Parents, are you familiar with the much-dreaded Bedtime Stall? You know the one:

I just need a quick drink of water.

I just need to go to the bathroom one more time.

I have one more quick question.

Well, my sweet T perfected that last one at the ripe ol’ age of three. Folks, I answer questions from sun up ’til sun down but when it comes time for bed, I need an answering service. I want to check the heck out.

Every night, we would put the boys to bed and then head to T’s room to say our good nights. And then we would be hit with a firestorm of questions.

It was as if she saved a week’s worth of questions and blasted them at us right as we were about to close her door.

“Okay, T. This is the last one, okay? We’ll answer more tomorrow.”

But they just kept coming. And T is such a sweetheart that it was hard to put an end to it initially. Finally, after many weeks, we realized that this was not a passing phase. The questions were here to stay. We needed a game plan.

One night, we developed The Three Questions.

Three Questions

 {A Simple Solution to the Dreaded Bedtime Stall}

The Three Questions

The Three Questions is simple, really. Basically, I told T that she could only ask us three questions. She had plenty of warning, so she could make those questions doozies– and, believe me, she did- but she could only ask three.

And, to make it easier for a 3-year-old to comprehend, I wrote out tickets for each question and laminated them. Because, you know, I love to laminate things.

At bedtime, we would hand her the three tickets and she would trade them for questions. When her hands were empty, the questions were over and it was time for bed.

And, do you know what?

It worked!

We used those questions every single night for well over a year. Then, one day, we realized that we didn’t need them any longer. The phase had passed. I tucked those question coupons into T’s memory box to share with her later, down the road.

The Three Questions, Part Deux

Nowadays, our sweet T is six-years-old. She’s long past the bedtime stall. At the end of the day, she wants to cozy up in her bed and read her books quietly.

But Seuss? Seuss is in the question phase. We no sooner put him to bed when we hear his little feet walking down the hallway.

“Dad? Dad?” he’ll whisper, urgently. “I have an important question.”

This questioning phase has been going on for about a month or more when it suddenly occurred to us that we should make him some question coupons.

And so we did.

And, guess what?

It worked!!

Often, the best solutions are the simplest.

Here’s how to make your own Three Questions

All you need is:

• 3 index cards
• Sharpies
• Laminator

Simply write Question 1, Question 2, and Question 3 on three index cards with your sharpie and laminate. Voila! Question coupons!

Want to read a fantastic book about Three Questions?

If your children love to ask questions, and especially if they delight in the real doozies, you might try dabbling in a little philosophy. I love the book The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth. Based on a story by Leo Tolstoy and featuring Muth’s gorgeous illustrations, this story will delight your children and will prompt memorable family conversation about life’s big questions.

What simple solutions have you come up with lately? Share here so we can all learn from one another!