Un-train the Trainer

It's like that show where people get ... "Punk'd."

Seriously ... one night, it just happened. We didn't plan it ... it just ... happened.

We got "Punk'd."

By a three year old.

He TRAINED us.

And we're not happy about it. Especially my husband. And it is my own fault. Because I'm the mom. The softee. The one who is all heart and wants to rush to her screaming and unhappy child to quiet him down and love on him.

Don't get me wrong. We have tried to train him to fall asleep in his own bed. Oh, okay -- we've even resorted to bribery... no "big-boy" (twin-sized) bed unless you fall asleep on your own.

But it would seem that the trainee has trained the trainer.

Now, bed time has become a nightmare for us. This is how it goes:

7:30 -- Hunter eats a snack of either fruit, bread, or something like that (because the child is forever hungry); we head upstairs to put on jammies and brush teeth. He watches Dora or Caillou.

8:00-8:30 -- We go to his room, put him in bed, pray with him, turn on his music, and TRY to leave.

And he proceeds to cry, scream, and beg one of us to "stay right there" -- until he falls asleep. At some point in time, I gave in... and now... the Trainer has been trained by a three year old trainee.

If we just leave him in his room, he proceeds to scream until 10:30 (last night, for example), he gets out of his bed and comes into the hall way or into our room. This is a problem, because my husband wakes up at 4:15 every morning, and needs his sleep! (probably the very reason why I gave in)

Tonight, I've resolved to let him scream, scream, and scream some more... we'll see what happens. I may even throw in an extra bribe.

Any sage parental suggestions?