own damn advice!)

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Photo source: Depositphotos/t.tomsickova

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