What’s Your Bedtime Magic?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by FoBaM-Jamie

Parents will do almost anything to get the kids to bed. We have elaborate routines, go-to bribes, and the standard threats and cajoling. There’s no question, however, that the most successful tactics are the ones that make bedtime a fun event for the kids.

Personally, I’m more of a snuggles-and-stories kind of mom. My daughter, however, is a rambunctious tomboy and the calm and quiet routine doesn’t always play well with her. My beau, thank goodness, discovered a surefire way to get her up to bed without any fussing, fuming, pouting, or whining – he pretends to be a train.

He shuffles around the house making “shoosh” noises and tells my daughter she’d better be at the station if she wants to catch the next train out. My daughter scrambles up from where she’s been ignoring my pleas to head upstairs. In a moment, she is standing on the ottoman, waiting for the train to pick her up. The train often makes a couple false passes, just to keep things interesting – coming into the station, but not stopping. Eventually, though, the train halts next to the platform and my daughter climbs on board piggyback style. That’s when the real fun begins as she guides the train to her final destination. They usually make a number of pit stops, accelerate, brake, and generally mess around a bit. She loves it … and so does he.

Imagine my surprise, then, to read a copy of Hallie Durand’s new book, Mitchell’s License. Illustrated by Tony Fucile, this charming and funny picture book  tells how Mitchell’s dad gets his little guy off to bed by pretending to be a car and giving Mitchell a license to drive.

Mitchell gets to inspect his vehicle (toes to tummy to eyeglasses), accelerate, brake, steer, and even honk the horn. While my daughter loved Mitchell’s antics, I loved the dad’s expressions – they are pure parent: the here-we-go-again look, the I’m-gonna-get-you look, the oh-boy-what-have-I-started look, the oh-you’re-so-cute look, the enough-is-enough look, and the you-are-the-best-thing-in-my-life look. It’s all there.

Not only is this book a delightful bedtime read and a goldmine for Real World ideas on how to make bedtime as pain-free as possible, it also captures perfectly the many faces and feelings of parenting … and the fact that we can go through all of them in the relatively short time it takes to get our kids to bed. Kudos to Durand and Fucile for taking a little slice of life and creating a beautifully written and illustrated homage to the little moments that make up the Great Parenting Adventure.

Five lucky moms who leave a comment below will receive their own copy of Mitchell’s License courtesy of Candlewick Press.

 

 

 

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