For many years, parents were caught in the proverbial “Catch 22” situation, when it came to the bedtime routines of their children. Many parents love the idea of spending time with their kids before they doze off to sleep, often reading them bedtime stories or simply telling them all about the mysteries and adventures that life has to offer, rather than viewing through the screen of a device like a video baby monitor.
But what is a parent to do when the bedtime routine has run its course, but the child is not yet asleep?- Does the parent stay with their child throughout, waiting for them to fall asleep?
That could lead to multiple issues, including parents having less and less time to take care of their routine household chores done after the child has gone to sleep, and subconsciously sending the child the message that their bedtime is subjective, because the parent will stay by their side as long as they continue to stay awake.
Conversely, some parents might view the idea of the common baby monitor leading to too many unknown variables. After all, when they close the door of their child’s room, they have no idea what was going on with their child, and potentially run the risk of disturbing their child’s sleep if they went inside the room to check.
Of course, the availability of video baby monitors changed much of that, by giving parents the ability to see if their child is sleeping comfortably and safely.
Baby monitors with camera allow parents to cearly see if a child is lying in bed and lulling themselves to sleep, or standing in their bed and potentially causing a fuss (or harm to themselves).
The visual feedback provided by video baby monitors greatly differentiate them from the standard audio monitors, as the latter picked up a variety of sounds that were often difficult to distinguish.
Adjusting To The Sleeping Habits Of More Than One Child
Now, the added wrinkle in this equation is when parents have more than one child, forcing parents to monitor and reconcile the sleeping habits for more than one person.
In some cases, this is might not be as problematic as it seems.
For two children who are similar in age, they may share similar activity and sleeping schedules, leading to less of a conflict with both. In those instances, many parents find that the comradely between the two children actually ends up helping both of them with bedtime and sleep routines. In particular, parents with twins find that sharing a room only helps to further the bond that the children shared from the womb.
However, it’s not always that easy.
Parents with children of different ages obviously have to balance the difference in needs and timing of both children’s sleep. In these situations, it’s probably best that both children are placed in separate rooms, since their individual sleeping patterns will vary, and should not be disturbed.
In fact, the most important factor in multi-child situations is to ensure the consistency and routines associated for both. If there are certain healthy methods that help children get to sleep — such a a pacifier, certain comfort items, etc. — ensure that these remain a constant, so that they’re not disturbed by the sleeping routines of the other child.
How To Easily Monitor Both Your Sleeping Children
Regardless, parents will multiple children will have situations where both children are asleep, either in the same room or different rooms. Just like adults, no two children are the same. So what’s the best way to monitor the aforementioned sleeping patterns of both children?
That’s where dual camera baby monitor’s enter the equation.
The main benefits are obvious, from the name of the product: you’re able to use multiple video cameras to either view one particular sleeping child from more than one angle, or keep an eye on two different children sleeping in two different locations (bedrooms).
Many of these multi-room monitors will either show both video feeds on the same screen through a “split screen” function (both feeds live at the same time), or on a closed loop basis (rotating between the two on a three-to-five second cycle).
Simply put, it allows parents to keep one eye on each child, without having to figure out which child will get the benefit of a monitor, or simply going cross-eyed by trying to keep an eye on both children at the same time.
Parenting and Technology: A Win-Win Scenario
There may be parents who feel that technology like video monitors provide a “hands-off” approach to parenting, but on the contrary, the use of these tools is healthy for both the children and the parents. Monitors like these only serve as a way for parents to monitor what’s happening to a child after their bedtime routine is completed.
It allows for children to adhere to a bedtime ritual, and not develop bad habits that lead them to manipulate their parents’ behaviors and break their routines, for their own personal and short-term gain.
Parents can still give their child a bath, read them stories, tuck them in, and say good night, without it having to be a prolonged, unpredictable, and stressful process, depending on the child’s mood and energy that evening.
And for the parents, it allows for them to have that essential time to be adults, and do things like take care of the house or simply interact with each other, while still being able to carefully watch over their children through these video monitors.
Thus, dual video monitors shouldn’t be viewed as a replacement to good parenting, but rather a tool for even better parenting.
