How do I get my 3 year old to stay in bed?

Question

I have a very active, strong-willed, fearless 3 year old boy who keeps us on duty until 9 - 9.30 at night popping in and out of his room. We have tried all sorts of things to make him stay in the room but nothing works. Unless he is REALLY tired he just keeps coming out. It is so exhausting at that time of night when we just need a break.

We have been using Dr Green's Patent rope trick on his door regularly since he moved to a bed nearly a year ago. It works well but we don't want to have to do that forever.

We have tried not talking and just putting him back time and time again. He finds this very amusing and doesn't get sick of it at all. We have tried smacking. No fun for anybody. I've tried telling him he will get a sticker in the morning but of course he's too young to be able look that far ahead.

I need ideas to get him to stay in his room by choice.

Answer 1

I think at 3 years of age, there is no way to get a child to stay in his room by choice. He is still too young to understand this concept. If he can escape, he will, as will any child at that age. I have a 2.5 year old who is exactly the same. We tried reasoning, threatening, smacking, but to no avail. We were exhausted trying. We put a gate up in his room so that he couldn't get out. When he worked out how to climb over it, we put a lock on the outside of his door at bedtime. It didn't take long for him at all to work out that he couldn't get out and he would go to his bed and to sleep immediately!! Before my husband and I go to bed every night, we unlock our son's door so that he can come to us in the morning. Just make sure you don't lock him in his room all night otherwise you might not be able to hear him during the night if he wakes up or in the morning. I hope that works for you.

Answer 2

A bit more exercise though the day would let him sleep at a decent hour.  Who looks after him?

Answer 3

We turn the locks around on the doors so they lock from the outside. My daughter is almost 3 and she VERY active in her room. Bedtime is 7:30 and she doesn't settle in until at least 8:30, sometimes later. We just make sure there's nothing in the room for her to hurt herself on, no toys, only books and stuffed animals, and we lock her in. She walks around and reads her books and eventually snuggles up in bed and falls asleep. We also have a monitor in the room so we can hear if she's calling for us.

Answer 4

What my sister did for my nephew is she offered him an actual toy. She had bath fizzies, webkinz, and some stuffed animals. The first week, everytime he slept in his bed he got one toy, next week, one toy every two nights, next week, three nights, until he got one a week, then none. But for every night he didn't sleep in his bed, something was taken (favorite toys, gameboys, etc.) and was put in the box.

Hoped this helped!

Answer 5

I have the same problem with my 2 year old im going insane. I have a crib and bed set up in her room and everytime she gets out of bed she is told that Dora beds are for big girls that can stay in bed so she will have to sleep in the crib. she cries for about 30 mins promising to stay in bed( she dosent ) hopefully she will get the message soon

Answer 6

Lock him in his room, make sure u leave water in his water if he wants, and hand him a bottle if he needs the toilet. Keep doing this until he understands that its not funny to annoy people. Harsh but words don't work on small children.