Bedtime for under 10's?

[OnYourLeft4]

I've always put my children to bed at 7pm they are 7 and 9 now and have told me that their friends stay up until 8pm.

What times do your children go to bed? I haven't got any Mum friends so thought I would jump on here and see if I should allow them to stay up a bit later.

9 year old goes at 730 on a school night with 30-40 minutes of reading/read to time. Has to be up at 630. Goes at 8 in the holidays.

Dd8 goes to bed at 8:30. She reads before that but lights go then.ds10 goes to bed at 9:00 and reads half an hour.

Neither of my children have ever gone to bed before 8pm. My 6 year old is rarely asleep before 8.30.

Dc 3 is definitely up later than what dc1 or 2 were at this age 🙈
She's 9 and is up until 9/9.30 during holidays and reads after that. Usually 8.30/9 on schools nights.

DD 4 just gone to bed at 8 as it's the holidays normally 7.30. DS 8 9 school nights 8.30. Haven't been 7pm since about 2.

My 2, DD 12 and DS 9, until about 12m ago both went up between 7.30/8. Then things changed and then DD went to high school. Now DS about 8.30-9 and DD 9.30-10. DS plays football 5-6 days a week so gets v tired towards weekend.

If they go to sleep easily at 7pm and don’t wake up too early it’s fine. Most kids actually don’t get enough sleep. Probably wouldn’t hurt to let them read until 7.30 though.

Mine are 9 1/2 and went to bed at nine, still holidays here. Term time it's usually 8 lights at 845. They are up by 7 regardless of what time they go to bed.

My 5 year old goes to bed at 7.30 and usually goes straight to sleep. 8 year old is between 8-9, I aim for 8.30 on school nights, she went at 9.15 tonight as holidays still.

On a related note, those of you with 8/9 year olds who go to bed around 8.30/9pm

What do they do in that time after dinner and before bed?

I mean do they watch what you are watching on tv? We try and sit down by about 8pm. Or are they in other rooms/watching screens etc.

My oldest could have a later bedtime I think now but I selfishly like the evenings to myself.

What happens as they get older especially if you just have one tv/tv watching room?

@normaj mine had TVs in their rooms or could watch on a tablet (at that age the TVs weren’t connected to anything except a DVD player, so I wasn’t worried what they were watching). Or they would read or play quietly.

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate all the information and advice.

They do fall asleep very quickly and get up at 6:30-7:30am. They have always been good sleepers but I don't want them to feel left out or different at school because of their early bedtime.

I'll let them stay up half an hour later and see how that goes then they can start going to bed later.

@Nomaj

On a related note, those of you with 8/9 year olds who go to bed around 8.30/9pm

What do they do in that time after dinner and before bed?

I mean do they watch what you are watching on tv? We try and sit down by about 8pm. Or are they in other rooms/watching screens etc.

My oldest could have a later bedtime I think now but I selfishly like the evenings to myself.

What happens as they get older especially if you just have one tv/tv watching room?

My 9 year old does her music practice after dinner... but this can sometimes start at 7pm depending on siblings fitting it in too, what time we got home and had eaten etc... so, she never makes it upstairs to get ready for bed before 8/8.30... and getting ready for bed is a slow process for her 😐. We also read together for a good 30/40 mins and then she usually reads, so doesn't fall asleep before 9.30 😬. This is probably an hour later at the weekend / holidays, but she does also have good lie-ins now like her older siblings 😁

Oh and after the music practice she will probably watch tv for a bit before heading up.