For your little one, a sweet bedtime ritual can transform a nightly roster of tasks into a joyful occasion. Of course, every family cultivates its own nighttime habits, but here are a tried-and-true few that can be easily adopted.

Two for Tea
My kids, Ben, age six, and Birdy, two, like to invite themselves to a slumber party -- a slumber tea party, that is! Decked out in their finest PJs, they sit on a picnic blanket and enjoy tiny cups of milky chamomile tea while I remind them that chamomile has miraculous sleep-inducing qualities, and aren't you feeling sleepy yet? When they were smaller, they drank their tea from sippy cups, but now the tea set is half the fun. And whether it's the tea or the ritual itself that helps them relax, it actually works!

Bedtime for Babies
Sarah Markey, age two, and her four-year-old brother, Nat, of Northampton, Massachusetts, can't go to sleep until they've put down their own "babies" for the night. A doll and a stuffed bunny get rocked, tucked into bed (a cradle for one and a cozy shoe box for the other), given their own lovies to cuddle (an even smaller doll and stuffed animal), and kissed good night by their doting parents. "The kids mimic what we say," says mom Ann. "'See you in the morning' and 'I love you.' I think it helps them relax."

Lights Out
For two-year-old Jesse Pomeroy of Brooklyn, New York, it's turning off the light himself that helps ease the transition. "I always ask him which part of his body he wants to use to flip the switch," explains mom Ali. "It gives him a sense that he's involved in the decision to go to sleep -- something that feels a little better than Mommy insisting it's bedtime."

Monsters Be Gone
Like any sensible preschooler, Brooks Youngmark of Phillipsburg, Kansas, couldn't sleep until his room was rid of monsters -- an imaginary exorcism that mom Patricia accomplished quickly and definitively with the classic potion called Monster Spray. It may look like water in a spray bottle, but it works like magic. Patricia's advice? "Spray once for monsters and twice for bad dreams."