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What is bedtime for your kids?

  • 7 or earlier

    Votes: 50 13.8%
  • 7:30

    Votes: 91 25.1%
  • 8

    Votes: 82 22.7%
  • 8:30

    Votes: 67 18.5%
  • 9

    Votes: 51 14.1%
  • 9:30

    Votes: 24 6.6%
  • 10

    Votes: 18 5.0%
  • 10:30 or later

    Votes: 22 6.1%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • It's Complicated

    Votes: 28 7.7%

What time do you put your kids to bed?

9K views 48 replies 45 participants last post by  mumm 
#1 ·
What time do your kids go to bed, at least generally, on a weeknight during the school year?

My kids (aged 5 and nearly 12) go to bed around 8:30. The older one reads in bed for a bit before going to sleep though.

The time is not strict and is much more relaxed on weekends or when school is not in session. Still, I find my kids do better if they have a lot of sleep. I've read that most kids don't get enough sleep, so I try to at least generally keep to that bedtime.

It's set so you can add different times if different kids have different bedtimes.
 
#2 ·
My oldest is almost 9, and all our kids go to bed at 6:30. They all wake up early, so finally we just started putting them to bed early to compensate. They always fall right to sleep, and are much happier all day now. Sometimes, we keep one (or both) of the oldest up another half hour to an hour to do some big kid fun.
 
#3 ·
We have a wide range because of all the ages. The 2.5 year old goes down around 7pm. The 4.5 year old around 7:30. The 7 year old gets tucked in then as well, but often reads until 8pm because she just isn't tired anymore earlier. My oldest is 11 and usually goes to bed around 9, sometimes 9:30pm on really bad homework nights. We don't change the routine on weekend nights or summer otherwise it is just too difficult to bounce back and forth between times.
 
#5 ·
dd was in school till the beginning of 6th grade.

we have been hsing her since november.

her sleep suffered all through school. she has a hard time falling asleep. plus she liked having her own free time to do what she wanted. that was important to her.

now that she is hsed she has gone back to her night owl status 11 to midnight and gets up 12 or 13 hours later. that is SHOCKING to me. she has never slept that long ever before except when sick or jet lag.
 
#6 ·
I would be so happy if we could do things that way. My body really wants sleep from 11 to 10. No one around here cares. They are always bouncing around my room by 7. I know it might not be popular, but I know how hard it is to sleep at the "right" times. It's like changing time zones constantly. I think it is great you allow an unconvential sleep pattern, and I'm sure she feels much better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meemee View Post

dd was in school till the beginning of 6th grade.

we have been hsing her since november.

her sleep suffered all through school. she has a hard time falling asleep. plus she liked having her own free time to do what she wanted. that was important to her.

now that she is hsed she has gone back to her night owl status 11 to midnight and gets up 12 or 13 hours later. that is SHOCKING to me. she has never slept that long ever before except when sick or jet lag.
 
#7 ·
me too. i have an unconventional sleep pattern too. i go to bed btw 12 and 1 and i wake up at 4. do meditation or journaling or drawing or a walk and then go back to sleep for a few more hours.

during summer dd went back to her night owl state. she was such a different child. of course some nights she'd be awake the whole night reading. she was so relaxed. listened better. not so frustration or having meltdowns. i see the same with hsing.

i do face a lot of criticism for letting her sleep so late.
 
#13 ·
My kids are 1, 4, and 7, and we do 7:30, usually very strict about it. The oldest needs to be up by 6:40 am for school, and the other two get up then, too. We don't change on weekends or during school breaks because I think consistancy is really important. (They still get up pretty early but the older two know how to amuse themselves and stay out of trouble until my husband or I get up.) It works really well for everyone in our family.
 
#14 ·
DD is 20 months and usually is in bed and asleep by 8pm. We start our bedtime routine at 7:00 (quiet activities like reading and coloring, then bath, sing our song, prayers and bed). She has always had a bedtime routine and she looks forward to her "baths" as she says.
 
#15 ·
I voted 7:30. My DS1 is 6 and that is his bedtime. But sometimes it's earlier (7) and other times later (8). He is always up 6-6:15 irregardless of bedtime. The 3 yr old goes down about 8:45-9 if he has had a nap, and 7-7:30 if not (and we limit nap to 1 hr). Also up around 6:15.
 
#16 ·
In the winter my children go to bed at 7, with dinner around 5, baths on certain nights starting about 5:45, Rosary and night prayers at 6:30, and bed at 7. In the summer after the time change they go to bed at 8 after the same routine, almost: dinner at 5, baths at 6, Rosary at 7:30, bed at 8. I wish I had more time with them for things at night in the winter too, but my husband insists on this schedule. Almost all of my children read in bed, my oldest the longest.
 
#18 ·
My baby went to sleep around 12 or 1 am from birth until 18 months or so -- but she also slept in until noon -- heavenly for a late sleeper like me.

Because we are going to have to put her in a day care or prek fairly soon we have been moving up her bedtime slowly and she now sleeps from 9 until 8:30-- she is now two years old . Hopefully that will be early enough because 1. really I don't want to wake up any earlier if I don't have to and 2. this allows her to spend significant time with my husband when he comes home around 6. But depending on the care we find we may have to shift to an earlier bed time and rising schedule.
 
#19 ·
I almost changed my answer to "it's complicated" because it kinda is. When my oldest was little (<4), he didn't have any "bed time". He would often be up until 1 am. He was born a night owl, and doesn't get up early in the morning, either. Since that's the way I am, it's actually worked out pretty well. We did have to start enforcing some kind of bed time when I was working full-time and he was going to day-care every day, but it kept getting pushed back and back. We started by trying 8L00, then 8:30, then 9:30, and we ended up at 10:30 for a while. We eventually got it to 9:00, where it has mostly remained. But, honestly, it isn't exactly a hard-and-fast rule. If there's something going on, the kids stay up if they want. It helps that we homeschool & I no longer work full-time. As long as they're in bed by about 10:30, I call it a win.
 
#20 ·
My boys are 6 and 8 years old and my goal is to start the bed-time process at 8pm on school nights. It takes a while to get the book read, teeth brushes, go to the bathroom, say prayers, etc. so its usually around 8:45 when they are actually down for the night. On the weekend or vacations, I let them stay up a little later.
 
#26 ·
We homeschool, so we can be flexible, but usually we stick with a routine of 8ish bedtime for everyone but the baby, who is 3 months & doesn't have a routine yet. Hubby does prayers with them, then the younger ones go right to sleep. The older ones (16, 14, 12) shower & read or listen to music and talk until 10ish, then lights out. I have 2 who would be night owls if left to their own devises...they take after their dad, who could stay up all night, and easily gets by on 4 hours of sleep a night!
 
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