Yes, this part of the game actually has me wondering if I should just set it on pause and not play anymore at all, because I'm getting so fed up with it.

I put them to bed, they wake up after a few minutes no matter what I do (praising them when going to bed, etc etc). They don't go to bed on their own at all, even if they're only just not tired anymore (you know in 30 seconds they will be again), they won't go to bed when I put them there, whether it's night or day.

If I put them in bed (at night) and leave the game I come back some hours later and they're even more tired (they get out of bed at some point, or maybe only after a few seconds). If I don't put them in bed at night and leave the game, they're not in bed when I get back either and even more tired.

Often they'll be more tired somehow after some time of me forcing them to sleep than they were before.

I could spend some hours forcing them to sleep, but that would only put their energy bar at just one notch better than 'tired' and after a few minutes they'd be tired or exhausted again. I just don't feel like playing 1.5 hours forcing them to sleep, then 5 minutes of them being able to do something else without having it say 'exhausted'.

Haven't seen an energy drink in the store yet, and all the chamomile drinks did for me is drain their energy and then they sleep for a few minutes and don't regain even half of what they lost.