How to Get Your Kids to Wind Down in the Evening

It’s not often that I share parenting tips here, but today I’d like to share our recently-discovered method of getting our two active boys, aged 5 and almost-7, to wind down in the evening.

Three weeks ago, I was home alone with the boys, their Dad still in the office. I was tired. All I wanted was to get them through their showers, give them their dinner, read them their bedtime story… you know the drill, get them through their evening routine in peace and get them into bed.

Of course, the boys had other things on their mind. Full of energy, they were busy telling each other silly jokes, laughing their heads off and yes, even rolling on the floor in laughter (which is always cause for even more laughter…). They jumped, danced, shouted, talked, laughed, all at the same time, or so it seemed to my tired eyes.

Then, a miracle happened.

Suddenly everything went dark: the power went out in our home.

“Mommy! Mommy! What happened? I’m scared!”

My two wild monkeys turned into little chicks seeking the safety of the Mother Hen. They huddled next to me, literally holding unto my clothes, as I began fumbling around in the dark. I finally found our small flashlight and with it some candles and a box of matches. We lit a few candles, and used the flashlight to get them through the shower. We then had dinner by candle light.

I suspect that 20 years from now, candle lit dinners may be more invigorating than this, especially with the right partner However, for now, I found that staring at the flames had a nice calming, almost hypnotic effect. They were fairly quiet throughout the meal, and by the time they finished, I could hardly get them to brush their teeth. They didn’t even want a bedtime story! All they wanted was to get into bed and sleep!

Well, ever since that day, for three weeks now, we’ve been having our dinners by candlelight. The kids have just enough energy to listen to a bedtime story, but that’s about it. Most evenings, they just ask to go to bed as soon as they are done with eating. Looks like for us, this will turn into a family tradition, at least for a while. With Hannuka coming in two weeks time, ’tis the season for candles!

Here’s a picture of us having dinner by candlelight. Some nice ghostly effects there, from taking a picture without using the flash:

There they were, my

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