kids bed time

[aanderson5]

DS(3) is a late to bed, late to rise kid. He always has been. He usually goes to bed around 10pm but has been known to go later or a little earlier (9-9:30)if he doesn't nap at all. But he sleeps till at least 8am. DH doesn't get home from work until 6:30-7:30pm and if DS went to bed early they might not see each other during the week. His naps are getting shorter and his is skipping days so I'm not sure how long they will continue. I can't imagine that he will be going to bed before 9:30 even when he drops his nap.

DS wakes on his own and is pretty bright eyed and bushy tailed all day. He gets about the same amount of sleep as other kids it is just shifted a bit. This schedule works better for our family. I am usually up till after 1am and am glad to sleep till 8am.

 

[scottish mum]

My kids go to bed early, dd5 and ds8 are in bed by 7pm and ds12 is in bed by 9. They need there sleep and the 2 youngest need at least 12 hours. I also go to bed early, 10pm, so for me and dh to get some alone time they need to be in bed early.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

Early. It can be anywhere between 7:30/8 they want 8 I push for 7:30
hey mom is tired too.
Sometimes with sports going on it may be 8:30.

 

[mjkacmom]

I try to get dd6. ds6. and dd8 to bed by 8. Dd8 was going to bed at 8:30 last year, but we did a room switch, and she's rooming with dd6. Ds11 goes to bed at 9, and dd13 whenever she wants (she's on the third floor, and puts herself to bed early during the week, no later than 9 - she loves her sleep). They need to be up by 7:30, and sometimes I have to wake them.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My kids are 8 and 5 and both go to bed at 8:30. Then they play in their rooms for a while before they go to sleep - so probably about 9:00 would be the actual sleep time. As long as they can get up in the am without attitude, I really don't care what time they go to sleep. But starting at 8:30, that's my time.

 

[Mathfailure]

I have always put my children down with a bedtime.

In the summer they think it is wonderful when they get to stay up a half hour later.

K-3 was 8
3-6 was 8:30
7-9 was 9:00
HS was in your room at 10:00

I realize that this is early for some of my children's friends, and it sucks in late Spring when it is light out (when younger) but if I did not hold to this they became over tired and that wasn't good for anyone.

Also, you can't MAKE someone sleep, so my expectation has always been in your room and quiet. Since they do not have a tv or any video games in thier rooms, reading and music would put them out.

I try not to judge those that put their children to bed later, but some of my friends had relaxed bedtimes - and those children would get wilder as they got tired. Wore me out.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Ds (age 4) goes to bed at 8pm. He is still in full day pre-k and they have a nap period, though. Next year when he's in full day kindergarten with no nap time we will likely move it earlier.

My sister's kids go to bed between 7-7:30p. They are in K and 1st grade.

 

[puffkin]

DS3 goes to bed around 8 pm. In some ways it is nice because then I get ME time after he is in bed....but other times I hate it because I only get to see him for a little bit at night since I work Full Time and til we get home, eat dinner, get cleaned up, etc it is time for bed! He needs to be up around 6:30 and this seems like the right amount of sleep he needs.

On weekends we do usually keep him up later, but he still is up around 7 am or so. Very rarely does he sleep much later than that. I would never put him to bed earlier than 8 though or else I would never get to see him!!!

 

[tzolkin]

I've had the opposite reaction occasionally from parents of other young kids. My kids go to bed at 8:00-- always have regardless of their age. This summer I was letting them stay up until 8:45, but that was because the room they were in has 9 windows and it was still light out with kids playing across the street. They would go to bed at 8, but wouldn't actually fall asleep until it was dark.

Some people have acted like I was a neglectful parent because I let my kids stay up "so late" because their pre-schoolers go to bed at 6:30 or 7:00. The funny thing is my kids actually get more sleep. Those parents work and the kids are up by 5:00 or 5:30. My kids wouldn't wake up until 9:00.

Now that my two older ones are in school, they get up at 7:30 but they still seem good with 11.5 hours of sleep.

 

[RMulieri]

My 5 yr old goes to bed between 7pm and 8pm...She is up early no matter what

 

[tricia]

Our kids (now 9 & 12) went to bed by 8 p.m. until DD was 11. Now they both go to bed at 9 p.m. May sound a little unfair that son got to move up with DD, but she has always needed more sleep, he seems to do find with less. And if he IS tired, he will just announce "I'm going to bed" and head upstairs or fall asleep on the couch. He's always been more laid back than big sis.
I think we are a rare breed, though. Most of the parents I know would agree with your friend and think these bedtimes are early. I have a friend whose 3yo is routinely up until 10 p.m. I also know a lot of folks who feel 4 is old enough to give up naps, but my kids took naps until they went to kindergarten at 5.5 and 6.

I have the same situation. My DS12 needs far more sleep than DS8. My mother, in her infinite wisdom, started with DS12 this past summer that since he is older he should be allowed a slightly later bedtime (9:00 instead of 8:30 like his younger brother). We tried that out for about 2 weeks at the beg. of September and had to go back to 8:30 bedtimes for both.

They are both allowed to read, or do Sudoku in bed until 9:00, but it is only the youngest that takes advantage of that, the oldest usually goes straight to sleep.

Actually, right now we have evolved to a couple of different times throughout the week. Sun., Mon., Wed. are all 8:30, Tues and Thurs are 9:00 (with no extra reading in bed) and Fri., Sat., are 9:30.

 

[GEM]

Bed time for our six year old kindergarten son is as follows on school nights.....in bed for story time at 7:30pm, lights out at 8:00pm. Occasionally we run just a little bit behind that on Wednesdays because he has gymnastics and that throws our schedule off some, but only by maybe 10 minutes or so. He gets up at 7am to leave for school at 7:45am.

On Friday and Saturday nights, school vacations, summer, etc. we don't worry about a set bed time. We just get him to bed whenever it feels like he's ready (or we're ready!). So, he does usually stay up later on those nights. When we're at Disney World, he's up late every night doing fireworks, etc. with no problem and he always makes it to the very end of the Halloween and Christmas parties!

I know some kids (and parents) need a strict "every night no matter what" bed time, but he's always been the kind of kid who does fine with a more flexible schedule.

 

[dfchelbay]

As a general rule these were the bedtimes we kept:

toddler - 1st grade 8 p.m.
1st grade - 6th grade 8:30-9:00 p.m., depending on how easy/or hard it is for them to get up in the morning.

6th or 7th grade - 9th grade, between 9:00 - 10:00 p.m.

High school - try for 10 p.m. on school nights (good luck with that).

 

[mupt02]

My kiddos (3 and 2) go to bed between 7 and 730. They often will read books or play with their stuffed animals for a little while, but they are in their rooms and ready for bed. Our next door neighbors kids who are 4 and 3 are up to 9 and 10 on a regular basis. My kids get up around the same time no matter what time I put them to bed, so I prefer to try to get them some more sleep. That's just my opinion though.

 

[mousebymarriage]

My DS8 goes to bed at 8:30pm and my DD13 goes to bed between 10-10:30pm. In the summer and on weekends bedtime is a little later.

My DD13 has a school dance on friday and it's over at 10:00 so she says to me last night, " mom, after the dance can you drop me and my friends off at the movies for the 11:20pm showing of New Moon"?. I told her I don't think it's gonna happen but nice try!

 

[katied]

DS goes to bed between 8 - 9 pm these days (age 2). He also naps 2 - 2.5hrs during the day, and doesn't wake up until 8 - 9 am. I know we'll have to work on moving his bedtime earlier over time, so once he does start school, he wakes up closer to 7:30, but for now, it works well for us. I also think his bedtime will naturally move earlier when he stops taking 2 - 2.5 hr naps during the day, so I'm not too concerned.

 

[bdiddy]

My husband would FREAK if I put the kids to bed at 7. His brother and wife do this and my DH has a hard time wrapping his brain around it. My DH doesn't get home until 5:30-6 most nights and he is a very involved, hands-on Dad and I think it would really depress him if he only had 1 hour every day with his kids. Our kids go upstairs at 8:30 and are asleep by 9. DH and I take turns with doing the bedtime routine which involves brushing teeth, books & songs.

I know different things work for different families though and sometimes it is hard to understand something different than the way you do it.

 

[waltskids]

DS, just turned 3, goes to bed between 7:00 and 7:30, and still naps during the day. He wakes between 8:00 and 8:30 each morning, unless we have to wake him.
DD, 5 months, goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes between 7-8 am.

 

[2bearsmom]

My boys are 4 and 8 and go to bed normally around the same time, 8:30 or 9:00. Last night my 4yr old asked me if he could go to bed, it was a little after 8:30! My 8yr old is totally into football and hockey like his dad so on Pittsburgh Penguin hockey nights he stays up to watch the games or we record the 10:30 games for him to watch after school, he usually stays up until 9:30 or 10 watching Monday night football though. I'm not too strict on bedtime, I try to have them in by 9 for the most part. Disney World however is another story! Although with my youngest he can't really make it past 10 on the EMH nights because he's so used to going to bed "early"!

 

[NotUrsula]

I normally get home at 7; at 8 we're sitting down to dinner.

I've got a 2 yo. She still naps at daycare on weekdays, but we try to get her to sleep by 10:30. There is no way on this earth that she would ever sleep for 11 hours straight unless she was drugged; seven hours is her norm with a 2 hour daytime nap. On weekends she does 8 hours at night without the nap.

Both of my kids take after me, they are not long-stretch sleepers unless they are ill. DS12 needs his sleep more than DD, and he is a VERY deep sleeper (as I am) but his internal clock is set at exactly 8 hours and always has been. Put him to bed earlier and he just pops up that much sooner. I remember trying the 8 pm bedtime thing when he was little, but it didn't work out for us, because having a toddler loose in the house at 4 am just wasn't safe. (We insisted that daycare stop letting him nap when he was 2; he was getting up in the night and getting into all kinds of trouble.) These days our rule is that he has to be in his room by 10. If he's not asleep by 11:30 I'll call lights out, but that very seldom happens.

The usual order in our house is that DH is the first one to fall asleep, followed by the kids and then me. (DH is a pumpkinesque morning person.)