There is nothing as challenging as sitting down to a blank page and having to write. To put something on paper because I have committed to doing so. The thing is, I’m tired. I have been going full force working on a new project and James has been away and that’s all cool except that Kaliana is also not wanting to go to bed. Annoying. Challenging. Exhausting. How do you deal with that?

Getting her to sleep is probably the most difficult part of parenting. And isn’t it ironic that I am so tired because I’ve been trying to get her to sleep? Something is definitely wrong with this scenario!

But why do most kids fight going to bed? Is it fear of the dark, not tired, or just afraid they will miss out on something? I imagine the issue is a little bit of all three and then some.

As a write I am picturing the darkness, the unknown, the mystery of sleep. It is a space where our conscious minds no longer have control. Is it that at her age, a toddler, she is just getting used to her conscious reality that to lose it during sleep is scary? While for adults we yearn for the time to disconnect and let our minds rest (or is this just me?).

Sleep is precious. Sleep is magical and healing. So how do you get a toddler to embrace the idea of sleep? I suppose it’s like getting an adult to release control - you can’t do it with force or logic. It requires another approach. No more war on sleep.

How about a brand make over or a new PR campaign? Going to bed is now exciting and fun! The place you want to be by 8 pm. A new ritual around sleep that she can look forward to. Learning tricks for Kaliana may be my gateway into retraining myself. How do you get yourself to do something you don’t want to do? You change your relationship with it.

And I must change my relationship with her and bedtime. The people in our lives are our reflections and she is reminding me that I also have to evolve, to not meet a child with logic but with story and play...it’s the only way it will be absorbed.

So here’s to evolution, looking at our sh*t in the face and deciding to do things differently next time.