Q. My little boy is such a wild man at the end of the day. Once he is ready for bed, we have been letting him watch a little TV to settle him down. He is quiet, but he doesn’t get sleepy and we have a battle getting him to bed. What is going on?
A. Some fairly new information says that the bright lights from TV and computer screens interfere with our ability to produce melatonin which is a substance in our brains that helps us go to sleep. A better way to settle your little boy down is to read to him. All children need to be read to as that helps them acquire verbal skills and boys need it more than girls as their verbal skills develop a bit later than those of girls. When you start this, he may protest but it is more a matter of a change in his routine. Let him wander around in his bedroom as you read if he gets restless, but encourage him to get into bed. If you do this every night for a week, he will accept the new practice.