Babies out late?

[DealForTheKids]

I'll start this by saying I'm 25 and don't have kids, so I honestly don't have any preconceptions/prejudices about child behaviour.

I'm currently living in London and I went out for dinner with a friend tonight. I'm on the night bus home - for reference, it's 20 to 1am. There are 4 kids who are definitely under 5 on the downstairs floor of the bus. None are playing up - they're all adorable, actually! - but AIBU for thinking that it's not normal to have an under 5 out past 9pm??

Mine have never really been sleepers - my eldest used to stay awake till around eleven till he was three and my youngest (if she naps) around ten to half ten (she is 2). A friend has children who sleep earlier but are bouncing awake by midnight.

I think that a lot of folks hear of the "routine" promoted by baby books and assume it's the norm. It's never been for us though (though at least now I don't have to wake up every 40 minutes, which is nice! ;-) ).

Hearing this story I kinda wish we live on a good bus route so we could take them out like this once in a while! Sounds fun! :-D

Depends on the child I reckon! Mine is 22 months and asks to go to bed around 6.45-7pm. Usually in bed and sleeping by 7pm. She's up between 6am-7am and has about an hours nap in the day. Recently on holiday she was up later as dinner service didn't start until 7.30pm. We managed to keep her up for the mini disco until about 9pm one night but generally she was well ready for bed by 8.30pm. Woke up between 6am-7am most days and had longer naps of 2 hours. She is very energetic in the day and just likes her bed time routine I think, it's how she is. All the other hotel guests were Italian and Spanish and their kids of all ages were still in the bar area at 10pm-11pm. Mainly crying though , I did notice. I hope DD will be up later as she gets older but on the other hand, it's bloody lovely having adult time in the evening. Kids are all different. I know plenty of toddlers who don't go to bed until after 9pm. Guess they need less sleep? Mine thrives on her bed routine, as long as they get enough good quality sleep then I guess it doesn't matter when they go to bed.

I've in London & see this often. I usually assume the parents have been at work (jobs with unsociable hours, eg cleaning) and are only just going home. Nothing wrong with that, people working non 9-5 jobs need child care too.