Parenting Tip: Memorize A Story

As Ollie gets bigger and bedtime becomes a more involved event trying to both settle and bargain with a sleepy infant, I’ve found a new trick that I want to share as a hopefully helpful dad tip – memorize a story!

When we do bedtime (or nap time) there are stories and milk and then it’s head down on a pillow and lights out and quiet time. But, there are a lot of times when we get “more stories” requests that could last all night if we let them. Fortunately, our little guy is a big fan of two short and easy to memorize stories, Goodnight Moon and The Boss Baby. After reading those two books over and over and over and over again (y’all know the feeling), I began to know the words without needing the pages, which meant I also knew the words without needing the lights.

And that’s where the tip comes in. After Ollie gets a couple of longer stories, he’ll sometimes ask for The Boss Baby by name, or we offer him a choice of Goodnight Moon or The Boss Baby and he makes his choice. Then we tell him that if he wants it, he needs to lay down like a big boy and daddy can read it to him. He lays down, gets covered with his blanket, pulls his stuffies within reach or all the way in for a cuddle, the light gets turned off, and I sit beside the bed and recite the story while flipping the pages and giving him one more story before we say goodnight.

It has become a go-to move. One that helps us wrap up the bedtime process and get out of the room so a definitely sleepy little boy can actually let go and get some rest. And that’s good for everyone.

Now, I’ll be realistic and tell you that it doesn’t always work. Sometimes he’s out of bed and knocking on the door or calling for someone to come and get him within a few minutes. And sometimes we can’t get him to settle for stories at all and I offer the choice of watching Elsa videos if he lays down and we turn the lights out – and even then I might have to do The Boss Baby trick before I leave.

But, all in all, I highly recommend putting some time and effort into memorizing a short story that your little one loves and trying this trick if they are a “one more story” kind of kid when it’s time to go to sleep.

Good luck!

ps. We’re always on the lookout for new stories to read Ollie, so if you have any recommendations for toddler storybooks, leave a comment and pass them on!