L. F:
I haven't had the time to read too many of the Mamasource daily listings of questions, but a quick review shows me that many moms (and dads) are having frustrating times with their kids' sleeping habits, especially when it comes time to change beds. From my experience it seems that things work best when I let the kids sleep where they want. I know that sounds a bit radical, but I'd rather they not associate sleep-time with arguments and punishments. So, for example, my kids often go to sleep in our bed, whether on my side or my hsuband's side. Then we move them into their beds in the middle of their sleep, enabling us to go to bed in an empty bed. By morning, some of them have returned to our bed and some have "decided" to stay in their beds. Same goes for naps. It seems to me that the kids feel more loved if they can sleep in our bed if they want, and my husband and I have no trouble staying asleep if the little cubs crawl in next us in the middle of the night. All of this "leniency" doesn't seem to affect the kids one bit when they have sleep-overs, whether in our home or out. In fact, when they have sleep-overs in our home, they end up sleeping the entire night in their own bed -- like they know subconsciously in their sleep not to abandon their friend. And when they go out, they have no trouble sleeping in another bed. In short, it seems that a lot of parents out there are fighting and struggling with their kids over nothing -- if the child wants to sleep in the crib or the stroller or the "big-boy" bed or the parent's bed, let them. Why not? Sleep is a tender, vulnerable, "cute" time -- like I said above, let them feel loved and secure in themselves at that time rather than subject to too many rules and regulations. There's plenty of those during the waking hours (as there should be!).
I'm interested to see if I'm alone in this thinking.
(I won't be in the least bit insulted if you opt not to take this approach, I just thought I'd throw it out there).