Being Emotionally Ready

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an entry about how my son had transitioned from the crib to the toddler bed, and how monumental that felt for me. Well, it was just as monumental for my son, but in a difficult way.

During that first week when Zack began sleeping in his bed without the railing on the side, he was constantly crawling into our bed in the middle of the night. Now in the past if he would need us he would call out in the morning and one of us would go get him. But almost all the time he was sleeping through the night. So why now was he getting up in the middle of the night and wandering into our bed? Besides the fact that he could??

Was not having the railing there waking him up if he rolled over, or was he scared he was going to fall out of the crib?

Finally after several days of this I asked Zack if he was scared about falling out of the bed and he said yes. So Jeff and I talked about him not being "ready" for the toddler bed emotionally -- even though he could physically crawl out of the crib.

Later that day Jeff put the side back on the crib and it seemed to work. Even if Zack did wake up and come into our room, I could put him back in the crib and he would fall right back to sleep.

Sometimes children may be physically or mentally ready for a transition in their life but emotionally their not. It is our job as their parents to pay attention and to not push them before their ready!