It is apparently the season to be jolly and believe me I am trying but all my plans just seem to fall flat or cause our whole family to fall out.

I have just put Esther and William to bed for their second attempt at a day time sleep. I have turned the monitor off and I am leaving them to it. As I type this they are getting out of their sleeping bags, throwing all their bedding out of the cot and just generally getting up to no good.

Their first attempt at a nap today did not go at all well and ended up with Daddy, me and even my wonderful best friend going into their room to tell them off. It started with a gentle scolding, lots of bribery of all the good things that would happen to them if they slept and ended with them being put in separate rooms before we finally gave up and got them out of bed. By this time I was so cross with them and with myself for being cross with them. It was all getting out of hand. My husband was cross with me and I with him. And all for what. Esther and William just don’t understand.

I finally got them up as Esther was screaming and William was attempting to smash a mirror against his cot. There was no way either of them intended to sleep. They wanted to play so I got them up to play. During all the to-ing and fro-ing leading up to this extraction from their cots they had been told that if they did not sleep they would not be able to play with Michele, my best friend and their Godmother.

So, as they had not slept I felt that I had to follow through with what I had said which left me no choice but to ask Michele to go home.

Daddy was busy working upstairs leaving me alone with the unraveled mess. We have family coming tonight expecting to take Esther and William to see Father Christmas. Esther and William will not be going to see Father Christmas.

As I write this they are screaming at the top of their voices messing around still with no intention of sleep.

When and how did my adorable children become so naughty?

Perhaps I am trying too hard to make Christmas special for them? Perhaps I should never have intended to take them out tonight to see Santa parade through our village?

Perhaps we should not have taken them to the pantomime that we had to leave shortly after the interval as Esther and William were screaming that they just wanted to go home.

Until very recently Esther and William were reliably sleeping for a couple of hours during the day meaning they could do something nice in the early evening. When they do not sleep during the day they are horrible from 3.30pm on and end up in bed and asleep by the latest time of 6pm. Often it can be before 5!

So what would you do? Today is over. They are not napping and so they will be too tired to go out and see Santa but what about on other days?

Do I just accept that they are not going to sleep in the day and that doing anything after 3pm each day is a waste of everybody’s time?

I am at an utter loss for what to do.

I am exhausted. I am tired of getting repeatedly angry with them and gaining nothing.

They do not understand why we get cross.

I feel like I am fumbling being a mummy at the moment and just causing everyone a lot of unnecessary stress.

I need to come up with a solution, find a way forward but I am holding my hands up and saying I do not have a clue where to start.

I know that people have trodden this path before me and I am hoping that someone will be able to shed some light or even show me the way?

What should I do? What could I do? What would you do?

Leading Each Other Astray!