January-February 2005
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Reviewed by Lynne Lamberg |
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Mollie and Katie often try their parents' patience at bedtime. They request another drink, another kiss, one more story.... One night Mom and Dad tell the girls that if they stay in bed after lights out, the Sleep Fairy will visit their bedroom. She'll leave a surprise under their pillows for them to discover in the morning. Excited by the promise of a gift—some might call it a bribe—Mollie and Katie settle down. Night after night, Mom and Dad read The Sleep Fairy. As the fairy's helpers, they never forget to tuck a small trinket or toy under their girls' pillows. The Sleep Fairy visits less frequently over time, but still shows up often enough to reinforce good bedtime behavior. Shawn Newlun's illustrations, awash with blues, purples, and twinkling stars, convey the mood of enchantment. In a foreword to their book, Janie Peterson, a licensed mental health practitioner in Omaha, Nebraska, and her daughter Macy assert that teaching children to stay in bed "is as easy as sprinkling fairy dust." Parents who set clear expectations for their children's behavior and reward success, the authors say, boost the odds of continuing that success. Small rewards are all that's needed, they note: a sticker, bookmark, hair ribbon, or plastic toy. It's not the gift that's important, but the element of surprise. Does the Sleep Fairy's magic work? Peterson and two colleagues assessed its efficacy in four children aged two to seven with disruptive bedtime behaviors. She and psychologists Raymond Burke of Girls and Boys Town, Nebraska, and the University of Nebraska, and Brett Kuhn of the University of Nebraska sleep disorders center enlisted the children's parents in the study. All the children had been referred by physicians to the sleep clinic. All resisted going to bed at least three nights a week, fell asleep in a location other than their own beds, or required parental intervention or presence to return to sleep. Some had tantrums at bedtime and frequent night wakings. In all instances, the problems had persisted for more than four weeks. After visits from the Sleep Fairy for up to five weeks, three of the four youngsters improved their bedtime behavior substantially, the researchers reported in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology in 2004. Parents used a bedtime data form provided by the sleep clinic to track the time of bedtime events, and record behavior. One child's disruptive behaviors fell from over 20 on a typical night to only one. Three months later, the children continued to do well. Some sleep specialists voice reservations about employing magical visitors—a group that includes the Tooth Fairy, Santa, and the Easter Bunny. "Children may worry that strange creatures will come into their bedroom at night," asserts pediatric sleep specialist Mark Goetting of Sleep Health in Kalamazoo, Mich. Such fears, he says, even may provoke nightmares. "There are behavioral techniques that work on limit setting and night wakings that don't involve deception and are enjoyable to parent and child," Goetting notes. These might include stickers and other concrete rewards, star charts on the refrigerator door, or an extra bedtime story the next night. Whichever tactics parents elect, those that bring an end to bedtime battles still may feel like magic. |
© 2005 WebSciences and Lynne Lamberg |
THE SLEEP FAIRY