Every night my six-year-old, Tony, wants to sleep in my bed, and every night we argue and struggle and do our best to get him to sleep in his own room. Tony has many excuses for not wanting to sleep alone, such as his bed is uncomfortable (so we bought him a new mattress); he has nightmares (so we read him happy bedtime stories); he just cannot fall asleep by himself (so he is a regular warm-milk drinker); and mostly, he gets "lonely."

Sometimes my husband and I give in (usually it is me), or sometimes we let him fall asleep in our bed and then carry him to his own room. We are trying to eliminate this scneario also, as he is getting very big and heavy. I could not have imagined Tony could come up with some new tactic to get me to allow him to sleep next to me again, until last night.

After brushing his teeth, he began the normal routine of begging to let him sleep in my bed, and my trying not to get frustrated as I tell him over and over that he has to sleep in his own room. He told me, "I'm closer to you when I sleep in your room." To which I replied, "Tony, I'm going downstairs to watch tv for a little while, so you'll be closer to me if you sleep in your own room since it is closer to the stairway." Tony mustered every ounce of puppy-dog-eyes and said to me, "My heart mom.... my heart will be closer to you if I fall asleep in your room."

I pulled back the covers, gave his smirky smile a big kiss and said goodnight.

...why can't they stay six forever?