It’s as if the weekend exhausted him instead of recharging him and I don’t know what to do anymore. Between walks, visits to the grandparents, and games with friends, it seems like we give him everything to enjoy, but when bedtime comes to start the week, the battle begins: screams, crying, he doesn’t want to go to bed, he says he’s sad or tired, and the next day he wakes up in a bad mood. I’ve tried putting him to bed earlier, reducing activities, but nothing works. I feel desperate.
What have your experiences been like with this topic?
Mia, I could’ve written this myself. My 3.5 year old is the exact same way. We have a great weekend, we think we’re doing everything right, and then bam, Sunday night hits, and it’s an emotional disaster. Crying, clinging, refusing to sleep, and then Monday morning is just as bad. It’s like the transition from the fun of the weekend to the structure of the week is too much for them. We’ve tried calming activities before bed, cutting out sugar, even making Sundays as low, key as possible, but nothing seems to make a huge difference. I don’t have the magic answer, but just know you’re not alone in this struggle
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Oh wow, same here. My 4 year old dreads Monday mornings like an adult with a bad job. It’s exhausting. We spend the whole weekend trying to create good memories, and then it feels like we pay for it with Sunday night chaos. I have no real advice, just here to say I get it. If you find something that works, please share because I’m so over this Sunday night battle
One thing that made a difference for us was shifting how we structured our weekends. Instead of making Sunday just as busy as Saturday, we started using it as a reset day. So Saturday is the fun, high-energy day, playdates, outings, running around. Sunday is slower. A park visit in the morning, quiet independent play in the afternoon, an early dinner, and a calming evening routine. It helped so much. I also started a Sunday night tradition where we’d talk about the upcoming week in a fun way, like Hey, let’s draw what we’re excited for this week! It made Monday seem less scary and helped ease the transition
I went through this when my son was younger and let me tell you, it gets better. What helped us was making Sundays predictable. We did the same quiet activities every Sunday night: puzzle time, warm bath, extra cuddles with a book. Basically, I tried to create a soft landing for my son so that the shift from weekend fun to weekday routine wasn’t so jarring. Another thing: talking about Monday in a positive way. Instead of saying Ugh, we have to get up early! we’d say things like Oh, I wonder what fun things you’ll do at preschool tomorrow! It was time consuming, but consistency helped a lot.