Sweet Dreams!

While co sleeping with your little one is an exception rather than a norm in the US, it is quite the opposite in India! As Indian parents bringing up our son in the US, we were uncomfortable with an idea of letting our toddler son sleep on his own in a separate room all by himself! But three years in the US turned us from non-believers into staunch believers, even swearing by the practice of  having your son sleep independently in his own room. Initially though reluctant, Abhay soon gave in …or in other words reconciled to the fact that he must go to bed in his own room and that he really didn't have a choice! When we expected the same in Bangalore, we faced stiff resistance, not so much from our five year old, but from his grandparents!  Expecting a young child to sleep in a room separate from his parents, even if it is literally next door, was termed too American for our Indian sensibilities!  “What if he falls off the bed; what happens if he has a bad dream; how will he be able to use the bathroom in the middle of the night?” were the kind of doubts that were raised. Our assurances that  “He can’t possibly fall off a 3 feet wide bed, or that with a night light on, he can simply walk up to our room if he has a bad dream or wants to use the bathroom” didn’t sound convincing to them! With the support of his grandparents, Abhay too began to rebel! Finally  we found hope in a method that most parents fall back on when nothing else works – bribery! Thanks to a reward point system ( where he gets a sticker for each night of independent sleep and a certain number of stickers add up to a reward), we were successful in getting Abhay to sleep in his new bed in his new room...so all I have to say is…touchwood! J

Abhay now sleeps in a made to order bed along with his best buddies – Curious George, Nemo and Winnie the Pooh with Lightening Mcqueen flashing his signature smile at the head of his bed. So today I had him read “Ted in a Red Bed” by Phil Roxbee Cox & Stephen Cartwright, an Early Reader with short e sounds and blends from Usborne publications. This is an Early Reader that stands true to its name being easy enough for pre-schoolers to sustain interest in reading. Ted goes shopping one day and stops by Fred’s furniture store and likes the red bed on display. Fred, the Penguin, the owner of the store encourages him to hop on the bed and rest his head on the yellow pillow. As soon as he slips his feet under the sheet, he feels the need for a bed just like the one sold by Fred. He buys the bed and decides to put it to immediate use and falls asleep on the bed he just bought. Now it is up to Fred to have Ted and his bed delivered home! As Fred has his associates lift the bed and shift it inside a delivery truck, Ted who is sound asleep on the bed, has a dream that he bobs on a wave into a cave! As the truck carries Ted and his bed, Ted in turn has a dream that he can fly in the sky and as he is brought home along with his bed, Ted dreams that he is back by the stream! As he wakes up with a snore, he realizes that he is no longer in the store and is home with his new bed. Ted then concludes that his red bed must be a magic bed! Abhay loved this book and looks like it will be his new favorite for sometime now! Im not sure if he understood what actually happened with Ted and his bed, but he seemed fascinated by Ted’s dreams. Let’shope our little Ted  sleeps in and has sweet dreams in his own bed! J