Help, My kids will not go to sleep at night!

I had the same problem with my children and what i found works is giving them 30 minutes before bed or lights out. They are sent to their rooms at 830 and lights out at 9 pm. they have 30 minutes to calm down. They are allowed to read books watch movies and play with their toys quietly. I dont allow violent movies/cartoons or video games at this time because usually that promotes excitement. my bed times are much easier. and granted there are times (not to often) they are not quite finished doing what they are doing i have been known to add 5-10 minutes

Have you ever watched the "Nanny" on ABC. she has some very good tips about getting kids to go to sleep. Most of the people she goes to help seem to have a problem getting their kids to go to bed and sleep at bed time. I don't remember having that problem with my kids. but that has been over 40 years ago.

I think that because of TV, hand-held games, videos and the like that they are also often not tired enough to sleep at night cause they have layed around all day. This one I proved to my husband.. he complained about not sleeping at night, and I told him.. "if your body is not tired it won't want to sleep". On weekends he literally sits nearly all day long in front of the TV. His body has rested all day so why rest at night? He finally got up and did some things that kept him pretty busy all day and guess what - he slept through the night! So maybe take away the calm things to do and have them do more energy required things - play outside or on skateboards etc. Get them tired enough to sleep. On the other hand, if they are kept so busy all day long, it does take a long time to fall asleep. I know this from personal experience. When I was working, I'd work 10 hour days, but always sitting at my desk but my brain was working in overdrive all day long. I'd go home and think I was exhausted but then lay there half the night wondering why I couldn't go to sleep! Research pointed to the fact that it wasn't my body that was or was not tired...it was my brain that just wouldn't shut down long enough to fall asleep. I'd sit up for hours and do scrapbooking and finally start yawning. Again, not much physical activity but mental fatigue is often as bad as physical fatigue. Give them both a try - if they are in front of the TV or stuff like that, take it all away and tell them to go play with their hot wheels or whatever. IF they are constantly going all day, make them sit in front of hte tV for an hour and let their brains slow down. Good luck and hope you find the answer!

Take video games for a whole week away. Don't take them out, no entertainment at all simple, they will learn. Even if it annoys you because you need them to be entertained, do it, you'll see!