My kids are 6 and 8. They go to bed (lights out) at 7pm and 8.30-45pm, and yes, they are awake at 6am but I like that, because if they sleep later I have to wake them at 6.30 so we can get to school when it starts, which is 8am. (I live in China. But it was similar times when I lived in the USA)
The 6 year old isn't always sleepy at 7pm but potters happily and quietly in his room, plays a bit with lego, reads a book or two, and goes to sleep when tired.
The 8 year old has SEN and needs someone in the room as he falls asleep. It's a bugger and it's annoying, especially when I have work to do. I often sit there with his meditation CD playing and work (lesson planning, marking etc) on my laptop.
Oh, and we're all home between 3.30 and 4pm depending on clubs/meetings, so we see each other a healthy amount in the evenings, eat together, play a boardgame or some nintendo together, etc.
When I let them stay up later (which I do over summer or Christmas holidays) they tend to sleep as late as 7am sometimes, but rarely later. I'm not much for lying in myself - 8am is about as late as I can sleep unless I'm ill or hungover. But I do like to be asleep by 10pm!
So .. yeah. I think for their peers they go to bed early, but it works for us. They also both stopped napping REALLY early (like, around 2) and are both highly active... so I think that prompted the earlier bedtimes. They conked themselves out after non-stop days, and so slept soundly and early.
My friend's son napped for 2 hours in the afternoon until he was nearly 5, and they often had him up pretty late in the evening. Horses for courses, and all that.