I'm feeling ground down by 8 yo DD's maddening sleep patterns. She rarely goes to sleep before 10.30 at night; she's almost invariably still awake when DH and I look in before we turn in.
She doesn't and never has had a TV or screens in her room and I don't allow screen-time after 7pm on school nights. She just reads (or plays) but mainly reads, and reads, and reads. Occasionally when she was a bit younger I would turn her light out and go back later to find her reading the dark (though I think I've put the kibosh on that).
I wouldn't care, but she is just awful in the mornings; lying in bed like a log at 8am or much later groaning and snarling "Go away! Get out of my room!" (she is not this rude the rest of the time btw). I've never known her wake up naturally much before 8am - not even on Xmas morning. In fact the only time she does is when staying with my friend who has 2 children with body clocks arranged to start their day - and everyone else's - at 6am.
We have such a stressful time getting to school with her almost always arriving just a few minutes later than the required and desired 8.50. I'm having to hide from the snarky looks of the family worker who sits in the office writing down the (post 9am) arrival times of repeat offenders.
I daresay we've messed up on the bedtime routine somewhere, but she was always a very wakeful evening and night-time baby and an incredibly alert toddler who wouldn't settle until 8 or 8.30 or later, with or without enormous quantities of reading, calm attention, singing etc.
Arrgh - she's like this at 8? What's she going to be like at 13??
Anyone out there got any tips? Or can you at least share my pain?