Running out of reach during bedtime

I'm sure you've dealt with this, and it's driving both my husband and me up a wall. We say come here, so we can do X, or it's time for books, etc etc, and the boys both just run the other way. It's especially prominent at bed time. Even though we go through the same routine every. single. night. Every time, in between steps, they run and laugh into our room, up the stairs, into their (usually sleeping!) sister's room, etc. It's driving me nuts. And it especially irritates me because it makes me feel like *grabbing* them, *hard* when I see them start to go, and I don't want to be like that. It just makes bedtime into a crazy "game" and makes me grumpy. I just want to relax and read stories, ya know?

So.... it's usually... down stairs, (run all over), naked (run), bath, (run), diaper/pj's, teeth, books, etc etc. You get what I'm saying? How can I keep them moving on their own through the routine without us dragging them back into the bedroom/bathroom to force it between every step??

Are they old enough for a chart? Do you think that would help them internalize it for themselves?

 

Running away from what they are being asked to do is a BIG issue with my kids. What mostly works with my guys is giving them a "choice", but both choices get them where I want them to be. For example, "Are you going to walk back to your room or am I going to carry you?". I started doing that when they would hide from diaper changes ("are you going to walk to the changing table or is Mommy going to carry you?"). It sounds goofy, but it works about 90 to 95% of the time.

We have also started doing the 1-2-3 Magic thing. That really just started working for us in the last month or so, but basically if they don't do what I ask by the time I say "3", they either get a time out, or I make them do it (depends on what it is - if it's something like they are running away when they need to sit down and eat, I give them to 3 and then I carry them to the table and put them in the chair; if it's something like jumping on the sofa, they go to time out because I have learned that me taking them off the sofa just leads to them getting back on there a gazillion times).

I don't know if these ideas will work for you, but they work for us for the most part, although some days it's still a bit chaotic!!

 

Just another thought, do you bath them together and read stories to them together. We found that our kids just got more wind up (not listening and running all over the place and jumping on beds), we now bath them separately and one gets story time while the other is being bathed. Once they are both bathed and dressed for bed we keep to a very short routine of saying good night.

 

Run with them. Seriously. We find that a little silliness helps. Also, when you run with them (not after them), you can be the leader and end up where you want to go.