To put my DC to bed at 6pm?

[MightTinge]

My 6yo DC does football after school on Mondays and swimming after school on fridays.

When he is tired he kicks off at bedtime (which is currently 6.30pm on the aforementioned days and 6.45pm on other days), he'll make ridiculous requests "I want a carrot" (we have no carrots) for example. He'll scream and cry and tantrum for up to an hour.

He is a very good boy. He only tantrums when tired, he's always needed an early bedtime, always needed lots of sleep.

DH and I are torn between keeping the activities but putting him to bed at 6pm on those days, or stopping the activities until after the winter because perhaps he is too young to handle it?

Obviously up to you, but if it were me I'd be getting him to stay in bed longer in the mornings and learning to be able to cope with slightly later bedtimes, or he will start missing out on all the normal activities his friends do or that he wants to do as his bodyclock is out of kilter with the majority of 6 / 7 / 8 yr olds, who do have swimming lessons / football / Beavers then Cubs / etc.,etc or even just going to a friend's for tea and a play after school, in the early evenings, and not at 6 in the morning.

I am beyond jealous... My dd is not quite 2,, rarely sleeps before 7.45 and is invariably awake by 6. How do you people manage getting your children to sleep early and wake late?

Quesdilla it depends on the child. Unfortunately our youngest isnt the same. He either wakes at 7am and goes to bed at 9pm or I have to set my alarm for 5am to wake him to he goes to bed at 7pm.

Sorry I'm not quite in your situation but your post has made me feel better about my DD's sleeping. My DD is two (next month) and only started sleeping through recently. We;re also in that awkward phase where I think she's stopped needing a day-time nap. She had a nap yesterday and didn't go to sleep until 9.30...no nap today and she decided she wanted to go to bed around 6.15. I was worried this was too early, but it seems others have the same. We had a nightmare with sleeping for the first 18 months so I try and take her lead as much as I can to save my own sanity. I know it seems a silly thing to worry about but she's my first so I have nothing to compare it to.

Your ds needs about 12 hours and is getting that if you go to bed at 6 - so fine if you are ok with the mornings.
However, in the longer term, this does not tie in with friends etc, so may cause problems.
For adults, you can control your sleep by keeping rigidly to sleep patterns (to 5 mins both sleeping and waking) for a few weeks and then moving by 10 mins a time at both ends. Eventually you can move your sleep and waking times by a few hours if necessary.
No idea if it works for children - sorry

At 6 years old, football IS his "social life" and seeing his friends. He doesn't need to go to clubs that are on later if for him particularly it's tiring. I don't think there's anything wrong with putting him to bed at 6 if it means he gets to enjoy football, sleeps well all night, and prevents a tantrum.

If he likes the football & swimming, still has time for a family dinner, then put him to bed earlier if it suits him/you. It doesn't seem to make him wake earlier, so no disruption to the rest of the family.