Sometimes one of the hardest things about parenting toddlers is getting them to bed. Just ask Kristen Kirk, mom of two from Chesapeake, Va. "The biggest problem for me is that my husband and I never worked together on a bedtime routine," Kirk says. "We would often come up with a plan and then he would cave, or I would cave."

Kirk admits that they had a hard time being consistent. "My kids are now 8 and 7 and I have to lie in bed with them for at least a half hour, sometimes an hour (each!) until they go to sleep," she says.

Sherry Antonetti, a mom from Gaithersburg, Md., has two toddlers. She sums up the frustrations many parents of little ones face with a simple tongue-in-cheek question: "Wait ... toddlers sleep?"

Dr. Daniel S. Lewin, a licensed clinical psychologist and director of the Pediatric Behavioral Sleep Medicine program at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., notes that sleep is critical for both maintenance of physical health and for our children's brain development. On average, toddlers need approximately 12 to 14 hours of sleep, including naps and nighttime sleep, within a 24-hour period.

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