Bad Habit or Good Routine?

How do you tell the difference between a bad habit and a good routine?

For the past several months, at about 8pm, Ben crawls up on the couch with my husband or me, cuddles and falls asleep within the hour. It started out with a lot of oohs and ahhs from us - snuggling with Ben is very sweet. If we move him too early, he gets out of his room and crawls right back with us as if nothing happened.

I do wonder if we are doing the right thing by allowing this behavior. Questions enter my mind - Do I want this same behavior six months from now? Not sure. Would I allow my typical sons to do this? Definitely not.

But then I also think about how life has changed in the past year with respect to Ben's sleep schedule. He is not getting up many times a night due to nasal congestion. He is going to sleep at a reasonable hour and sleeping until morning.

Ben's snuggling could be meeting a need - spending time with us without his brothers. Ben is in school or camp all day, then typically has therapy or a home staff person working with him in the evenings. This is quiet one-on-one time with us. This is his way of communicating this need for special time with us.

For right now, we're sticking with it. Need to re-evaluate again and talk with his behavior therapist. It feels right and going with my instincts has become a good habit for me.

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