Bedtime Bribes

At some point about the time I entered toddlerhood my mom discovered the secret to keeping me in the bed through the night. It was Tang...you know, the astronaut drink? She'd set a bottle of Tang on the dresser next to my crib. I would wake up, find the Tang, get my fix, and go back to sleep. To this day I love that stuff.

Several months back during our bedtime routine I told my daughter Sydney that the book we were reading, "Goodnight Moon," was a book that Bammy, my mom, used to read to me at bedtime. Sydney found this nostalgic fact fascinating. Since that day, every time we read that book she reminds me that Bammy used to read it to me.

Tonight during my nightly battle for bedtime supremacy it occurred to me that I might be able to feed Sydney's affinity for the nostalgic with the Tang story. She drank in my manipulation beautifully. As I told her about Bammy giving me Tang "in my own bed" I could see her visibly loosen up. Within a few seconds she was virtually putting herself to bed so I quickly whipped-up a bottle of Tang. After reading, singing, praying, and our "talk about the day" I told her that she could have more Tang tomorrow if she slept in her own bed tomorrow night.

Boy, I hope she likes Tang as much as I do...