Getting children to sleep

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 18

Getting children to sleep

Sir,—Sharon Hunter (June 9) is critical of mothers who share their beds with their children. I wonder whether she personally knows any? To many of us, meeting the nighttime needs of our children is just part of the reality of 24-hour parenting. Indeed, it takes “secure and whole people,” as she puts it, to not feel threatened by the idea of giving to our children in this way. Parents who try to understand and meet the needs of their children do not feel “used and discarded.” They see, as the years go by, what a valuable investment selfless loving is. They can happily release their children to adulthood without the pain of the “empty nest

syndrome,” knowing they have done the best possible job in helping the next generation towards security and wholeness. By the way, most family beds are very large and husband and wife usually sleep together like anyone else. — Yours, etc., ROSE ISDALE. June 9, 1984.

Sir,—For the harrased parents who are trying to get children to sleep: an old remedy is to make a pillow of hops. It seems that the aroma has a pacifying effect on young and old alike. Try it. — Yours, etc., E. BROOKES, Hawarden. June 11, 1984.