so the sleep books say...(or why are my kids awake at 11:40 pm?!!)

[LynnS6]

to get your children to go to sleep earlier, you should start by moving wake up time earlier, right?

OK, so during the summer, my kids were going to bed at 10 and waking up between 8 (ds) and 10 (dd), except when they had to be somewhere earlier (rare).

So, this week, I've moved dd's wake up time back to 9 am. Ds has been getting up at his regular time of 8 am. Bedtime routine started at 8:30. It was done by 9:15. They should be tired enough to sleep, right ?

It's 11:40 pm. So why is my 9 year old throwing a frisbee through the kitchen and my 6 year old doing dot-to-dots in the living room?!!!

School starts next week. How in the world am I going to get these kids to be able to get up at 7 am when they don't go to sleep?

Help!!!!!

[lifeguard]

Some children have an amazing ability to stay up having fun even when tired.

What happens when you finish bedtime, close the door & say ok, goodnight, you MUST stay in your bed?

[mommy2maya]

I agree- my kids will stay up late late late if they keep coming out of their rooms and stimulating themselves. I would institute a rule that they must stay in their rooms, lights off, laying quietly.

Keep them busy as you can, especially late afternoon/after dinner, that will help tire them out! We started school this week, and we have been doing bike rides and playground after dinner til 745, then some reading, snack, shower, in bed by 9. I plan to see how the 9pm bed time works and go from there. They get up between 7-730, so around 10hrs of sleep for my 7 & 9yos. Sleep needs are 10-12hrs typically at this age, so they are getting minimum, which seems to work for them. Once dark comes earlier, they will get more sleep, as bed time starts earlier.

[LynnS6]

They actually both were in their beds from 9:15 or so until 11:15 when I let them get up. they were reading first and then ds was trying to fall asleep.

The rule in our house is that when you say "I can't sleep" you have to stay in bed for 20 minutes (I set the timer) and be quiet and still. After that 20 minutes, you can get up for 20 minutes and then you need to go back to bed and stay there.

They did go to bed at midnight. Dd got up at 9. Waaaaay too little sleep.

It could be they didn't get enough exercise yesterday. It was rainy for the first day in a while. Tonight ds has ice skating, then soccer. That should tire him out. Dd just has ice skating, but I'll let chase her around the park while ds plays soccer.

[LadyCatherine185]

At that age I remember being able to stay up really late and then wake up early and only be a little tired.. but if I tried it too many nights in a row I was a wreck. I would just set a "bedtime" for the school-year, say 9:00 pm, and tell them that they don't have to sleep, but they need to stay in their room and be quiet from that point on.. and that "lights out" is at 10:00 and they need to be in bed by then..

ETA: I would also wake them up around 7-8

[BeanyMama]

My 7yo could easily stay up that late if he had the chance and I'm nearly immobile by 9:30 He's up between 6:30 and 7am so he's in bed at 8:30p. If he's not sleepy, he can read all he wants as long as he's in bed. Bedtime is sanity here for everyone, we keep it going through the summer too for the most part.