to let my children stay up until they fall asleep on their own?

[PavlovtheCat]

Aged just 6 and 2.5. They are currently playing dressing up/make beleive and have just been to India and now are off to Paris. DS has their baby in the pushchair and DD is the mum, with the hat and scarf, and is reading the 'map' as they want to see some sights. They are loving their adventure.

If I put them to bed, it will be tears and crying and it will take ages. If I wait til they ask for bed, it will probably be around the same time.

DD has school tomorrow but it is the last day. DS has no nursery and I am not at work. DH is working for the millionth night in a row tonight and again at 8am tomorrow and we have to all get up and take him to work.

I always put them to bed and it is always a battle. I am tired from tramadol taken for my back problem, have been on the go all day and am quite enjoying them playing with no tv or films or noise.

AIBU to keep them up so late and have intention of putting them to bed until they either start getting grumpy or fall asleep themselves?

ok, i just said '5 more minutes' but i have just been told i am the queen and they have come to celebrate my birthday, so i have said 10 mins

yanbu-sounds lovely....routines r made to be broken

mammaJ oh is it! It has not floored me like codeine did. That made me feel very spaced, and very very crabby, and just well yuck, I felt heavily groggy with the max doses I was on. But tramadol seems ok, makes me feel more light and fluffy but with it. Which is probably why the kids are still up . I resisted it for a long time as I have heard lots of negative stories about how it affects people.

Their adventures are so much fun. They are at the age where they are playing so well now. They fight well too, but mostly they adore each other and DS is actively playing and properly involved in their roleplay. It is fabulous.

thepigonthewall I am sure you are right. In fact, I know you are right.

Your family sounds delightful.

Give them a suitcase and tell them it's a rocketship, then they can go to Mars.

Pavlov - tomorrows another day. Enjoy the moment(s)!

YANBU - I used to be so strict about bedtimes but now I am a lot more relaxed. Of course we broke up a couple of weeks ago so can have lazier mornings which helps a lot.

I do tend to encourage mine to play upstairs though after 8pm so I can enjoy some peace/time to myself.

I would leave them to play in fact I often do

I think they are going to be horrible in the morning, but if you are enjoying them, do what you want, it's only one day.

YANBU. I was a terrible sleeper as a child. My poor parents were at their wits end trying to do the bedtime thing. So from about 2.5 yrs I had to be in my room in pjs by 9pm, but could read/play quietly for as long as I wanted without disturbing them. I remember it well and it worked a treat for us all. When I was about 6 mum used to kindly remind me about school in the morning at around 10pm and I'd switch off the light. I've been an insomniac all my life! Luckily, so far ds sleeps like his father not me! :)

Oh, I can (just about) take codeine, but not tramadol!! Make me sick, sick, sick!! Shhh, need lactulose alongside it though

YANBU.

My dd is 10 and ds is 7. They normally, during term time, are in bed before 8pm. Now summer is here (I'm in NI, has been summer holidays for about 3 weeks now!) I let them stay up as much as they want!

DD lies on a while in the morning, dh, however, does not!

Enjoy being queen (for 10 minutes!)

nagoo less concerned about DD as I will only see her for 2 hours then someone else will look after her and she is always fabulously behaved at school then DH has a rare evening with them so we will do beach and bed! Ds on the other hand, I might take him for a drive after the school run

they are both now in bed. I continued their make beleive and told DS a story about a little boy called Boy Pavlov who was walking along a train track and a train puffed up beside him thomas ! he said! and we talked about where he will visit with thomas and then he was gone to the land of zzzzz. DD said as I attempted the same 'can i just go to sleep please mummy?' .

no tears, no fusses and they had such a lovely time. And so did I actually. Most nights this would not be what I would want, but then they would not be calm and playing well - by 7:30pm DS tends to start hitting her with his metal thomas train.

and tomorrow? DHs turn to put them to bed. So, if they play up. I am out of here

It won't do them any harm, it is the end of term after all. My 7yo dd is still up drawing masterpieces (no school tomorrow, hooray!)

I like my younger two to be in bed between 7-7.30 pm but I'm not really strict in the sense that if we are out or have family/friends round I let them stay up a bit later. If they do stay up longer they usually end up wanting to go to be not much later than usual tbh.
Im worrying about my niece though, who doesn't have a bed time and can regularly stay up way past midnight and has been known to be still awake with her parents until 5 in the morning! She is 4.

I must admit though I LOVE my adult time to watch tv, talk to dh and ds1 (12) surf the net etc.

I think it's important to have a bedtime for school especially in my nieces case.

talk to DH? what is that? ! we grab some time in the morning, and about 10 mins as we swap in the afternoon. on a thursday we sometimes get more. Our conversations are very much 'hey babe did you have....can you put your socks on please ...good night at .... 'no you can't have chocolate for breakfast' ...work? 'yes it was...'mummy has asked you to put your socks on'...ok, bit busy, you never guess...'what now DD? yes tell me all about your school trip'. . Tomorrow, we will won't know what to say to each other that is not based around cbeebies . we have had a bit more time this week as I have been off work sick but this is rare and I have been goofed

5am?! that is insane. Even on the very latest latest nights when we are camping or on a yurt holiday toasting marshmallow and snuggled on a chair in jimjams drinking hotchocolate, even that is 11pm, one night only and only if she is not playing up due to tiredness. I could not imagine how a 4yr would be up that long, you would think they would just crash wouldn't you?

So long as t's not a school night or you have an appointment to get to it's fine, they sound like they are having a lovely time.
Dd has a hard time falling asleep. With it being summer I let her stay up later, and remind her later that it's time to stop playing. I'm the one who's up with the larks, 5.50 this morning and I was wide awake I guess I'm staying on school schedule even if no one else does. We go back to school in two weeks.

you know your kids best and how they will cope.

i couldn't do this with mine sadly though as they would be exhausted the next day.

they were good as gold this morning DS was up at 6:45am, I had their breakfast ready on the table for 7am, coffee on for DH and me, DD got up at 7am, sleepy and cuddly. They had their brekky while DH and I drank our coffee both brushed teeth and got dressed pronto, with no fusses or wingeing, out of the house by 7:40am to get DH to work for 8am. To school on time, with a banana each in the car after dropping daddy off in case they were still hungry but they did not want it.

DS is watching Thomas, calm but tired, and we are about to head out to get the car cleaned so he will no doubt go to sleep when I get him out for it to be hoovered

Awwwww - that's your reward for enjoying your children last night!

Glad it was all lovely and you didn't pay handsomely for it. Thanks for the update.

Fingers crossed the back and the night shifts improve soon.