Mothers

I used to have terrible insomnia as a teen. I started trying to meditate in my 20s and discovered a great technique for falling asleep. I've taught it to my 3 and 4 yr old. When you are learning to meditate they tell you to concetrate on your breath. It's soooo boring (relaxing) and it totally quiets your mind. It tricks your body into slowing down and going into a restorative state that makes you very sleepy very quickly.
Tell him this... quietly and slowly and calmly.
Breathe in through your nose and out your though your mouth. Watch the chest rise when you breath in and fall when you breath out. Concentrate on beathing slowly and deeply. Breath in until your lungs are completely full and then breath out until they are completely empty. Everytime you find your mind wandering somewhere else, just gently take it back to concentrating on your breathing. Breathe slowly and slow your body down.
Next thing you know...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

m

B.,

What is your child's current routine, diet, exercise, bed time etc? Need more info.

Blessings...

Make sure your child gets plenty of exercise during the day and keep a consistent (not too late) bedtime and wake-up time. No t.v. right before bed, quiet reading is better, less stimulating to the brain. A warm bath would help the body relax too.

no caffeine........after school and on.

work on nutrition if necessary.

keep a consistent schedule. Exercise. Hot bath 1 hour before bed. get a good multivitamin (I can recommend). check with doc to be sure iron is okay. low iron can cause sleep issues.

I'm sorry B.. Sleep issues are tough. The answer isn't always easy. Best of Luck!

My son is 10 and LOVES to stay up late when I let him. He has always been a total night owl, but here is what we do:

1)He gets an hour of TV OR game time after his homework is done. Some nights we will all watch a program together, but I really cut back on TV time. I have even gone into his room and taken his PSP out of the room to make sure he doesn't play after lights out!

2) No late night snacks, except a banana ( the potassium will help make him sleepy) or a yogurt tube if he is 'starving'. Dinner is at dinner time and if he gets dessert, it happens right after dinner.

3) Make sure his room is set up for sleeping- I straighten the covers and sheets all out, make sure it is dark except for a dim 'nightlight' etc.

4) We have a CD of music we play- just soothing music, it always seems to send him off to sleep.

5) Set his alarm 10 minutes earlier in the morning! I know this sounds nuts, but we used to have the getting up fight every morning. Then we got him his own alarm clock and he started getting up 10 minutes before I did! He really LIKED having some time in the morning to mess around and he actually became LESS grumpy about going to bed at night too!

Try to keep his bedtime reasonable every night unless there is something really special for him to stay up for. Some of it is just maturity, but I hope these suggestions help!

10 year old?

No TV, no toys, no video games, etc when in bed. Perhaps have him / her read a book for a bit while in bed?

Sound machine if it's too quiet?