Parenting Perspective 

When bedtime stretches endlessly, it is rarely simple stubbornness. More often, it is a child’s quiet struggle with transitions, overstimulation, or emotional overflow. The brain finds it difficult to switch from the alertness of the day to the surrender of sleep. Repeated delays, another drink, another question, another story, are really bids for connection and control. Your task is to transform bedtime from a nightly power struggle into a peaceful ritual of calm, trust, and predictability. 

Rebuild the Routine Backwards 

Choose your desired sleep time and count backward by about an hour. The final sixty minutes should gently slow the body and mind with dim lights, soft voices, no screens, and familiar bedtime cues. Announce each step: ‘Now we brush our teeth, then read, then du’a’. When routines become a rhythm, a child’s nervous system learns to anticipate stillness instead of resisting it. Bedtime should feel like a glide, not a cliff edge. 

Meet Connection Before Correction 

Many bedtime delays are really bids for reassurance. Ten minutes of undistracted attention before lights-out works better than constant reminders afterward. Sit close, ask what their favourite part of the day was, and listen without lecturing. Once they feel emotionally ‘full’, they no longer seek endless closeness through protest. End that talk by saying, ‘Now we thank Allah Almighty for today and rest for tomorrow’. You have met the emotional need before enforcing the boundary. 

Hold Boundaries with Warmth 

Children rely on consistent limits to feel safe. State the plan clearly and kindly: ‘After the story, the lights go off. I will stay beside you for two minutes, then it is sleep time’. When the inevitable ‘But I am not sleepy!’ appears, repeat calmly: ‘It is okay if you are not sleepy yet. You can rest quietly until sleep comes’. This requires no debates and no frustration, just calm confidence. A steady parent’s nervous system is the strongest bedtime cue. 

Clear Energy from the Room 

If bedtime has turned into a nightly battle, take one evening to reset the emotional tone. Play soft Quran recitation or share a short surah together. The aim is not perfection but peace. When your child begins to associate sleep with comfort, predictability, and Allah Almighty’s remembrance, bedtime becomes a spiritual rhythm, not a negotiation. 

Spiritual Insight 

Allah Almighty states in the noble Quran at Surah Al Nabaa (78), Verse 9: 

‘ And We designed your sleep (as a form of) rejuvenation.‘ 

This verse reminds us that sleep is not merely a biological necessity; it is a mercy written into human design. Helping your child learn to sleep peacefully is part of teaching them gratitude for that mercy. When bedtime is honoured as a gift from Allah Almighty, rather than treated as a punishment or separation, the night becomes a space of renewal and divine calm. You are guiding your child to view rest as obedience, a form of trusting the rhythm Allah Almighty created for every soul. 

It is recorded in Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 247, that the holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: 

‘Whenever you go to bed, perform ablution as for prayer, lie on your right side and say: ‘Allahumma aslamtu wajhi ilaika, wa fawwadtu amri ilaika, wa alja’tu zahri ilaika, raghbatan wa rahbatan ilaika. La malja’a wa la manja minka illa ilaika. Allahumma amantu bikitabika alladhi anzalta wa binabiyyika alladhi arsalta.” 

This Hadith shows how the holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ framed bedtime as an act of worship and surrender. By teaching your child to make wudu, lie peacefully on their right side, and recite a simple du’a before sleeping, you link their routine to faith. The night ceases to be a struggle and becomes a sacred close to the day, a moment of calm submission to Allah Almighty’s protection. 

When a parent keeps the environment serene, ends the day with gratitude, and models remembrance, even the most restless child begins to find stillness. In that quiet, your home breathes what the verse promised, sleep as sukoon, the rest that only Allah Almighty can bestow.