Bedtime for middle school kids?

[232271]

My daughter is in 6th grade and currently goes to bed at 830 pm.
However, her friends go to bed at 9 or later.

I am not sure if I should adjust her time as she is 11 1/2 now or just wait till she is 12. The problem is my 9 year old cannot stay up later or he is grumpy for school. (my daughter can be this way too.)
They both get up about 645 am, so they get about 10 hours of sleep.

Any advice or what you do for your kids this age?

thanks!

 

[Pin Wizard]

DS is in 6th grade. I try to get him there at 9:00. Sometimes he'll stretch it to 9:15 or 9:30. He's up at 5:45. He does fine with it. On a rare evening, he'll fall asleep around 8:30.

My sisters and I all had different bedtimes. They were 5 and 7 years older than me. But even they had different times when they were younger.

 

[pw2pp]

I think the 11 and-a-half year old could stay up til 9:00 or 9:30. It is okay for the older one to have a later bedtime than the younger one.
But, after you try it for awhile, if it is too hard to wake her up in the morning then you could go back to the earlier time.

 

[DVC-Don]

We currently have two middle schoolers here. They both go to bed school nights at 9 PM. They get up at 6:20 AM.

 

[aprilgail2]

It really goes by how much sleep each kid needs...my 5 year old goes to bed around 10pm every night and is up at 630 and goes all day long....if I was to put her to sleep at 8pm she wakes me up around 430 and then we are both up and I am cranky! Go with how much time your child needs to sleep.....

 

[sweet angel]

DS 8th grade - 10 pm bedtime; up for school between 6:30-6:45.

 

[Jilliebean]

DD11 goes to bed at 10 and is up around 7:15. She seems to do well on this 9+ hours. Last year I made her get into bed at 9 - 9:30 but she goofed off and did anything to avoid going to sleep. This year I let her put off bed time until 10 but she's doing great about getting to bed on time and going to sleep quickly. She sets her own alarm clock and gets up without prompting.

 

[Tuffcookie]

DS, age 13, bedtime of 10 PM. He gets up at 6:45 AM.

TC

 

[Jillpie]

Two middle schoolers here. I'm right with you, 8:30 pm bedtime. But reality? They GO and change up at 8:30, then brushes teeth, gets the drink of water...you know the story. By the time they finish reading a little bit, its close to 9:00sh. My 11 yr. old probably falls asleep about 9:30. Up at 7:00 am and could use more sleep, he hates to wake up in the morning!!

 

[CajunDixie]

I don't think this is something you can decide by age. It all depends on the child. As long as the child can handle getting up on time for school and doesn't have a problem at school staying alert why shouldn't they be allowed to stay up later? I can't imagine making a child sleep 10 hours if they didn't need to sleep that long to stay alert throughout the day. DS (14) knows when he's had enough and goes to bed whenever he wants. I just picked him up at his friends before the SuperBowl was over because he called and said he was ready to come home and relax and wind down before going to bed.

 

[eeyore0062]

My DD is in 5th grade and goes to bed between 9 and 9:30. We just can't get all of the homework done along with eating, bathing and any extracurricular (only has them one a week) activities, to allow her to go to bed any sooner. I think I went to bed around 9:30 when I was that age, too.

 

[Otto's Doll]

DS is 11.5 and goes to bed at 9:30. He gets up at 6:00 most mornings with out any problems. Occasionally he will sleep till 6:30. Weekends he goes to bed around 10, if he tries to stay up later he usually will fall asleep before I shut the light for him. (DD 9 goes to bed at 9:00, gets up at 7:30.)

 

[Serena]

I try to get my dd in bed at 10. It doesn't always work. She got home from her dad's tonight and was talking my ear off. I finally threatened her behind and she laughed and ran into the shower.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

DD-13 usually goes to bed around 10. Sometimes it's earlier and sometimes it's later. She's up at 6am.

 

[DVC Jen]

My 6th grade DD goes to bed at 10pm and gets up around 7:00am.

My 10th grade DD also has to go to bed at 10.. but she has to be up at 5:30.

I think it all depends on the individual child. As long as the child is getting 8-9 hours of sleep and night and is ok during the day I wouldn't worry. I also think it is OK for them to have different bedtimes. The younger may complain that it isn't fair.. but since when is life fair?

 

[Karel]

My kids are 14, 12 and 11. On a school night, their bedtime is 9:00. This is flexible though, based on homework and activities. Currently, my boys have 8:15 basketball games so we are not home some nights from that till at least 9:30.

I refuse to have morning battles and I will make them go to bed early if they can't get up in the morning. My oldest is really good about getting up. My youngest, though, is a sleepy head. I don't look forward to the middle school years and having to get her out the door earlier.

 

[debabe]

My DS is in 8th grade and he goes to his room around 10ish, reads until 10:30 then falls right to sleep. He gets up at 7am. He's easy to get up and ready to go so I think he's getting enough sleep (and I've never heard any complaints from school). On the weekend, he loves to stay up late (midnight) and sleeps until 9am, so he's still getting his 9 hours, which must be about right for him.

 

[Sleepy]

My 7th grader has had 9:30 bedtime since last year, but he has bad ADHD, so even if in bed at 9:30, it is midnight before relaxed enough to go to sleep.

 

[kaylajr]

my 6th grade 11 year old has to get up at 5:45 and is NOT a morning person
she needs alot of sleep so she heads for bed at 8:30 normally asleep within 15-20 minutes
her 9 year old sis is the same way

i will not adjust bedtime until mornings can be pleasent with less sleep

 

[aprilgail2]

my 6th grade 11 year old has to get up at 5:45 and is NOT a morning person
she needs alot of sleep so she heads for bed at 8:30 normally asleep within 15-20 minutes
her 9 year old sis is the same way

i will not adjust bedtime until mornings can be pleasent with less sleep

I can't imagin trying to get Kasey into bed so early...more power to you LOL....actually there are nights where there are functions for her a= school like family math night, family gym night, art shows, family dances, etc that don't even start until 7 so they are not over until after 9 on school nights so there is no way we could do an 830 bedtime...plus she has library reading group for 4 and 5 year olds at the library that doesn't start until 7 and ends at 830.