Should I have let my 9 year old stay up to watch the bake off final?

[Cheeryminimum]

Yes - YABU
No - YANBU

She’s 9, she’s quite grumpy without sleep, we have to get up at 6.45 for school. Usual bedtime is 8pm (lights out) - bake off finished at 9.30. We usually watch it a day later on catch up.
I’m just going to bed and I can see that one of her friends has stayed up to watch it and now I feel like a meanie!

I probably would tbh: its one day a week and one late night won't kill her.

It depends how much sleep she needs though. My DD is like me and needs relatively little: some kids get really ratty if they don't get enough.

Lights out at 8 seems quite early to me too. But you know your child.
My 8 & 9 stay up to watch it every week. Usually lights off 8.45. We'll miss it now it's done.

I would because it's pretty well impossible to avoid spoilers for the finals of things plus it's nice to chat with friends the next day while it's fresh.

I wouldn't feel bad - you had reasons for making the choice. I didn't let my 8yo stay up for it - I was wondering about it but her 6yo sister would have wanted to as well. DD1 normally goes to bed at 9 though so not a huge leap! She gets up between 6 and 7am - she wakes naturally so I think she gets enough sleep.

I may regret it if she finds out the winner tomorrow before we watch it in the evening!

I’m pretty strict about bedtimes too but I would have allowed this otherwise they’ll find out at school tomorrow and it’ll be ruined.

I would have let her stay up until 9.30pm but it's done now so forget it. She'll get over it. I'm surprised that children are that interested in Bake Off, quite impressed actually!

@lesquigh me too! My 10 yo has lights out at 9.15 although sometimes he'll tell me the next day that he was reading till later. He's never too tired for school. Mostly he wakes up by himself at around 7am.

I guess it was your call if you didn’t want to deal with some grumpiness in the morning though I suppose

I guess it depends what's worse - grumpiness from tiredness or grumpiness from not being allowed to stay up and knowing you'll hear spoilers at school . I'd have allowed her to stay up - 9.15's not that late, and bedtime could've been extra early tomorrow. Watching finals on catch up is never the same when you know the result.

Tricky one and absolutely depends on the child. Remembering back a bit, my eldest might just have been ok with that timing at that age but we'd have struggled to get her up in the morning. Her bedtime was probably 8 pm age 9, 8:30 from 10. The younger one - no way. Age 9 he was still on a bedtime of 7:30 or as soon as possible afterwards (was often singing services that finished by 7, we collected, snack in the car, bath and bed as soon as we got home!). If he had a late night he'd still wake up early the following morning and would finally catch up on desperately needed sleep randomly a few days later. So unavoidable late nights were very selective indeed! We wouldn't have let him stay up till 9, let alone past, on a school night age 11.

9.30 isn't really all that late for a 9yo just as a one off. I let mine stay up, it's nice to give a bit of wiggle room on bedtime as a treat sometimes.

Lights out at 8pm for a 9 year old seems quite early

Depends on the 9 year old, surely.
Eldest was an absolute 'mare at that age for days if went any later than 8 here.
Whereas youngest at that age was absolutely fine way past that.
OP knows her child, I presume so in that case I've voted YANBU

@theliverpoolone

I guess it was your call if you didn’t want to deal with some grumpiness in the morning though I suppose

I guess it depends what's worse - grumpiness from tiredness or grumpiness from not being allowed to stay up and knowing you'll hear spoilers at school . I'd have allowed her to stay up - 9.15's not that late, and bedtime could've been extra early tomorrow. Watching finals on catch up is never the same when you know the result.

Oh I do agree with you, but that was the op’s way of thinking. I’m starting to think I’m a bit abnormal with my kids now. I have a 4, 9 & 12 year old. They all go to bed at 9pm, stories til half 9 and then lights out. We get up at 6.15 am as they all go to different schools so morning logistics are a nightmare. No problems with tiredness with any of them though 🤷🏼‍♀️

Mine (7 & 9) stayed up, but they're both fine on a bit of a later night.

You're obviously not a meanie because you feel bad even though you have good reasons for your decision.

I would have voted YANBU because she can watch it on 4od. I was going to do that because I was busy when it aired. And then some prick on twitter spoiled the anticipation for me by unexpectedly tweeting a picture of the winner that was impossible to miss. So I voted YABU because avoiding spoilers is very, very difficult. Sorry.

Crikey there are a lot of parents who send their children to bed extremely early!

Lights out for a 9 yo at 8pm seems extreme to me, but I'm in Ireland and we definitely have later bedtimes here.

Ah I let my 8 year old stay up. She loves the GBBO and it's something we do together. Sorry but YABU

I would have let her. If you've been watching it with her, it would have been nice to let her watch the final as it aired. It'll be spoilt tomorrow by those that we're allowed to stay up & the crap if having to say she wasn't allowed to stay up to watch it.

Life's a learning curve!

You can still correct this...let her have a sick day to watch it tomorrow!

I sent my 12 year olds to bed and wouldn't let them watch I'm a Celeb!

OK it wasn't a final and they are older. Would very likely have been equally mean when they were 9 though - sleep is important......

We did let our 9 year old twins stay up. Thought it would mean they went to sleep quickly because it was late. Did not work.

I let my six year old stay up!

As a one off I'd let them stay up. I assume her friends will tell her who won before tomorrow night if they were allowed to stay up.

I had to avoid looking on my phone and I was only waiting for it on plus 1.

Could she watch it in the morning of she's up so early?

vanillandhoney Same here, only for us it was "The Professionals" As a kid I had a massive crush on Lewis Collins.

I even named my budgie Bodie after him!

Showing my age now.

Sorry to derail OP but in answer to your question, yes I would have let her stay up but it's too late now so not worth beating yourself up about it.

@vanillandhoney see above post. Forgot to highlight sorry!

I would have.

Winner was all over my social media the minute it was announced. I was watching a recording so had to put my phone aside. Maybe ask her if she wants to see the round final judgement before school?