Grayson has been into Star Wars since he was 2 1/2 years old. He will be 4 on January 25th. Recently, his Star Wars obsession has led to everything Star Wars, including Legos. That being said, I started buying him small Lego kits that would keep his attention and would be fun to build together on nights we were relaxing at home. We have built AT-AT , X-Wing, and Star Scavenger sets from Lego so far and it’s been fun! The LAST thing I thought was that this new venture would somehow help Grayson get to sleep on time. Now, lets get into that!
For a while now, Grayson has had trouble when it’s bedtime. He’d rather lay with me on the couch until he falls asleep then I have to carry him upstairs to bed. Sometimes, it’s past his bedtime before he finally falls asleep on the couch and that is unacceptable. I’ve been trying to figure out how to correct this situation and I had been coming up empty handed. Soooooo… I combined Lego playtime with sleep time and it created the perfect solution to getting him upstairs.
Currently, Grayson has simple green and tan walls in his bedroom since birth. His name is on the wall in vinyl surrounded by stars and although it looks amazing, it’s time for a change with the decor of his room . I left THAT up to him. He is obsessed with outer space lately. He wants planets, stars, and spaceships, etc. on his walls and all over his room. I told him as long as he flys his star wars creations up to his bedroom each night along with AT-AT and goes to sleep on time like a ‘big boy”, then “The Force” would see that he is going to bed on time and slowly over the next few weeks his room would transform into a galaxy far far away!
This idea worked perfectly! He’s sleeping for 10 hours a night now after flying Luke Skywalker and the crew to bed! I’m still in the planning stage and am currently ordering planets, paint, glow in the dark stars, etc., but he flies those Legos up every night and goes to bed! I’m going to install a shelf this week so we can display his Lego Star Wars creations forever so it will be a reminder of a great bonding time for a greater cause with my son!
Thanks Lego for the amazing playtime and learning experiences with Grayson but for also allowing me to get him to bed on-time in his OWN bed! That makes for a happy dad!
About the author: Christopher Line is a 38 year old single father of an amazing 4 year old by the name Grayson. He currently works and resides in the beautiful town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He began writing his blog, “Dadastrophic: “Tales of a Hot Mess Dad” several months before Grayson was born. Chris spent many years as a radio DJ for 95.1 WZZO, 104.1 B104, Cat Country 96, and 100.7 WLEV.
He began acting at the age of 16 and was managed by famed talent manager, Lois Miller, who was responsible for launching the careers of Christine Taylor (Brady Bunch, Hey Dude, Dodgeball), and Jamie Lynn Sigler (Meadow Soprano in Sopranos on HBO). In 2001, he was a Vee Jay for MTV2 and in 2003 hosted an MTV gameshow, “Into The Cube”. Also in 2003, he got his big break and was cast in famed director Richard Linklater’s“The School of Rock“, a Paramount Picture. Yes, that’s him who announces that “NO VACANCY” wins the battle of the bands as Jack Black and the kids hate his guts…you’re welcome!
Originally published at medium.com