bedtimes for 5yr old and 8 yr old

[redheadmum]

Wondering how other people manage bedtimes for different aged children? My DD is 8, very much a night owl and general live wire, so an 8 o clock bedtime is great for her (though she would stay up later! gets too tired if we let her though)

My DS is totally different, he needs his sleep and is more of a lark. I think he needs to get to bed earlier.

They share a bedroom too.

I'm just wondering what other people do in this situation? My Mum used to put me and my brother to bed at the same time, but we had different 'lights out'. So my brother could read for half an hour, and me for 15 mins (something like this). We had separate bedrooms though.

Would appreciate any tips!!

When mine were 6 1/2 and 8, they both went to bed at the same time - about 7, allowed to read for a bit before lights out and they were in separate rooms.

I would say that as your age-gap is bigger, could your DS go to bed first (and asleep?!) and then DD go up say half an hour later?

Will your DS get up and play quietly and leave your DD to sleep?

No that I think is the problem, she is chatting to him and keeping him awake. I was thinking of getting her to read quietly in a different room for half an hour and then into bed when hopefully DS is asleep..I was just wondering if anyone had a different system............?

That sounds like a good plan!

I think that if you persist with whatever plan works the best, it will soon become routine.

Could they have separate bedrooms?

they could...but they don't want to be in different rooms at the moment. We tried it and they both missed each other and got very upset (aah)

so this seems like a plan. Actually I've just run it by them and was surprised that they both thought it was a good idea. I expected the older one to agree, but thought my youngest would protest. They never cease to amaze me....lets see what happens tonight though