Bedtime routine for 7yo girl. Aibu to ask you to share yours?

[Rachtoteach]

Right. Am at breaking point and want my evenings back. Please share your routine so I can figure out where I'm going wrong.....

[Boomba]

bath at 7pm, read a story in bed with a drink....then spend the next 3 hours playing/fighting with/annoying little sister/getting out of bed for wee/another drink/to do homework that has to be in TOMORROW!/find school book/compalin too hot/too cold/too scared/want light on/want light off/ get all pencils out and create realms and realms of pictures/put all toys in middle of room/fall asleep about 10pm

Hope that helps

[gordyslovesheep]

bath - limited TV downstairs with a drink - teeth brushed, bed - reading for 1 hr then lights out

[Chocotrekkie]

I send mine to bed at 7.30. Lights out at 8 - she has to do teeth and get into pjs on in this time and then she can read for a bit. She comes up and downstairs a few times but I just tell her to go back to bed.

Shower in the morning - bath/shower winds her up at night and I don't need to dry her hair

[formicadinosaur]

Tea 5
Get ready for bed/shower/teeth/books/school clothes out
Bed 7pm
Looks at books on own.
Sleep 7.30

[SaucyJack]

My six and eight year old DDs have a bath around 7pm, followed by cuddles/stories in their jimjams and then I tuck them in bed for 8pm ish. They then spend the next two hours screeching, running back and forth to the toilet, arguing, bouncing on the bed and coming downbstairs to tell tales on each other before crying themselves to sleep around half ten ish.

HTH.

[mummytowillow]

I'll share mine but she's only 6
Shower 6.30 (not every night), story 6.50, cuddle and she's allowed to read/play with something in bed.

She's usually asleep by 7.15 latest 7.30

[freddiefrog]

Ours has gone to pot with the nice weather and nearing the end of term but usually

7pm - shower
Then down for a couple of biscuits and some milk
7:30 - bed
8pm - lights out.

[SaucyJack]

Boomba

[OneToThree]

Mine is ds not dd.

Story with me or dh 8.15 - 8.30.
Reads in bed on his own until 9pm, then lights off.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Dd is 6 but it was pretty similar when DS was 7.

Tea around 5
Upstairs for bath around 6.20
Teeth
Book bed by 7

She will read to herself and sometimes complain that she is hungry or her tummy hurts. We do our best to ignore her till she falls asleep

She has had a few later nights recently due to sports for her and DS and I expect bedtime will be later in the hols, but its always basically the same. No coming downstairs after the bath then books and bed.

[babyhmummy01]

We have a complex on as its dsd so routine is different when she is with us. At home it all starts st 9pm and if I say she has been texting me st gone 11 on a school night ....

Here, its pj's on at 730, settle in her room and lights out by 8...

To give some perspective, she is falling asleep and ribbing her eyes from about 630

[McNewPants2013]

my routine is out of the window atm

7pm bathed and ready for bed a quick story or dvd if its the weekend. there is no such thing as quiet time as DS is always hyper.

[Rachtoteach]

Lol! Thanks for making me laugh! Boomba, yep you've described it exactly.

I'm going to read these, take on tips and tackle this head on!

So far tonight, after an hour and a half of too hot/bored/thirsty/scared of monsters/need something from my brothers room :
Can I sleep on the floor?
Yes - you can sleep on the bloody roof as long as you sleep

[Boomba]

Ah saucyjack we have the same parenting book!...tis an excellent routine, very easy to stick to

[Boomba]

rach mine is still stamping about upstairs. Sounds like she is rearranging the furniture. she probably is

[CharlotteBronteSaurus]

dd1 is only 6, but we do the following:
bath 6pm
back downstairs in PJs at 6.30 and reads to herself with a cup of milk, or has a go on the ipod/tablet
dd2 goes to bed at 7, so after that we do school reading, and then a chapter of whatever I'm reading to her.
bed about 7.30-7.45
lights off by 8pm. some nights it's earlier if she's knackered.

[sunnyshine]

Tea at 5
Play till 6.39
Bath/shower
In bed by 7.30
Lights out by 8-8.15

[Fraxinus]

Called in from playing out 8 pm.

Sometimes bath, or homework, music practise for half an hour. Cream on (eczema) and gets story if in bed before 9. I wish she was in bed at 8.30, but she already gets called in before all her friends, some quite a bit younger, it seems a bit mean to pull her in more than 30 mins before everyone else.

I will endeavour to make it earlier in the winter when that is not an excuse.

[orangeandemons]

My 7 year old dd is the same.

Up/down/up/down ad infinitum. Endless requests for food as she's starving apparently.../sings/bounces on bed etc etc

Ds would fall fast alep at 7.30 every single night. She is often banging around until 10.00

[PatriciaHolm]

Are you sending her to bed too early?

I have DS (7 and 3 months) and DD (8 and 10 months) and they have a bath around 7.45, quiet play then story, then read in bed until about 8.30. DS then goes to sleep quite quickly though DD is often awake gone 9 (she's awake now). Both get up about 7.45 quite happily.

[Maryann1975]

All dcs in bath around 6, pjs on, play, stories, mess around upstairs until about 7-7.30, depending on how tired they are, what else is going on. They can then read for a bit, no specified lights out time, but older dcs are always asleep by 8. 2 year old messes around for longer, trying to keep everyone awake, but all is quiet by about 8.45.
I keep thinking maybe I should make bedtime later, but I'm generally exhausted by 7 and I'm not sure it does them any harm to read by themselves?

[Me23]

Dd is 8 and shares a bedroom with 2 yo brother he goes to bed at 7 both of them have bath from 6pm so from 7pm dd is in lounge can read/ use computer/ draw/ do homework have a drink sometimes a snack till 7:50 then downstairs wash teeth/toilet. Then straight to bed no Noise allowed in bedroom as ds asleep. She doesn't give us any bother but she knows getting up messing about is not acceptable.

[Artijoke]

My DD doesn't need much sleep but I need my evenings so I have always been very strict about not coming downstairs or calling me up after bedtime. If she does come down I am very abrupt in dealing with her so she won't want to come down again. Any hint of messing around and she knows she will loose a privilege (e.g ice cream parlour visit on a Saturday).

Having said that I do know she can't fall asleep before at least 9pm, she tries but never succeeds, so I allow her to have her light on to read until 9pm and if she plays quietly in bed that is fine.

So our routine is:
6pm dinner
6.30pm upstairs with younger siblings for bath and quiet story all together in our bed
7pm you get sibling put to bed, 7 year old allowed to go downstairs in PJs
7-7.30 homework
7.30-8 quiet play downstairs (or in garden)
8pm up to bed, no noise allowed as she shares her room, reading light on
9pm reading light off