Do your kids have bedtimes? Our kids -- 6, 4.5, and 3 -- do not nap, and usually go to bed around 7:00. They get up between 6:30 and 7:30. If we have a party or other event to go to in the evening, we definitely do NOT skip it because of bedtime, and the kids do really well staying up even until 11:00 on occasion. It seems like whenever this sort of thing comes up with other parents, they are shocked to hear we put our kids to bed 'so early.' My reasoning is that they get more solid sleep when they're in bed earlier, and it also enables me to have some "alone time" (after I'm done with the evening chores), which I otherwise wouldn't have. I know it's probably just a huge matter of opinion, I'm just curious when your kids go to bed.
Ems has to be in bed at 7:30 and she is 11. She is able to read if she isn't sleepy. My husband wakes between 2:30 and 3:00 so she needs to be in bed early. I wake up at 3:30 am. Lately she wants me to wake her at 5:00 so she can ride her bike before school. I do not mind since she goes to bed early. When she is on vacation or doing something out of the ordinary, she is allowed to stay up later. There are always exceptions.
Ya know, if it works for you, stick with it. If they want to keep their kids up later, that's fine for them. As they get older, you may or may not want to change it, but don't worry what others think!
Sophie is still a toddler but she gets up at 9am, naps at 1:30-2pm, gets up at about 4:30, goes to bed at 7pm. Sometimes I take a nap too. I will let her nap as long as she feels she needs to (age wise not length of nap wise) I'm 24 and I still need a nap...lol.
My boys (5&6) go to bed usually around 9 but sometimes I'll let them stay up later especially if we dont have anything planned the next day. The usually get up around 8:30 - 9 in the morning and don't generally take naps because if they do they won't go to bed on time. The baby sleeps in 1-2 hour streches all day and night so no bed time for him yet.
For some strange reason, my kids can't go to sleep when I'm not home. And truthfully, it's easier on me for them to have the same sort of schedule as me. My kids don't go to sleep until after 10 pm at least for right now during the summer. Come school schedule time. They will have to be in bed by 10 except for my 4 year old. I don't get home until 10:30 and he will not go to bed unless I'm home to put him into bed. On the rare occasions that he goes to sleep before I get home from work, it's really nice.
I would love it if my kids went to bed at 7PM! lol. My kids are 11, 9, 4, and 1. My 1 year old goes to bed around 8pm and the others go to bed around 9pm. I would prefer an earlier bedtime only because my dh works so much and I never spend any alone time with him. My three kids are currently sharing a room...so sending my 4 year old to bed earlier doesn't always work. She is cooperative and often goes to bed on her own...but it just seems out of sorts. My older two kids end up talking to late during the summer. Honestly, I don't care during the summer if they are up late. Once the school year starts they will have to be in bed by 8:30.
Ds (5) goes to bed at 8pm & dd (11) goes to bed at 9 or 9:30. I have to leave some time between their bedtimes or they'll stay up all night playing & talking. No matter what time they go to bed (or fall asleep), they're very early risers and are almost always awake around 6 (sometimes earlier). The only time dh & I have alone together is after the kids go to bed. I get my alone time after everyone is in bed & in the morning after dh leaves for work & before the kids get up.
My boys go to bed around 9:30pm. I switched to a late bedtime when my boys were little because my youngest would be wide awake for hours in the middle of he night. Going to a late bedtime fixed that issue and we have stuck with it.
My dd's are 11 and 13. Their bedtime's are : Sunday-Thursday 8 pm. (Because dh gets up really early for work) Friday and Saturday 9-10 pm ( depends on if there is special show on T.V they want to watch) Now if there is a sleepover those bedtimes get thrown out the window
My kids 5,6 go to bed around 8 and get up at 7. Now in the winter when it gets dark at 5 oclock, i make them go to bed earlier 7 or 7:30 but they hardly ever sleep past 7 and I wish they would!
learning to tell time changed our life........... When it got dark I would say....... its dark. its bed time (about 7)......... and they would get up at 4 am and I would tell the kids to go back to bed because its still dark outside!!! now they can tell time........ they do go to bed at 8 and the girls are usually up talking or what ever in their room until 8:30....... my DH and i go to bed at 9. The boys are up at 4:30am!! and the girls are up between 5 and 5: 30 to say good bye to their dad
My kids 4,5,6 & 9 have an 8:00 bedtime. It has been a real struggle to get them to bed by this time most nights because they still want to play. My boys share a room and my girls share a room, and they also tend to fight at night (she touched my bed! OR he looked at me!) They have been doing really well since we implimented a reward system. They each got to choose a big reward for going to bed on time for 5 nights in a row without getting up for water, food, or tattling. They all picked eating out at Red Robin. Even though I know it's going to be $60+ just for the food without appetizers, or drinks my dh and I decided to let that be their treat because we actually didn't think we have to take them. Boy were we wrong! It took them 2 months to get to 5 nights in a row but guess where we are eating on Friday night? That's right, Red Robin! They are so excited about their reward, but I am more excited that they are finally on a schedule! It's also nice that they sleep in until 9-9:30.
Our kids just seemed to naturally gravitate toward their bedroom when they got tired and it was a reasonable time, same time every night depending on their age.
I think it all depends on what works for your family. there is no right time or wrong time. It's up to each family. we go to bed almost every night a different time, depends on what is going on and if we are tired or not.
My 7 year old is usually tucked in around 9:30. The 9 year old is tucked in at the same time but has a hard time getting to sleep some nights and will often still be awake at 11pm. My 11 year old is a night owl. She tends to get to sleep at midnight or after. My kids have never required a lot of sleep. Even as toddlers, I got 8 hours tops. It must be hereditary as my hubby is the same way. I'm lucky if I can get 8-9 hours out of them now and my son is up by 6 or 6:30. If I put him to bed before his normal bedtime, he wakes up that amount earlier. Since I don't like him up at 4:30 am, I cannot put him to bed any earlier
We only have two kids left at home and they are 16 and 11. During the summer we don't set a bedtime but the younger one is usually in bed by 11. She will stay up later once in a while. Our 16 year old is a night person. When Freddy got up this morning to get ready for work at 4:30 she was still up. He sent her to bed and she was up again by 11:30. They know they can sleep late and until school starts back this is the way they like it. I do send them to bed earlier on Sat. night because I can't stand for them to look or act sleepy at church. My older kids say we never let them stay up so late. I guess I mellowed with age.
My 2 yo goes to bed at 7-7:30, depending on how long it takes us to move in that direction. The rest of them get their baths after she does, and then they go to their bed. So that puts my 4, 6, and 8 yo in bed between 7:30-8. We let them read until somewhere around 10 or sometimes 11 if they are being really good. My 8 yo is a night owl; one night when she was 5 and we were doing this, I forgot to tell her to go to bed and she was still up reading when I went to bed at 12:30! My 6 yo tends to fall asleep first, and my 4 yo - it depends on his daddy, honestly. But I'm glad to see someone who puts their 11 yo down so "early"; people always raise their eyes at us. And I hate summer. My boys are early risers and wake up with teh sun.
