18 year old son will not go to bed before 12 when school next day

[Animal13]

I had an argument with my son last night as he stays up as long as he wants because he says he can as he is 18. He has to go to school 7.30 am and he is behind with his school work. I can not reason with him.
Am I being unreasonable or should I not nag him to go to bed. He does not disturb my sleep and he is usually up past midnight each night.

Show him a pair of Marigolds: "here's you future, with other people's shit on them. I'll leave it with you".
As for bedtime, adults don't have bedtimes.

When I was 18 I was staying out at boys houses most nights (not always different boys ) leave him to it OP. In 5 or 6 years he will want to go to bed at 8 every night like other working adults anyway!

If he’s falling behind with his schoolwork it’s not because he’s staying up till 12. It’s a completely separate issue that does need addressing, but bedtimes don’t come into it.

It's up to him.

There might be consequences to his late nights but they are his to deal with, not yours.

Were you strict with very very early bedtimes when he was young? (Say 13?) My mum was then when I hit 16-18 pushed back massively. Stayed up/out all hours.

It's funny though if I didn't feel I had that point to prove that I was an adult and she couldn't "put me to bed" i'd have probably been in bed at 10 most nights

No bed time past about 14 here. You had to be able to get up on time and get work done.

I don’t go to bed until after midnight every night either and I get up at 6.30am because of my children. I’m not seeing a problem with that.

When I was an actual teenager I would do the same only I might go to bed at 2am, get up at 8am, leg it to school and then sleep in until 2pm on a random weekend day. When I was actually 18 I had my own home and two jobs to support it.

he’s EIGHTEEN. Most 18 year olds don’t live at home

You are being unreasonable.

As soon as was 13 I didn't have a bedtime. Oddly my mum had been very strict with bedtimes until I was 9 then relaxed slightly and by 13 I chose my own bedtimes. I would then frequently chose to stay awake until 2am then have to get up and leg it to school.

If I go to sleep now at midnight I know I have to be up by 6am to be able to start work on time.