mins
mins
mins
Turning off the lights at bedtime can cause fear and anxiety in a child who associates bedtime with feeling unsafe. Enjoying a fun game together can encourage your child to look forward to bedtime instead. You will need 2 small flashlights.
Get 2 small flashlights and give one to your child. Invite your child to sit or lay next to you on their bed so you can play “Flashlight Tag” together.
Let your child know that you will be playing the game for 5 minutes (set a timer, if needed) and then it will be time to read a story, pray and go to sleep (or whatever the normal bedtime routine is). Turn on the flashlights. Explain to your child that you will now turn off the bedroom light so you can see the flashlight’s beams on the ceiling or wall (you can turn on a night light or leave the door open with light in the hallway, if necessary). Aim your flashlights at the ceiling (or wall). Identify which light spot is yours by moving it slightly. Ask your child if he/she would like to be “it” or if he/she wants you to be “it” for this first round. Whoever is not “it” will move their light spot around the ceiling (or wall) to avoid getting “caught” by the other light spot who is “it”. If one light spot “catches” or overlaps the other one, that round is over and you can take turns being “it”.
When the established game time is over (5 minutes), invite your child to shine their flashlight on something in the room that makes them happy or something for which they are thankful. Incorporate that item into your bedtime prayer, thanking God for that item, for your child, and that God is always present and always loves us and is the Light of the World.
