Bedtime Poll (age 8) - Take 2

[PollyannaMom]

Ok, I think I have it this time. The poll should follow.

The question is: What is your 8-year-old's "school-year" bedtime?

DS has been staying up later this summer, and I will probably have to reign it in a little for school due an early bus time. I'm looking to find out what an average bedtime for 8 years old (3rd grade) is.

P.S. - Please answer for the school year in the poll, but feel free to compare school-year vs. summer in posts!

 

[PHXscuba]

My kids have mandatory reading time most every night, and we've found that reading before bedtime is the simplest way to be sure it gets done and a good wind-down from the day.

Our routine has been to gather for evening prayers about 7:30 and then everyone does their cleanup, pajamas, bedtime routine, etc. at their own pace. That means the girls start their reading a little before 8 and then read for their allotted 20-30 minutes (with a timer to help).

For perspective, the girls (now 2nd and 5th grade) get up at 7 to catch the bus a little after 8 a.m.

This summer I haven't really let them stay up any later (unless we are out or a special occasion), but they've slept in a lot when we haven't had stuff to go do first thing in the morning.

My kids start school in a week ... I am not looking forward to hauling everyone, including me, out of bed every morning.

PHXscuba

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

My kids have to get up at 6:15-6:30 (depends on the kid) to get ready for school and catch the bus so they are all in bed by 8pm, if it's so much as 15 minutes later they are impossible to wake up in the morning.

 

[delmar411]

8pm to bed then 30mins of required reading and lights out at 8:30 is what we do during the school year.

YDD starts K this year and her normal bedtime is 9pm and she's woken up by the boys anywhere from 7am-9am. She has to be at the bus stop by 8:15am though so I'm thinking her bedtime will need to be pushed back starting this week.

They go back to school next week so this week is our practice week for getting and and getting moving. ODD will need to be at the bus stop about 7am I believe so that should be all sorts of fun getting her up in time.

 

[C.Ann]

DGD will be 11 soon, but if I remember correctly, at 8 yrs. old she had to be in bed by 8, she and her dad would read until 8:30, and then it was lights out..

I'm thinking when my kids were little it was around the same time for the 8 yr. old. - with the 11 and 12 yr. olds going to bed at 9 and reading till 9:30..

 

[bigbabyblues]

I said 8:30; I aim for 8:00, but a lot of nights we just don't make it. If he gives me a hard time in the mornings, I'll make sure he's in bed by 8:00, if not earlier. I like the idea of having him read for 30 minutes before going to sleep, but he loves to read, and that would backfire on me! He'd lay in there and read until 2:00 in the morning if I'd let him.

I'm hoping this year will be better. From about February on this year, I was having to work later, until 6:00 or 6:30, and that made it really hard. I'll be working only until 4:30 at the latest this year, so things should be easier.

 

[ireland_nicole]

we have to be out the door at 7am for school, so it's bedtime at 7:30, read until 8, then lights out and up at 6:15.

 

[stsomewhere]

My DD-8 going into 3rd grade. Her bedtime will be around 9pm.
We leave the house at 7:15am. If i put her to bed earlier, she will just lay there awake.

 

[KristiMc]

We go up to bed at 8:00 and lights are usually off by 8:30.

 

[rt2dz]

Both DS8 and DS5 have to go to bed between 8-8:30 PM. I aim for 8. They need to get up at 6:15 to be ready to leave at a little prior to 7 AM.

We don't read before bed. I have a lot of teacher friends who complain that when they do DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read), they have kids that start to doze off because it is associated with bedtime. I have my kiddos read prior to dinner (we eat a little later since DH does the cooking), then they clean up their messes, pick out the next days clothes, bathe/shower, brush teeth, and off to bed.

 

[princessmom29]

I voted for 8:30. We get up at 5 and leave the house by 6 during the school year, and my DD5 goes to bed at 8. It will probably advance to 8:30 within the next year or so, and it is a little later on thursday nights as we dance untill 7:45 so that night is between 8:30 and 9:00.

 

[poohguys]

DS8 going in to 3rd grade this year goes to bed at 9 pm. We try to get up by 8:30 and have lights out at 9, but that doesn't always work. We don't get home usually until about 5:30, so we like to see him for a few hours before bed. He will be getting up about 7:30 and bus will come about 8:45.

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

we started around 830 then he was able to watch tx with the sleep times set until 9. worked pretty well.

 

[taylor5]

In bed by 9pm, DS is usually asleep within 5 mins. & is always up by 7 am without an alarm clock. We have done this since he was little & now it is second nature to him. Even on weekends or holidays or sleepovers, most of the time he is still asleep shortly after 9. Has never made it to see the ball drop on New Years, even though every year he vows he is going to.

 

[skip323]

dd's have always been in bed by 8pm. In order to really make that happen we have to be starting on bedtime at 7pm - showers, straightening up and reading time. They have to be up at 6am and out the door at 6:30am (dh and I work in education and have to be at work by 7am). This year dd10 has been pushing for at least an 8:30 bedtime. She really does just get in bed and then toss and turn for a LONG time. I recently read that physically, that is what kids bodies do as they head into the tween years...they simply cannot fall asleep that early....they would if I had them running around Magic Kingdom each evening but, alas, it can't be done!

At any rate, we are probably going to try the 8:30 bedtime this year for her. dd8 is going to have to do 8am still, I think. DH may be going to an alternative school which starts at 1pm and goes til 8pm. If that happens then they can both stay up and get up later...yeah!

 

[monorailsilver]

My dd will be going into 3rd grade too but she needs her sleep.

I voted before 8.

She needs her sleep. If she doesn't get it, she is a crab. There were nights last year that I put her to bed (and my other 2) for 7 & she pretty much fell asleep with in minutes.

I need to start working on the going to bed earlier routine since we start school on Sept 1st & all 3 kids have been staying up until 9 on some nights.

 

[monorailsilver]

Oh & I want to add that the bus comes at about 7:40 am. School starts at about 8:25 (?) & ends at 3.

 

[deedeetoo]

I have a DS going into third grade this year. He will probably have a bed time of 9:30. His bus in the morning comes at about 8:25.

I wish he would go to bed earlier but he just doesn't seem to need the sleep. He has always needed less sleep than normal for his age. He gave up taking naps when he was only two.

Right now he is going to cub scout camp which has an 8:00 bus. Most nights he doesn't fall asleep until about 11:00 and this is after a full day of camp followed by a baseball game on about half the days (his team is playing in a tournament and has 2 to 3 games per week). I do make him go in his room at 9:30 but he never falls asleep then.

My dd11 usually goes to bed before my ds8 and is asleep right after her head hits the pillow.

 

[tinkermom23]

My DS will be entering 4th grade but we will do the same as last year since it worked so well....
At 7:30 we get all the kids to have a quick bedtime snack and a drink, then they brush, potty.... at 8:00 all kids must be in bed with a book. (Dad or I read to little ones while DS9 reads to himself.
DS9 can have until 8:30, then lights out. He usually wakes up about 7-7:30 and we don't need to be out of the house until about 8. We do rarely use alarm clocks in our house so he needs to wake up on his own If he seems tired or not waking on his own, we'll move his bedtime tpo a bit earlier to where we feel he is waking up rested.
I voted for 8:30.

 

[Stephres]

When my almost 10 year old was 8 he went to bed at 8:30pm and reads a little in bed until he was sleepy. He gets up at 7:00am. Now he goes to bed at 9:00pm and still reads until he is sleepy.

My 7 year old goes to bed at 8:00pm and we tell her she can't get out of bed until 7:00am! She is a little rooster, no matter how late she goes to bed. Makes for a fun summer.