'Comment Mania!' Contest: Let Sleeping Kids Lie

While I agree with the author, I found her comment regarding the refuse pickup to be deja vu. My children kept me sleep deprived at times but pickup day on our street could NEVER be avoided. As my eldest son would run and pound on the door to be able to go on the porch to watch the men, I gave up, gave in and made the best of Tuesdays. The men always noticed my son on the front porch cheering them on and always giving them a round of applause. They would stack my cans or make pyramids with them anything to amuse my son.Sometimes, I would even run to the local bakery and my son would run out to "reward" these kind men with a treat.(It was my son's idea. He was three) Yes, I was still sleep deprived but proud of my child who learned on his own to respect and reward everyone who does a good job and is kind. Even now, twenty years later, I have a smile on my face whenever I hear the Refuse Truck!

3  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

So - did anybody win this contest? I wrote to the Disney Internet Group which appears to maintain this, and they told me to look at the "recent winners" page, but I don't see a winner there.

1  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

It amazes me that over the years of women becoming mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and so on, many still believe they have the solution to other mother's sleeping children issues. I have three children with three distinct and different personalities. I learned firsthand that what applied to my oldest as far as sleeping habits did not apply to my youngest. What seemed to help the most for me were blackout blinds, playing music, and shutting ringers off on that side of the house. The phones were a big move because it seemed to never fail that as soon as the phone rang, my daughter's eyes popped right open. I think she was born with the instinct to talk on the phone. I agree that the saying let sleeping dogs lie' could easily apply to children. It was derived from the quote it is not good a sleeping hound to wake'. Most mothers would agree that it is not good a sleeping child to wake!

2  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

Oh, the joy to put the children to bed and hear nothing - no, "Moommmmmyyyy", just silence. And an extra joy when Mommy can actually lay down and take a nap alone in her own bed! Money just doesn't compare!

1  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

While I was pregnant a friend who had just had a baby gave me the BEST tip in the world. She told me not to change my "noise lifestyle" because of a napping or sleeping child. She meant...don't turn off the radio or tv, contine to vacuum, etc. I followed her advice from day 1 and my child learned to fall asleep and stay asleep even if there was some noise going on in the background. I even got some children's CD's and put a CD player in her room and would sometimes turn it on as she was going to sleep. I never had to say "shhh, quiet, I'm trying to get the baby to sleep". Now, at 7 years old I can proudly say I never had trouble getting my child to sleep or to stay asleep. I guess my only complaint would be...it worked so well that now most mornings she's even able to sleep through her alarm clock!

0  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

I don't think you can do much about rescheduling the garbage truck, but I'll bet your neighbor would have been sympathetic if you had told him you had just put the little ones down, and wondered whether he couldn't mow at another time.
If he balked, I would also suggest just mentioning that overtired kids can have a tendency to wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Depending on whether he sleeps with his windows open, that might just get his attention!
Incidentally, the closer you are to white noise (I have had great luck with an air purifier in my daughter's room) the more sound it drowns out. Move the source closer to the children, and you might have better luck.

0  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!