Tuesday 27 March 2012

The Sleep Fairy and lying to children

Last Christmas, Harry was totally on board with Father Christmas. He's also fully aware of the Tooth Fairy (albeit thanks to Peppa Pig rather than actually losing any teeth himself). I posted the other day about the Fairy Garden than we made as a home for the Sleep Fairy - this is a new concept that we're introducing in the hope that one day he might actually go to bed without a fuss and sleep through the night for more than a few weeks at a time.

The thing about small children is that they completely accept everything that you tell them as the truth. We told Harry that if he slept all night in his bed then the Sleep Fairy would give Daddy a present for him. For the last two nights we haven't heard a peep from him until his sleep clock told him that it was morning, and the first thing that he asked when he came into our room was "Did the Sleep Fairy bring me a present?"

I'm all for any tactic that gets us an undisturbed night, but I must admit that I'm starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. He has started asking supplementary questions. "Where does she live?" "What is her name?" "Does she fly, all by herself?" and of course we need to answer them and embellish the story further, which only increases my discomfort.

Did we make a mistake? Should we have just bribed him with a present from Daddy? Or is an undisturbed night for us all worth a white lie?

13 comments:

  1. I was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable about Father Christmas last year. The way they just swallow everything makes you feel guilty.

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    1. They do just believe everything you tell them don't they (of course they have no reason not to). I did feel a bit bad about Father Christmas, or course that was coming at him from all directions not just us.

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  2. "The Sleep Fairy doesn't bring presents for children who ask too many questions"

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  3. You're not telling him anything 'bad' so i think you should fully embrace your stories! I love making up these stories, one day my children will know they were exactly that and they will pass all these stories (and maybe change them!)
    x

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    1. I know, thanks for the reassurance! I suppose all little children need to believe in fairies!

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    1. Yes that is how I tend to think. We'll just have to see how long this latest run lasts!

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  5. It's not always easy to know where to draw the line. Sometimes, though, blurring the boundary between truth and fiction goes a long way. See this post on curing children's fear of monsters with magical force fields: http://bit.ly/HbHIWA

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  6. I have a 10 month old daughter. I wish she was old enough to understand about the sleep fairy!!! I will save this idea for future ammunition! I have tagged you in a meme called 'Help I'm A Blogger' it is all about meeting new bloggers so I found you via the Love New Blogs showcase. Don't worry if you don't like meme's. Just thought your blog was great and wanted to include you.

    http://www.thecrumbymummy.co.uk/?p=929

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    1. No, it doesn't work on our 10 month old daughter! Thanks for the tag, I'd love to take part!

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  7. If it gets them to sleep go for it! Anything for sleep.

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