Tips to Sleep in on Christmas Day

Our guide on getting your kids to sleep

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If you have kids, getting a good night’s sleep on Christmas Eve is as rare as an albino humpback whale. The excitement for old mate Santa Claus forces the body clock of every child to be set at least 3 hours earlier than usual. But never fear, there are a number of techniques you can use to ensure your sleep on Christmas eve is a sound one.

Wear them out
What better way to tire out kids than with chores? Get them out in the yard mowing the lawns you haven’t had time to cut for 3 weeks, add a few spills to the floor that they’re about to mop and accidentally dirty up the windows that they need to clean. After a Christmas eve of cleaning, your kids will be begging for sleep.

Don’t be sweet
Sugar isn’t your friend on Christmas eve. Save the candy canes and lollies for the post Santa experience. Instead, feed them meals full of pasta, bananas or anything with milk – proven to help the kids find the Z’s.

Santa’s running late
Tell you kids that Santa called, he’s stuck in a blizzard in Alaska will be a little late to Australia this year. Reaffirm Santa’s stance of bailing if he gets caught by nosey children, and they’ll likely stay in bed until you announce that it’s safe to emerge from their slumber.

De-screen
Get rid of the devices on Christmas Eve and spend some digital-less time together. Not only will the lack of screen light help create a perfect sleeping environment, they may also get bored enough by the lack of their usual source of stimulation that they fall asleep early.

Bribery
If all else fails, bribe them. For every hour they sleep past 3am, they can earn $5. Sure, you may lose a bit of coin, but how much is sleep worth to you?

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