I was watching the class before my daughter's bedtime, and I knew we were in for a rough night.  She would like to stay up late, but the adults are tired and worry that she isn't getting enough sleep.  The struggles of bedtime seemed to be just what my metaphorical map needed to portray.  We start in a little cozy cottage and at bedtime we make a series of choices.  We hope that we follow the path that leads to a gentle drifting to sleep (the desired sleepy land to the far right).  But, in all reality we take the less desirable path that lead to struggles and either upset adults (Mt. Mamaeruptus) or a child who is running through the house chanting "I'm going to stay up all night!"  In the end, she eventually falls asleep in the fairytale-like castle (in her favorite color du jour).  As a parent, I tend to stress out over the little decisions that blow up in my mind as large errors.  It is what it is and so my map tries to lessen the frustration (I purposely did not do a great job with the watercolor, although my cliffs need some help).  This is my little way of not taking it too seriously.  After all, my daughter is a lot like me when it comes to sleep.  I don't tell her this....but I'd rather stay up all night too.  I posted a conceptual drawing from my sketchbook and then the ink and watercolor finished project.  This was fun, and I'm going to write an editorial about young children and sleep for a group that I help manage.