at what age do they put themselves to bed? and how long does your bed-time routine take?

[thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat]

drives me nuts. constant haranguing. utter failure of 6 and 4 years old to comprehend the basic formula - mummy says x, children do x. when oh when do they just slip off upstairs, brush their teeth and expect only a quick night night kiss?

my 8 and 10 year olds essentially put themselves to bed - 8 yr old sometimes wants a kiss in bed. they sometimes put the 4 year old to bed too. dd10 can run the bath supervise teeth, read the story etc. Now if I could just find someone to breastfeed the baby i'd be set

7 for ds1. He's been reading by himself since 6.

11yo, 9yo, 8yo sometimes 6yo go off to bed about 8pm ,brush their teeth and get into bed. I will have been giving them the bedtime countdown from around 7:30. Sometimes settle down straight away but more often still awake at 9pm (reading or playing).

6yo usually comes back downstairs and plays for a while with 3yo. They settle down between 9 and 10. Carry them up to bed.

13yo and 15yo go to bed between 9:30 and 10pm.
16yo and 19yo.....well whenever they are ready.

DD1 6 goes to bed at 8pm dd2 (4) and ds1 (3) go to bed at 7.30pm. The 4 & 3 yr olds have the whole routine, The 6 year old does teeth etc by herself and sometimes into bed and sometimes I go up and tuck her in. She then reads till 8.30 but only lying down actually reading, not playing. She would like to be tucked in everynight, but sometimes I'm lazy .

3,6,8,9,11,13,15,16,19 wow, you've been keeping busy Juuule! I'm impressed , don't see many families with 9 kids these days.

My 10, 8 and 6 yos can put themselves to bed, but as the 6 yo often goes to bed at the same time as the 3 yo who can't put himself to bed, she usually still has someone with her.

DD1 is 8 and either dh or I (usually dh as I am generally putting 15mth dd2 to bed) go up to the bathroom with her and chat to her while she has a bath/cleans teeth etc. I then (still!) read her a bedtime story ( a few pages of a "chapter" book), she writes her diary, dh goes up and reads it with her (good excuse to chat to her about her day) and then she reads until about 8.30-9.00pm.

Am wondering how much longer she will want me to read to her at bedtime. She is a fantastic reader herself (reading age of about 13-14 I believe) but still loves her bedtime "story".

juuule - i'll stop moaning right now - hats off to you!!!!

my 6yo often does. she started putting herself to bed at about 5.5. but it does depend on her mood.

my 2yo will sometimes, she's unusually amenable.

4yo won't but am working on it.

Juule - what a woman!

i still need tucking in at night - can't sleep unless dh pops in as i go to bed.
my mum still used to come & check on me when i was 19, mainly from a 'get to bed!' pov, but also because she liked a cuddle!

i wasn't so keen at the time.