Question: My 7 year old son has never been a good sleeper, and I have always struggled to get him to bed at night. My younger son sleeps fine for the most part, so I am at a loss for what is different about my older son.
Every night my older son goes to bed and seems calm at first, but then around 10 or 10:30, he is still up and starts to seem agitated. He runs back and forth to my room (I bring him back to his room, he comes back), demanding to sleep with me, and creating a ruckus in his room. I will admit to my inconsistency–very often he falls asleep for a little while–and so do I–but then he awakens at midnight or 1 and comes into my room and at this point I am asleep and I let him stay. I went through a period where I swore I’d get up every time and bring him back in the middle of the night. I did this for several weeks straight, but he never gave up. So I did. I am at a loss, and have even considered getting a lock for his door (from the outside) and locking him in his room at night. I know this seems cruel and I don’t think I could actually go through with anything so extreme, but I don’t know what else to do. No one is sleeping at night and we are all exhausted.