Kids and Bed Times

[bzzymom]

I would love it if my kids 11 and 4 would go to bed at 8 or 8:30, but it is more like 9:30 or 10 when they get to sleep. 9pm is "quiet time" and DS reads and DD has books read to her.

 

[AngelBabyJana]

My kids are 15, 9, and 4. We are all night owls around here. They really don't have a set bed time - usually it is between 10pm to midnight. They all sleep in late, usually until 10am-11am. We homeschool so it is really no big deal. We tried getting on an early morning schedule, and everybody was always dragging around the house ..... we are not morning people. We usually don't hit the books until around noon, they just seem to concentrate more on their school work in the afternoon.

We are in a big homeschool group, so we have weekly field trips & park days that they go to. Plus they are all in sports (softball, cheerleading, t-ball) .... and they are all 3 in a bowling league ..... along with choir & Awanas in church. They have no problem getting up early on these days.

My sister is going with us to Disney in May (we are going with extended family as a Grand Gathering), and she is definitely a morning person. She wants our entire group to meet for breakfast each morning between 7am-8am ..... nothing like getting up early every morning on vacation The kids will probably be so excited that they won't even care though.

 

[livie1205]

during school my boys go to sleep at 8:30 but during the summer we let them stay up until they get tired or until midnight...but they can sleep in because they do not have to get up to go anywhere...my dd2 is a night owl and goes to bed when mommy and daddy do....with us of course.lol but we are old so we go to bed by 11....lol

 

[Disneygirl26]

My DD16 has no bed time, that being said she's usaually in the bed sleep by 9during the school year she's a morning person she's up no later than 6 or 7 even on the weekends. My DS10 bed time is 9 he takes his shower around 8:30 and is in the bed around 9 and asleep soon as his head hits the pillow...lol. In the summer they have no set bed times, but everyone is usually in the bed sleep by 11:00.

 

[Momvic5]

In our home, bedtime depends upon the day. Our children are older ~ 12, 9, and 7yrs old. I can honestly say, they are never in bed by 10pm in the summer. In fact, we love the summertime. We live in Texas so the evening hours are the best times to be outside. We live in a neighborhood where all the kids are still outside playing at 8-8:30pm. Someone in the neighborhood is usually still mowing and finishing yard work, and the children are enjoying the cooler part of the day. As soon as it gets dark, everyone goes in for the night.

By the time everyone is bathed and settled, it is usually about 10:30pm. Our bedtime is usually between 10:30pm and midnight in the summer. During the school year, bedtime is usually between 9:30 and 10:30pm. But even then with all the sports and practices that start up with the school year, bedtime at 9:30 can be very difficult to maintain.

 

[puddleduck]

During the school year the kids are usually in bed no later than 8:30. In the summer all bets are off. We are very lenient with bedtimes in the summer. That is because we don't have to be anywhere in the morning so I don't care if they sleep in. Oh- and it isn't just letting them stay up for no particular reason. The reason can be that a show is on that they want to watch, we have company over, we are all snuggling on the couch, we are watching bats, we are catching lightning bugs etc. Sometimes nobody feels like going to bed. I hated being forced to go to bed early as a kid. I would stay awake for over an hour every night in bed. I was not tired! I enjoy the summers with the kids so we just go with the flow. No crankpots here! If they are tired then they take naps. If not then they don't. Of course this is only the schedule for summer. When we have school it is early to bed. During the school year though they sleep right away because their days are so super busy.

That's how we do it. During the school year, bed by 8:30. My dh and I are both teachers, so one of us is always home in the summer, so no particular need to wake them up at 6 am during the summer, so I don't mind if they stay up later. Just a week or so ago (on a week night), we were sitting out with our neighbors and all our kids were having fun playing between our 2 yards. They played with the water hoses, caught bugs and rolled down the hill between our yards until about 10:30 that night and we all had a ball. None of us had anywhere we had to be the next morning, so it never occured to me that i should have stopped the impromptu fun, just to get my kids in bed by some special time. They slept in the next day and all was well.

Also, going with pp, we live in MS. The past several weeks, 98 degrees with 90% humidity is not at all uncommon. It doesn't start cooling down until 8pm, thats when we all get out as a family and enjoy the outside. It also doesn't get dark until almost 9, who can sleep when it is still light out?

 

[Cory's Gal]

My kiddos are night owls and they are young. DS is 3.5 and usually isn't in bed until 9:30 or 10:00pm. If he's tired or cranky he's in bed sooner and he still naps about 2 hours in the afternoon. He sleeps until about 8 the next morning so he usually is getting 10 hours at night plus 2 during the day. We are outside late and because I am a SAHM and he hasn't started school yet, we don't sweat it. DD is 3.5 months, eats a little rice and takes her bottle at 9:00/9:30pm and then sleeps till at least 8:00 and usually until 8:45 straight through. An 1.5 hour morning nap, a 2.5/3 hour afternoon nap and then a half hour snooze about 7pm. It works for us, the kids share a room so similar bedtimes and wake up times are usually the case though it never seems one wakes the other so they are used to eachother. Whatever works best for you and your kids is great!

 

[perkinsrose]

Babies & young kids have natural biorhythms that lend toward being "morning larks" vs. "night owls. While many parents for many reasons don't follow this pattern, biologically young kids circadian rhythms guide their early rising.

This article below (in ACROBAT) talks about the change biorhythms when kids hit adolescents--they physiologically become less able to fall asleep early--become more of "night owls".

Probably to allow for students to work afterschool, most high schools are working against these natural adolescent circadian rhythms and having the teens be at school sometimes by 7am sacrificing the better focus/attention that they have later in the day.

Def of "circadian": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm

Most school around here have elementaries that start later--sometimes 9am seems counterintuitve when young kids are on earlier biorhythms.


PDF] Sleep and AdolescentsFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Adolescents typically get significantly. less sleep than younger children, not. because they need less sleep but. because their schedule and biorhythms ...

www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/Sleep Disorders WEB.pdf


At 6 & 8, my kids' bedtimes typically around 8:30 year round. I rarely/to never have to wake them up in the morning. Both hover near 10 hours sleep obviously done with naps unless very sick. During the school year they wake up on their own without alarm or me to wake them with plenty of time to eat and get ready and during the summer--me currently a SAHM; they wake me up!

I've always had them early to bed & early to rise because of what i knew about child development but it also works for our family. If DH wasn't typcially a 9-5 person --if he was on different shift work, i imagine i'd reconsider to make possible more family time. I also like having an hour or more of quiet/adult time after kids are in bed--much more than i'd want morning or sleep in time; though i do feel like i constantly could use just alittle more sleep!

 

[Crazy4Disney72]

During the school year, DS 15 is in bed at 10:00. During the summer, unless we have something going on early the next day, I'm fine with him going to bed whenever, usually around midnight and then he sleeps until at least 10:00, sometimes more like 11-12:00.

During the school year, DS 11 and DD 8 are in bed between 8 and 8:30. DD will stay up an extra 15 minutes or so reading sometimes. During the summer, DS 11 is in a summer program for kids on the autism spectrum so he still needs to be up and out early, so he basically keeps the same bedtime year round. DD generally goes to bed around 9:00 in the summer, but sometimes as late as 10:00.

When they were little, preschool age and under, bedtime was generally 8:00 year round. We arranged our schedules to accomodate that (which of course didn't work as well with DD since we had a school age child by then) but if there was a party or something special going on, we would participate. Fortunately we were blessed with kids who, when tired, could sleep pretty much anywhere, so the horrible extreme crankiness from exhaustion was usually not a problem.

 

[nemomama]

Our 5 and 2 yo have the same bedtimes year-round:

7pm for the 5yo - no nap

8:30pm for the 2yo - usually takes a 2-3 hour nap

They are both early risers and wake by 6:30 every morning.

 

[AQW]

Both of my kids are early risers (6:00-6:30am) and always have been. They go to bed at 6:30pm in the winter (asleep by 7pm) and 7pm in the summer (asleep by 7:30pm).

My 6yo son is naturally inflexible about sleep - he wakes up by 6-6:30am EVERY day no matter what. If he's up late the night before, instead of sleeping in he usually wakes up EARLIER. He was up until almost 10pm the night of our cousin's wedding, and the next day he woke up at 5:10am. I think he has slept past 7am maybe 5-6 times in his life, and all but once he's been sick. If it's 7am and Dexter's not up, we reach for the thermometer.

My 3yo daughter is a bit more flexible - if she stays up late, she will generally sleep at least a little later the next day. It's the very, very rare day that she sleeps until 7:30am, though - usually she's up within 15 minutes of her brother.

 

[jcc0621]

My DS (5 in September) goes to bed around 9:00pm in the summer and 7:30- 8:00 during the school year. (I work and DH is a teacher). He gets up pretty much the same time every day 6:30 -7:00. When he was in PreSchool they took naps, but in the summer he hasn't been taking naps, and if he does they are not as long (45 to an hour as opposed to 2 -3 hours when in PreSchool).

This past Saturday Night he was up until 11:00pm. We had a movie night for all the kids in our back yard, so on special occassions (and Disney ) he will/can stay up later.

How do you get a child to get the 10-12 hours if they are naturally waking and falling asleep at times based on their internal clock? With the naps, mine is getting the 12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. What do I do when the naps begin to get shorter?

I aske my pediatrician this same question and she said, Children get the amount of sleep they need. There is no hard and fast rule regarding number of hours of sleep anyone should have, guidelines yes...but not rules. If Ds sleeps 9:00pm and awakes at 6:30 am without a nap, then that is the amount of sleep he needs. That's what she said, so that's what I go by

 

[perkinsrose]

My DS (5 in September) goes to bed around 9:00pm in the summer and 7:30- 8:00 during the school year. (I work and DH is a teacher). He gets up pretty much the same time every day 6:30 -7:00. When he was in PreSchool they took naps, but in the summer he hasn't been taking naps, and if he does they are not as long (45 to an hour as opposed to 2 -3 hours when in PreSchool).

This past Saturday Night he was up until 11:00pm. We had a movie night for all the kids in our back yard, so on special occassions (and Disney ) he will/can stay up later.



I aske my pediatrician this same question and she said, Children get the amount of sleep they need. There is no hard and fast rule regarding number of hours of sleep anyone should have, guidelines yes...but not rules. If Ds sleeps 9:00pm and awakes at 6:30 am without a nap, then that is the amount of sleep he needs. That's what she said, so that's what I go by

Not sure i agree with that.

If my kids are up late for family gathering or something, they typically wake at their normal getting up time anyway--and irritable the next day. I don't think they're getting sleep they need if they're cranky.

I've read articles/studies about what some people term the "terrible twos" possibly being due to consistently not getting enough sleep. Will try to find link and post it.

Also, if following "they get what sleep they need" idea, if you have to wake them up in the morning for school/day--they're not getting enough sleep.

If i start noticing kids are waking up later, i adjust their bedtime a bit earlier.

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

Mine are almost 5 and 3, and we give them their bath at about 7pm, and then it is story time and bed time after that...and most nights they are in bed by 8-8:15pm.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

My ds is 10, and is pushing for a 9 pm bedtime next year. He's been at 8:30 for the past few years.

During the summer he has day camp, so he can't sleep in. That said, this kid is up by 6:30 every day anyway. He goes to bed between 9-10 during the summer week, and 10:30 on weekends. During the school year his bedtime on the weekends is 10:30, too.

He hasn't napped since he was 1, but he has always conked out completely. If he's up really late, he might sleep until 7 or 7:30, but that's rare. He puts himself to bed when he's tired, which is a blessing! He has never fought us on bedtimes, but he does want to expand his options.

 

[MusiqChic99]

My son is 2 and he goes to sleep any where between 8 and 9. Most the time at 8:30 he starts saying "bed, bed" because he is ready to lay down.

This really wasn't a forced rule though. Once the sun starts to go down whether in winter or summer I slow things down a bit. Turn the tv down, turn lights off. He kinda just adapted to going to bed shortly after that.

 

[MusiqChic99]

Not sure i agree with that.

If my kids are up late for family gathering or something, they typically wake at their normal getting up time anyway--and irritable the next day. I don't think they're getting sleep they need if they're cranky.

I've read articles/studies about what some people term the "terrible twos" possibly being due to consistently not getting enough sleep. Will try to find link and post it.

Also, if following "they get what sleep they need" idea, if you have to wake them up in the morning for school/day--they're not getting enough sleep.

If i start noticing kids are waking up later, i adjust their bedtime a bit earlier.

I'd love to see the article on that. I know my son is more managable when he sleeps the full 10 hours and takes an hour or 2 nap during the day. In fact..knock on wood...I dont see the "tantrums" very often at all and if I do it's when he is tired and hasn't slept enough.

 

[3goofyboys]

My kids are 1 & 2 1/2 and they are both in bed, asleep by 7. If they are really tired, they might be in bed by 6:30. They are both early risers, so it's not uncommon for our whole family to be up and running by 6-6:30 in the morning. I've been known to be the first person through the door at Target in the morning because I've already been up for 2 hours and am ready to get my errands done.

That said, we do occasionally stay out a bit later, especially during the summer. If we do stay out late, they still get up at the same time and both are a real bear to deal with the next day.

I read recently that a huge percentage of behavioral problems are the result of sleep deprivation and I can believe it!

 

[rentayenta]

It totally depends on if it's summer or during the school year. During school my oldest DD10, goes to bed between 9:30-10 pm. She's an early riser and I never have a problem getting her up. DD9 and DS6 go to bed at 9pm. If they want a story then they have to be in bed, teeth brushed, water drank, gone potty by 8:30.


During the summer I let them play outside until 10 or 10:30. Our neighborhood is full of kids and they play capture the flag almost every night. We have a really fun neighborhood. This means they go to sleep about 11 pm, midnight for Gabby the oldest. I am a bad mom and allow them to totally sleep in during the summer. We start adjusting into a normal routine about 2 week before school starts, shaving a few minutes off of bedtime and waking them a bit earlier.

 

[Tink316]

My son is 8...and he's an early riser -- usually by 6 a.m. If he sleeps until 6:30 on the weekend, we're grateful!

Anyway, he goes to bed between 8 and 9 p.m. He knows when he's tired and will get his p.j's on...and ask to go to bed. Sometimes he's asleep by 7:30 p.m. because he's been up early and busy throughout the day.

We just don't know what will happen when we go to WDW in October. Could be very interesting.

T