Just as
your kids were getting back into the regular routine, here comes the end ofdaylight savings time! Although the
early arrival of darkness due to the time change on November 4 can often help
in getting children to settle into healthy sleep-time routines, there may still
be some transition time required. That’s
where THE PAJANIMALS can help.
PAJANIMALS features four loveablepuppets -- Cowbella, Apollo, Sweetpea Sue and Squacky -- that have become so popular with children and
parents alike, their own television series airs nightly on 24-hour preschool
television channel Sprout ® during it’s The
Good Night Show and now also airs
on NBC on Saturday mornings as part of the NBC Kids programming block.
The series
follows this adorable quartet as they take young viewers on exciting imaginary adventures.
With music and new friends in every story, PAJANIMALS
teaches the skills that preschoolers need to move through their days
successfully, especially getting ready for and going to bed.
In regards
to transitioning your child through the time change, our PAJANIMALS’ sleep time experts, Jennifer Waldburger and Jill
Spivack from Sleepy Planet, offer these four simple steps:
Step One: It’s the
Clocks! On Saturday, November 3, put
your children to sleep at their normal bedtime. If it’s typically 7:30 p.m.,
stick with that. Then before you go to sleep, move every clock in your house
back one hour.
Step
Two: Early Wake Up – Your child will most likely wake up at the normal time, only you
and your clock know it’s an hour earlier.
No easy work-arounds here, so you’ll just have to take one for the team
and get up early with the kids. It’s not
realistic to ask them to stay in bed an extra hour so forget about going back
to sleep.
Step
Three: Stick to the Schedule – As difficult as it may seem, stay with your
regular schedule. If you normally serve
lunch at noon, then eat at noon. Your
child will likely be ready to eat earlier, at 11am, but a midmorning snack will
help stave off hunger. And the same goes
for naptime. Keep your child busy until
it’s time to nap, even if they start to slow down an hour earlier.
Step Four: Keep ‘em up - Bedtime
should
be at 7:30 p.m. as usual (or whatever time it is in your home),
eventhough your child may feel sleepy earlier. They may be cranky and
tired, but do
your best to go by the time on the clock.
And hopefully their little internal body clocks are adjusting to the time
difference without them even knowing it.
It may
take a couple of nights, but if you try to continue with your routine as usual,
you and your child should be enjoying regular sleep patterns in no time at all.
Another
valuable tool that might help at bedtime is to offer a transitional object and
a brief cuddle before leaving the room.
In childhood development, a transitional object is something, usually a
physical object, which takes the place of the mother-child bond. The transitional object enables the child to
have a fantasized bond with the mother when she separates for increasingly
longer periods of time, such as in the evening. This transitional object serves
as an important defense against fear and anxiety.
To thwart your child’s worries about
going to sleep alone, try using a transitional object, such as a small stuffed
animal, starting around the age of one. While what the child ends up choosing
is up to him or her, recognizable objects can help provide a high level of
comfort.
With a
suggested retail price of $29.99, the PANJANIMALS’ Snuggle Up Story Mat is a wonderful way to help your child transition from playtime to nap time. Featuring all of
your favorite, lovable PAJANIMALScharacters, this mat includes a soft book that can be read to your child, which
also transforms into a pillow.
Our Thoughts
Willow loved her Pajamimals Snugglemat and was thrilled with the cute design. Its different
than other sleeping bags. When you unroll it, you will find both a
built in pillow and a soft , cozy blanket. Its like a portable,
lightweight bed that your child can carry around with them anywhere
they go. It has a nice strap that makes it easy to carry around and it
wraps up tight so its easy to store. Willow loves it so much, she's been
bringing it out to the living each night. She lays down in it, all cozy
and warm, when its time to watch television. Its perfect for trips to grandma's house or kids in preschool who still nap in the afternoon.
Also, a new super-plush line of cuddly stuffed
animals based on the beloved characters featured in the Pajanimals show may be the perfect
transitional object for your child, helping to make bedtime a calm and
comforting experience.
PAJANIMALS plush
toys will be available in November, just in time for holiday, from TOMY. The 9” and 15” plush versions of Sweetpea,
Squacky, CowBella and Apollo, (with a SRP of $10.99 and $19.99 respectively),
have already met with rave reviews and demonstrated that their hardy
construction can stand up to the tugging, pulling and dragging of typical
preschoolers and still remain as soft and as cuddly as when they first come out
of the box.
Additionally, the MEET THE PAJANIMALS DVD (from NCircle Entertainment), PAJANIMALS’
may also be an asset for helping your preschoolers adjust to the time
change. The DVD debuted at retailers
nationwide on September 11 at a suggested price of $6.99.
And for more PAJANIMALS fun, you might want to
check out the recently released PAJANIMALS “Light in the Sky” app, priced at $4.99. Available
from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the “Light in the Sky” app
allows your children to play and sing along with this fully 3D, highly
interactive episode based on the actual THE
PAJANIMALS show. The PAJANIMALS “Light in the Sky” allows youngsters to blast off in a rocket ship
to visit the moon, set off fireworks and shooting stars in the night sky, play
kickball with the PAJANIMALS, make
their own melodies with musical stars and clouds; tickle the PAJANIMALS to make them laugh; and match
the PAJANIMALS with their favorite
toys. And of course they can help the PAJANIMALS “stick to the plan” by
brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed.
Other features include the ability to turn subtitles on to read along
with the story, and you can even gift the app to a friend from within the app.
And
just
as a reminder, PAJANIMALS fans can access a number of fun and FREE
ageappropriate activities and games on the Sprout® website, http://www.sproutonline.com/shows/pajanimals.
***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a sample of the product to try in order to write a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way. ***
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