Not every night looks the same at our house. Bud and I run a wedding photography business, so in summer he’s often out at sunset photo shoots, and on a lot of weekend nights he’s shooting weddings. But on a chill Monday in summer, with no soccer or gymnastics and Bud home too, here’s what our evening looks like from dinner prep to lights out (for the kids).
What you’ll get from this post
- An easy dinner our four-year-old loves to help make
- How we tie vitamins to dessert so we never forget
- How chores and teeth-brushing fit in after dinner
- Our set bedtime and how we divide and conquer
- The simple trick that ended bickering over who picks the book
- What helps our kids who don’t like the dark
Dinner: one of our quickest meals
We featured one of our easiest, quickest meals, crescent dogs, and my four-year-old loves to make it with me. He’s my little chef. It ended up being a family effort, and I love that. Cooking together is a great way to get kids helping in the kitchen.
Dessert, with vitamins
Is your family a dessert-every-night family or only on special nights? Bud’s family only had dessert on Friday nights growing up, which was a major shock to me, because we both have such a sweet tooth. I grew up having it every night.
Dessert time is also our reminder to give the kids their vitamins. Pairing them means we don’t forget.
Chores to clean up the kitchen
After dessert, everyone has a chore to help get the kitchen cleaned up. If you want ideas for what each age can handle, see our age-appropriate chores for kids, which includes a chore chart template.
Teeth, potty and baths
- Teeth: the big kids brush on their own. For our two-year-old, we brush first and then let him have a turn, because he’s Mr. Independent.
- Potty: everyone uses the potty at this time too.
- Our daughter, our only girl, gets ready in our bathroom, away from her stinky brothers.
- Baths: we don’t do baths every day. Often they happen sometime during the day, depending on what we’re doing that night.
The same bedtime all year
We keep the same bedtime all year long, unless we’re out doing something special or have friends over. We very much look forward to our own downtime! We start getting ready for bed at 8:00 and are usually done close to 8:30.
Divide and conquer
Bud and I split bedtime: one of us takes the youngest, and the other takes the rest of the kids. It goes smoother and quicker, and the big kids don’t really want to read Mickey Mouse every night.
For our two-year-old: we read a book, help him pray, sing him a song, turn off the lights and close the door.
For the older kids: each one has an assigned night of the week to pick the book and pray. We used to have them all pray in a row, and you can imagine how long that took and how restless they got. Giving each kid a night also ended the bickering over who gets to pick the book. Huge props to Bud for that call. We still sing them a song on our way out.
For kids who don’t like the dark
The big kids really don’t like the dark, so:
- Bud got our oldest a blue bulb for his lamp.
- He taped an LED light strip to the side of the bunk bed for our four-year-old.
- They all like the door cracked.
And then we made it. Now it’s our turn to chill.
Key takeaways
- Let kids help cook an easy dinner.
- Pair vitamins with dessert so you don’t forget.
- Give everyone an after-dinner chore.
- Keep the same bedtime all year, and split bedtime between parents.
- Assign each kid a night to pick the book and pray.
- A colored bulb or LED strip helps kids who don’t like the dark.
What viewers say
I made the crescent dogs! My family loved as well. I'd love to see a morning routine because it's hard to get going in the mornings for me.
@tonimt1712 on YouTube
Oh my goodness your husband is hilarious. Lol
@LivingWithEve on YouTube
Things we mentioned
- Age-appropriate chores for kids: with a chore chart template
Can you relate to bedtime with four kids? Come hang out with our crew on YouTube. Subscribe to The Johnson Crew on YouTube.
FAQ
What time do your kids go to bed?
We start getting ready at 8:00 and are usually done close to 8:30, and we keep the same bedtime all year.
How do you do bedtime with four kids?
We divide and conquer. One parent takes the youngest, and the other takes the older kids.
How do you stop kids from fighting over bedtime stories?
Each child gets an assigned night of the week to pick the book and pray.
What helps kids who are scared of the dark?
We use a blue bulb in one lamp, an LED light strip taped to the bunk bed, and leave the door cracked.
More from our crew
- Mom of 4 Morning Routine: 4 Kids Homeschool Morning Routine
- 6 Easy Dinner Recipes for Kids to Help You Make
- What Are Age Appropriate Chores for My Child? Chore Chart Ideas
Full transcript
Hi guys welcome back to my channel I'm Sarah johnson mom to four kiddos and I wanted to share with you what our nighttime routine looks like now obviously not every night looks the same so today is monday and it is summer time so we don't have soccer gymnastics or anything to go to it's just a chill night at home and bonus my husband Bud is home too we run a wedding photography business so some evenings he's out doing photo shoots because the sun sets later in the summer
And on a lot of weekend nights he's shooting weddings so those nights definitely look different than what we'll show you tonight so let's start with dinner prep tonight we're featuring one of our easiest and quickest meals to make at home that our four-year-old loves to make with me you ready to cook yes yes this is my little chef his specialty is what what do you love to make it yes are you ready what do we need to do first a bit of a family effort with dinner tonight
And I love it wow look at that right there look at that beautiful bean footage show us that uh that beautiful apron wow it's really slimming on you so dessert time is your family a dessert every night family or only on special nights my husband's family only had it on friday nights when he was growing up which was a major shocker to me because we both have such a huge sweet tooth and I grew up having it every night dessert time is also our reminder to give them their vitamins then everyone has chores to help get the kitchen cleaned up I have a whole video going over the chores that we find age appropriate for each kid
And a chore chart template that you can download so I'll leave a link to that in the description box below so now it's time for everyone to brush their teeth the big kids can obviously do it on their own but we do it for the two-year-old first and then let him do it because he's mr independent we don't do baths every single day and a lot of the time we take them at some point during the day depending on what we're doing that night our only girl gets ready in our bathroom away from those stinky boys
And everyone uses the potty at this time too go pee-pee we still keep the same bedtime all year long unless we're out doing something special or have friends over but otherwise we like to keep at the same time because you know we very much look forward to our own downtime we start getting ready for bed at 8pm and are usually done close to 8 30. usually my husband and I divide and conquer with bedtime one of us takes care of the youngest and the other takes care of the rest of the kids it seems to go smoother
And quicker this way plus the big kids don't really feel like reading mickey mouse every single night with our two-year-old we read a book help him pray sing him a song lights off and close the door this one yes okay where is minnie there's mickey mouse okay you ready to pray yeah okay her hands okay are you gonna pray okay you ready let's pray with our older kids we have assigned them each a night of the week that they get to pick the book and be the one to pray we used to have them all pray in a row
And you can imagine how long that went and how they'd get restless giving them each a night helped to remove the bickering of who gets to pick the book that night huge props to Bud for making that call can we hear a train it's good it's good ears ears ears we like our ears it's very good to hear all right pray hands and we still sing them a song on our way out the big kids really don't like the dark so Bud got our oldest a blue bulb for his lamp
And taped an led light strip to the side of the bunk bed for our four-year-old and they all like the door cracked we made it now it's our turn to chill if you can relate please give this video a thumbs up if you're new to my channel I like to talk about all things related to the family homeschooling and traveling as a family of six so if that interests you go ahead and subscribe and join us in this fun community here on youtube until next time take your shirt off get those few counts up that's right I can't use any of this show us that uh that beautiful apron wow I like it it's that's weird