Three’s a Crowd: Defend Your Space

ur five year old little princess had become far too comfortable sleeping in our bed.

It all happened after I made the mistake of letting her nestle closely to me one night during a thunderstorm. She said she was afraid of the loud noise and I was too sleepy to do my usual ritual which was: go in her room, talk to her until she calmed down, and tip-toe out as she was drifting back to sleepy land.

On this particular night, the bed felt especially warm and I was being lazy. So I lifted the covers up and told her, “Come on and climb in with Mommy.”

Why on earth did I ever do that?

That became one of the worst parenting decisions I’ve ever made, because one invitation turned into numerous uninvited trips to mom and dad’s bed.

Every night, she and her pink “blankey” found a reason to barge into our room, crawl into bed, and crowd us out.

At first, I made light of it, laughed it off, and figured it would get better.

But her presence affected my husband and I negatively.

We couldn’t be intimate when we wanted to late at night because she was in bed. Our private pillow talk wasn’t as comfortable and free. Our soft Queen-sized bed felt more like a twin bed after she cut off our room with her wild sleeping.

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