I need help please!! Here's the situation:
My SIL moved in with us the end of May. Her 8yo DS & my 7yo DS share one room. My 4yo DD, 18mo DD, & her 5yo DD share the other. All summer long, it has been a royal pain to get them to go to bed when they are supposed to. We will put them to bed and then they will be up for another 3-4 hours (sometimes as late as midnight) just fiddling around. And fiddling by my definition includes the old he did this or she did that, screeching, crying, jumping, toys everywhere, clothes everywhere, dog food everywhere, nearly broken ceiling & window fans, and a trail of water from the bathroom by their rooms through the hallway into the dining room & nearly into the kitchen. The only good thing in the last week is that eventually they usually end up asleep in their own rooms. My DS was away for most of the summer & almost every morning my nephew would be sleeping in the girls' room or he, his sister, or both would be downstairs asleep with my SIL.
To top it off, my 18mo DD's playpen got wrecked, 1st by her sister or brother and then she added her own 2 cents worth of damage so that we couldn't keep her in it safely, but her sister broke the railing side of our convertable crib so that I can't turn it back into a crib. She will not stay in her bed and is so up wandering around with us until she passes out (usually around 11).
We're trying out some advice given to us by some friends who have been there done that with their 5 kids, by having them go to bed an hour earlier each time we have to say something to them, but I am seeing no improvement in their behavior (although it has only been the last 2-3 days that we've finally managed to be consistent about it).
Please, I will be eternally grateful to anyone with advice to offer. :-)
My SIL moved in with us the end of May. Her 8yo DS & my 7yo DS share one room. My 4yo DD, 18mo DD, & her 5yo DD share the other. All summer long, it has been a royal pain to get them to go to bed when they are supposed to. We will put them to bed and then they will be up for another 3-4 hours (sometimes as late as midnight) just fiddling around. And fiddling by my definition includes the old he did this or she did that, screeching, crying, jumping, toys everywhere, clothes everywhere, dog food everywhere, nearly broken ceiling & window fans, and a trail of water from the bathroom by their rooms through the hallway into the dining room & nearly into the kitchen. The only good thing in the last week is that eventually they usually end up asleep in their own rooms. My DS was away for most of the summer & almost every morning my nephew would be sleeping in the girls' room or he, his sister, or both would be downstairs asleep with my SIL.
To top it off, my 18mo DD's playpen got wrecked, 1st by her sister or brother and then she added her own 2 cents worth of damage so that we couldn't keep her in it safely, but her sister broke the railing side of our convertable crib so that I can't turn it back into a crib. She will not stay in her bed and is so up wandering around with us until she passes out (usually around 11).
We're trying out some advice given to us by some friends who have been there done that with their 5 kids, by having them go to bed an hour earlier each time we have to say something to them, but I am seeing no improvement in their behavior (although it has only been the last 2-3 days that we've finally managed to be consistent about it).
Please, I will be eternally grateful to anyone with advice to offer. :-)
(The ladies? 
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