Bedtime Noise

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Not by my doing, my daughter has turned into one of those people that "can't sleep unless the TV is on". (her words)

Of course, this is totally Todd's fault (seriously), as he is one of those people too. Drives me nuts, I like silence. I like to sleep in the dark, with no noise...like most normal human beings.   So we "compromise", and set the timer on the TV.  The big issue is that HE sets the timer for 45 minutes and then HE falls asleep within 7 minutes and I'm stuck listening to some stupid Spike show for 30 something minutes. Some nights I manage to convince him to set it for 30 minutes, and last night (only because I was sick) he even compromised on 15 minutes. 

I'm torn between having to listen to the show, or listen to him snore.  It's really a lose-lose for me.  I listen to loud noises from the tv or from him nose. Either way, it sucks.  I scramble for the remote but it's usually on the other side of the bed, or under Todd, or on the floor. If I turn the TV off then I have to spend the next 10 minutes plugging his nose, til he stops breathing and rolls overs.

Drives me insane!!!

Lots of weekends the kids end up having friends sleepover, some nights there are 6 or 8 kids in my house that aren't even mine. As with a typical sleepover, they tend to fall asleep with the TV on at 4am.  What? That's not a typical sleepover?! 

Then comes Sunday night and little missy is all sooky, life is going to end, we are the worst parents ever because she can't sleep in our room with the TV on.  There's no TV in the kids rooms for this specific reason. They've never had a tv/computer/electronics in their bedrooms. 

So Todd, yeah Todd...gives in and lets her sleep in our bed so she can fall asleep with the TV on.  She doesn't sleep WITH us all night, she gets moved when we go to bed cause oh man...that would be a whole other situation. She gets to sleep with us maybe twice a year and we all suffer because of it.

Drives me nuts that it happens, but by 9pm I am done fighting battles.  I don't get it, it makes no sense to me. Todd's excuse is he likes the background noise. I'm not sure how gun fire or auctioneers screaming 'SOLD' can be considered 'background'...but to each his own I guess.

But guess what!?  She's a crotchety bear in the mornings because she ends up staying up later than she should.  So new plan...thanks to a few phone calls from the teacher about her "attitude", we've decided that bedtime will be moved to a half hour earlier, with 30 minutes scheduled for TV time, then the timer with shut it down.   So far so good...until she's 30 and married, with kids, and still can't get a normal night sleep because of a habit she picked up from her father...

I really should put my foot down...but then what kind of mother would I be if I didn't set her up to learn some life lessons??