5 Year Old Wants Movies at Bedtime

"Screen" light is heavy on the blue end of the spectrum, and tends to suppress melatonin production, which the brain makes to move toward sleep. This is one of the reasons a movie before bed is not such a great idea. Another is that the plotting and action are designed to stimulate, not calm. He might be able to sleep in spite of it all, but it may prove over time to disrupt his sleep.

Reading a book is far better, and also exercises the imagination. Mmusic might be a good in-between solution – he could fall asleep listening to pleasing melodies and positive lyrics (there's a lot of good children's music out there). But letting him come to expect a movie every evening is not a good idea.

not the best habit to start as a regular routine.
there are tests to show that in order to get 'good sleep', you shouldn't watch tv before bedtime.
That's not to say that my kids don't, but its not an every night thing.

We have tv shows like Muppets and Fraggle Rock on DVD. Each episode is around 30 mins. So they are allowed to watch that. A movie occassionally.

NO!

and again NOOOOOO!!!!!!!

TV is a stimulant. I can remember when my son was small (like 2 and 3 years old) and we had a decent bedtime routine in place. He slept in his own bed in his own room, slept all night, and only went thru maybe one or two brief phases of him coming to the side of our bed during the night. We did what you normally have done: teeth, potty, maybe a bath before that, prayers and reading a book (or two).

My husband's cousin had a son just a few months older than our son. We would go to visit husband's aunt (the grandma) and they would be keeping the little one for the weekend so the boys could play together. He never was made to go to bed in any real way. He had his own room at Grandma's house, with a twin bed and a TV with a VCR/DVD player. He'd sit up (and as long as he was quiet and didn't come out) and stay up until midnight watching movies before he'd eventually conk out and fall asleep. I hated the expectation that our son would spend the night with them so the boys could play. Our son would happily stay awake until midnight watching movies... and be miserable the next day, and make the rest of us miserable too.

TV, if you read any of the studies, is one of the worst things ANYone can do right before bed... not just kids. Adults too. The flashing lights, etc make it very difficult to drift off, and then when you do, your sleep is disturbed by the ambient light still in the room on the screen. Not to mention whatever subconscious activity related to what you've seen on the TV just before falling asleep.
What will happen if you allow it say.... 5, 6, 7 or 8 years from now? When he is awake at 10 pm b/c he hasn't seen the end of the movie yet, or when he has a set in his room and is watching things you don't want him watching b/c he is a 13 yr old who is smart enough to do so without you realizing?

It is just SOOOOO Much easier to say no, and go back to "normal" right away. In a day or two, he'll be over it. Tell him that watching TV before bed is only for special occasions or events like vacation or something. He can understand that perfectly well. If you enforce it. He's 5. He may not like it, but he can understand it and he will be fine.

Please don't do this!

Check what the American Academy of Pediatrics has to say about "screen time" for children at www.healthychildren.org.

If your son gets used to this it will be a VERY difficult habit to break. And children get stimulated and jazzed up by the flickering images of a screen, even with the gentlest kids' shows; it still stimulates their visual senses, even if it's Elmo or Barney at their quietest. Go back to your original routine where books are the final thing before bedtime. He will sleep better and it will exercise his imagination, not over-excite his senses just as he needs to relax.

Ask your pediatrician too and I would bet anything he or she will say never do TV right at bedtime and don't have a TV in your child's room either.

My daughter is much older (11) and loves certain movies and TV shows but we limit what she sees and how much -- nothing on weekdays except sometimes a Friday night movie, and maybe one other movie or show during the weekend. That's it. And even on weekends - never right before bed. It would still be too stimulating.

Not a healthy habit ..

Option.. Our daughter loved when we read to her each night.. Then we would put on either quiet music or a book on tape.. And turn out the lights.

There are tons out there. Usually I purchased them on CD for car trips.. so she had already heard them, but she still liked the choice. Music or book?

it's fun for vacation, but not for every night. Your regular routine sounds perfect.

I'm a Certified Parent Educator and I am concerned as to why your 5 yr old is not able to get himself to fall asleep (or stay asleep). How long has he been saying he is scared? I have so many questions to ask you .
Your original bedtime routine sounds WONDERFUL ! Add a calming music CD for background noise instead of an action packed movie !
TV viewing needs to be kept to a minimum for any child. Even though a child looks passive while watching tv, s/he is actually very tense. Plus, the child is sedentary. This is not a gd combo for development.
A child should not have a tv in his room. And a movie should be an occasional treat.
I once worked with a parent of a 5 yr old who let him sleep until 11 am every day. He'd go to school for a few hrs in the afternoon and then watch several hrs of tv. He was not tired at 8 pm. Therefore, he wasn't able to go to sleep easily.
Without knowing about your child's day, health, etc. I can help a tad.
If you'd like to talk further, I'd be happy to.
** PS In our school district, kids are required to read 20-30 minutes a night. TV and movies can take away the interest of reading---with some children.

No, terrible habit. Stick to your old routine and leave the movies for special nights. Falling asleep to a screen is a really bad habit to get into (which is why there should be no TVs in the bedroom...even if you let him watch a movie, you'd then have to move him to get him into his bed).

I agree with the others. Stick to your regular routine, and save movies for special occasions.

please stand firm & don't fall into the habit of using tv/movies to direct bedtime. :)

before bed time, sure. At bedtime, no way! We only have 1 tv in our house and it's in the basement (what we use for our living room).

Don't do it. You'll regret it. TV viewing can be highly addictive. Don't start making at a bed time habit. Pretty soon one movie won't be enough and you will be fighting a losing battle to get him to do more reading. Perfect time to say that it was a treat for vacation only.

If he is scared, let him leave his door open, use a nightlight, or give him a little flashlight and/or books to play with as long as he stays in bed. If he comes out, steer him right back without any big talk or emotions. Every time. He'll start to realize it is not worth it to keep coming out.

Personally, I would advise against using music. My kids in preschool would actually stay awake to listen to a whole CD and then start calling "the music stopped" I think white noise is better. I often started the dishwasher, which seemed to help.

I have tried this when my husband is gone on a work trip and I have to put both kids to bed. I let my son watch movies while I put his sister to bed. It keeps him quiet and in his room but then he takes even longer to go to sleep once the movies are off. He definitely gets stimulated even though it is just a mild children's tv show. I sometimes have to do it when my husband is gone bc it saves my sanity. Otherwise he is always getting scared and coming out of his room. Then I cannot get his sister to bed and then both of them are up for hours.

NOT a good habit to get into and will be even harder to break!

Terrible idea! Don't do it because you will regret it later. Also, every child expert I've ever heard talk about this subject has said it should never be done. Our kids have always listened to CDs at bedtime, either stories or music, and it has worked like a charm to help them at bedtime. If you are consistent about setting this rule, your child will realize eventually that you are not going to change your mind, and he will stop asking. Stay strong! :)

What about listening to a recorded story? (something like Adventures in Odyssey?)

I agree that watching a movie at bedtime is not a good habit to start! It might cause him to not get enough sleep due to having the TV on. Our boys – age 9 and almost 3 aren’t even allowed to have TVs in their rooms. They either watch TV in their game room/playroom or in the living room downstairs. I do allow them to listen to music though. My almost 3 year has a lullaby CD that he enjoys, so I do turn that on at a very low volume at bedtime. Once the CD is done playing, it shuts off.

Our boys are 5,4,1, and 3 mo. We use to let our older boys watch tv when they went to bed, but we cut it out almost as soon as it started. They would play w/ each other, or the movie would keep them awake. Then we would have them argue they weren't ready for bed, that they wanted another movie. They don't have it anymore. They can watch a movie before bed, but at 8 if the movie isn't over they are going to bed. They either watch it down stairs w/ everyone or in our room (which is very rare).

Its like we have our routine, but when my in-laws come to town (which is about 3 times a year) we do let somethings slide.

Hmmm, I guess I am in the minority here, but my son watches TV before bed. It is, in fact, the ONLY TV he gets. In the form of a movie. He doesn't watch a whole movie - he watches part of a movie. Generally the same ones over and over. After that we read books, brush teeth & sleep. I haven't thought of it as a problem. He seems to sleep fine, we still read books, and the TV is not in his room. Our son gets sort of hyper when he gets tired, and I have found this calms him down & gets him ready for book time. Maybe one day we will stop this, but it doesn't have to be all or nothing! The TV doesn't have to be in his room, and it doesn't have to be a whole movie. Sometimes it's only 10 minutes, usually no more than 20.