Bedtime

For most of you who have small children you know getting them to bed is quite the task. It's actually a type of population control (birth control). You see by the 100th time you have redirected them to the bed and gave them a drink, a band aid, found the missing wubby, closed the blinds, confiscated the flashlight and adjusted the air conditioning the parent is then too tired to procreate.
However if you have traumatized children, you have to kick that up a notch. Bedtime for them can be scary because they just slowed down long enough for those disturbing memories to creep into their conscious mind. In order for them to stop the thoughts they busy themselves with all sorts of sleep avoiding activities. The following is a partial list of these activities but I bet some of you out there can help me complete the list: write with markers on their sheets, put gel makeup on their dolls and themselves, tie strings tightly around stuffed animals and clothes, stuff rocks and papers into their dresser drawers, pull clothes down from the closet rod and drape around the room, pat clay into the rug, put small toys into fans, and tear up tissues or papers into small pieces all over the floor. When they tire of this, or they run out of ideas, or they just plain pass out is when they go to sleep. For a fun activity: try looking around the bedroom the next morning and see if you can name the game, and if you are really good, see if you can name them in chronological order.