Are UK parents obsessed with getting their kids to bed early?

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

Am I the only one that thinks UK parents are obsessed with getting their kids to bed early? I see posts of 7pm/7.30pm, some as early as 6pm.

I work full time and don’t get home until 6.30pm. We don’t eat until 7pm. So generally 9pm is bedtime. Plus it means that if we do go out at weekends our kids are used to going to bed a bit later.

DS is three and a half, goes to bed at 7-7.30 and wakes up around the same time. Any later and he gets overtired and very grumpy and can’t focus.
we eat together at 5.30pm.
im sure as he gets older that will gradually get later but I don’t get the judgement to be honest. As parents you just do what works for your family, why does it matter what other people are doing?

On Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays (wfh day), Fridays (wfh day) and Wednesdays I eat dinner with DD at 5.30ish. On my two office days I get home about 5.45- 6pm so she eats with her grandparents who look after her after nursery.

We start the bedtime routine at 7 and she falls asleep between 7.30 and 8, giving us a couple of hours of child free downtime which is great. She usually wakes 6-6.30 but in this heat she wakes at 5.30 a lot which has been tough. We have to get up really early for work though so having her up later at night wouldn’t work, I go to bed between 9.30 and 10pm.

She’s only one though and still has a nap as well, I’m sure it will all change.

This is because they try to spend the least time with kids as possible. They want them to eat earlier and go to bed early to have “adult time” at dinner and after.
I know families whose nanny put them in bed before they come back to work so they don’t bother them.
in south European cultures parents enjoy having dinner with their kids, even when they are 2-3 yo, so dinner time is later, then they bath them read books etc and it is way more relaxed.

No it isn't.

It's because some children need 12 hours of sleep and usually have an early start the next day. Mine sleeps 7-7 and needs to be at nursery by 8, it would be selfish to keep him up any longer.

And the award for the judgment comment goes to....

The competition is fairly fierce to be fair.

This is generalising rubbish. I eat with my DS every night, we play a game and have story time before bed. We water the plants in the garden when he gets in from nursery, watch a film together, play games or craft. Then he goes to bed at 7. So yes, clearly trying to spend as little time with my child as possible, oh superior child rearer.

That's not true, young children need lots of sleep. So a 7pm bed time is normal at a young age. And as they get older they need less sleep, and their bed times get later. It is nothing to do with not wanting to spend time with them.

most of my friends have their kids in bed for 6.30, whereas mine go to bed around 9. They all think my kids stay up too late but I see from this thread that this time works for plenty others, too!

I think we all have days where we want to spend as least time as possible with the kids! It is easier too in other cultures where lots of people are around to look after the kids and to put them to bed.

them You don’t work till 6-6.30 pm. It is a bit of generalisation and there are a lot of SAHM who chose and like spending time with kids, but nearly half of dual career British parents I know don’t see their kids at all in the evenings. I don’t know any Southern European working parents or heard of any who would do that. And as this three shows many have confirmed it.

Actually not, in south of Europe there are not loads of people around to put kids in bed! They just do it themselves!

Well everyone in the UK also puts their kids to bed.

Utter poppycock.

I bet this is why we have so many under aged pregnancies! Young ones being exposed way too early because they stay up so late and risk seeing things they cannot unsee.

umm... what?

Well why else do you think teen pregnancies happen? Drug use too. And gang culture. If it’s not a result of staying up past 7pm then I just don’t know what it could be.

Rubbish. They just appreciate how important sleep is for every single aspect of life.

😂😂😂

I didn't know teenage penises, knives, Rizla and Clippers only worked outside school hours.

Is it a failrly “new” thing?

i was talking to my mum about this the other day.

Even as young as two (and my brothers!) i was going to the stables after mum finished work to ride my pony etc, we wouldn't even be at the stables until 5:30pm. Dinner around 7:30pm and bed 8:30/9pm.

Then back up at 6:30am for morning stables. Every day. This has been my life forever even through school, through my exams and through my career climb. I certainly had no detrimental affects from not getting the amount of sleep claimed to be needed these days.

i also never napped. Mum hated this! But i also have never napped as an adult.
I function fully and without issue on 5-6 hours sleep a night, i guess because i’m conditioned for that.

This is clearly the key to making people more productive: if we all had ponies from the age of two we’d all have to get up early to ride them and then we’d be conditioned to only need a few hours of sleep a night…

Most kids stop watching CBeebies at about 4, it's aimed at preschoolers. As for teen pregnancy what on earth are you on about?

To answer the OP mine go to bed at about 9 on weekdays, at weekends a lot later but they sleep in. We moved to the UK from a Mediterranean country when they were small, it's definitely cultural.

Well why else do you think teen pregnancies happen? Drug use too. And gang culture. If it’s not a result of staying up past 7pm then I just don’t know what it could be.

I think you need to go to bed ASAP. World is such a scary place and you might get pregnant.

Do you and your children spend all day every day watching TV? You seem very familiar with the schedule.

C'mon Math my youngest is 17 and I could still tell you which shows they watch not Peppa funking pig I don't think they had a huge amount of TV, in fact I tried hard to stick to the recommended 2 hours a day if I recall.

It depends on the age of the kids and what works for your family. Quite frankly you need to do what is best for you and yours and not worry about what others do.

Mine are 5, 7 and nearly two. They are all in bed between 7.30-8pm. I go to check on them and 5 minutes later they will all be sleeping so it is the right time for them. They are up at 7.30am for school, 7am if they have to walk to school. My youngest will sleep till 9am if she is not woken by her siblings or when I have to wake her to take her on the school run. When I work I don't get home till 6-6.30pm but my dh has cooked and fed them by then so they don't have a late bedtime by my standards at least.

I can understand if you are a single parent or both work full time that things may well be different.