DS reading in bed making himself ill.

[Fo0ffyShmo0ffer]

I really don't want to remove his books. I love the fact that he loves to read.
BUT
He wakes between 6.00 and 6.30 am everyday without fail. We had to tell him not to read in bed. He says ok then sneaks books. We go up rumble his plan, get cross take the book and go downstairs. The following morning he wakes up completely knackered, looks like he haunts houses for a living and I find a stash of books hidden in pillowcases, u see the bed, wrapped in towels. I want him to do the right thing. We've explained the effect it's having on him we want him to make the right decision himself.
Removing all his books just doesn't sit right with me. I'm an avid reader and I'm thrilled he loves books but not to the detriment of his health.
He is almost 10 and I just wondered if anyone had any ideas or would the consensus be remove the books?

Ooooh this takes me back.... My parents used to have this problem with me. They tried taking away books, torches, light bulbs..... I just found new and inventive ways of sneaking about I used to go to bed and set my alarm for 3-4am so that I could get up and read on the sofa downstairs with a blanket covering me and the table lamp (fire hazard didn't even cross my mind ).

They eventually gave up and let me get on with it so long as I understood that any drop in grades, standard of school work etc would not be tolerated and if I was too tired to participate in family activities that was just tough. I come from a family of die hard readers but they were at a loss as to how to deal with me . My DM did insist that I nobody was allowed to read at the table during meal times, and by god was it liberating when I moved out and could read where and when I wanted. Now that I have a Kindle the habit has become worse...... I'm being really helpful, aren't I

I have to say audio books were good for getting DH to sleep. We would put them on for DS and DH would sleep while DS and I listened to the end . DS(14) has inherited the book habit and will stay up all night if he gets engrossed. In fact he spent most of last week reading my Douglas Adams box set (5 books back to back). Maybe I should try him with War and Peace....

I used to do this as a child, must have driven my parents bananas. I think I just grew out of him. He might be awkward like me and partly be doing it just because you say not to. Maybe ignore it and let it run its course?

Putting my hand up here as well - another obsessive reader (and still occasionally doing it now!)
The only thing I can think of is can you look at the material - I'm much worse if I have new/exciting/difficult books that are unread - its like an addiction - I just need to know how it all works out.
So all these kinds of books should 'live' downstairs. Books in bedroom to be old, well read, story known type of books. Nice for a comforting read but they don't fall into the pageturner/addictive category which means there's a chance of them being put down at a reasonable time

My dp used to read under the bedclothes with a snorkel. Watch out for that!

I was similar. My mother's solution was to take the bulb out of the main socket and remove the bedside light each evening. There was only one torch, which was kept downstairs in the linen cupboard. No light- no reading.

When I 5 and banned from switching my light back on after lights out, I used to read in the twilight and when that failed in the light sneaking under the door from the landing. I knackered my eyes. (-8, -8.5)

With my own children I allowed them to keep their lights on as long as they want. I figure that if they are really tired they will eventually fall asleep and that at least their body is resting even if they are still awake.

I burnt a hole in my duvet when I was younger reading when I was supposed to be sleeping

No advice I'm afraid. I used to stay all all night and go to school on no sleep so I could finish a book.

I used to read one word at a time with the red power light from my stereo.

That was me as a kid! Search parties were sent out when I was " lost" to be found reading in the park at 5.30 have never reached home ( I was 8 or 9) and the times I got into trouble reading on the landing where the light was...

I dunno really. My kids are old enough now to read as long as they like. I think at 10 if hrs not obviously knackered I wouldn't worry hugely. His live of a good book will take him far in so many ways.

Ok tonight he was given a choice. Either go to bed half an hour earlier, read, then lights out means lights out OR we take his books away and he can have them at weekend.
Obviously he chose the first option so settled down at 8.20pm. He went to sleep.

This is the first night. We shall see.
I give him 2 nights before he's sneaking books back somehow.

Good first night! Bet he's up now though...

I do this and it drives DH bananas because when DS was a newborn I would have him asleep on my lap and instead of sleeping I would be reading book after book on the grounds that he would be up soon for a feed anyway so I might as well stay up Looking back, Even I can see how nuts that was. I'm getting better now but if it's a new book I just have to get to the end, even if it means sneaking into the bathroom in the middle of the night so DH doesn't know

My parents just kept coming up and checking so often that I just gave up. I would also recommend making him leave his bedroom door open once he's 'gone to bed' so that any lights/hiding under the duvet will be spotted straight away.

I'd administer an ankle slapping and smash those books with a hammer.

I was about to post something similar about my not-yet-at-school 4 year old ds. He has just started reading independently and he will hide books under the duvet and sit up for 2 hours reading. I've only just cottoned on to it- I though he just couldnt sleep (as he was telling me) but then started finding the books. It's a nightmare- he wakes up the same time regardless of the time he went to sleep and is EXHAUSTED.
I was similar - regularly reading by the streetlights etc.

It won't be long before this is my ds, too...the only thing that stops him at the moment is sharing a bedroom with dd1 (who goes to sleep earlier than him, so he has to read downstairs, then go to bed in the dark). But it was me, at 10, too.

All you can do is stick to exactly what you're doing - I was always given the choice of going to bed early enough to read etc, but my parents combined lights-on-after-lights-out (or reading under the covers with a torch) with 'punishments' (docked pocket money, nothing too serious) which worked as a good deterrant.

Good luck and overall you should be feeling very [proud] of your ds' reading...

I remember as a child reading on nighttime car journeys, a few words at a time as we drove under motorway lights. Reading upstairs on my own at parties. Re-reading books time after time.
Reading has been one of my life's greatest pleasures, your son is very lucky!
Perhaps instead of a time limit, you could set a page/chapter limit? It's heart-breaking to have to 'down tools' at a crucial stage, and then also you could share & discuss the story together?

Beccles yes actually I think that's a good suggestion regarding chapters. I understand the feeling of having to put a book down at a crucial bit.
The funny thing is I can discuss his books with him as I have read them too
If there is nothing else I raid his cupboard. We have read all the Skullduggary Pleasants, Harry Potters, Percy Jacksons etc.
My parents just left me to it, let me read, didnt check on me,possibly why I didn't fulfil my GCSE potential) and I am torn between stopping him from doing something he loves and being the parent and putting my foot down. So tonight I put my foot down sort of. I think he is lulling me into a false sense of security.

Have to laugh wryly at this thread. You describe me, 30-odd years ago!

I was forever being busted for reading under the blankets, reading on the landing (I learned where all the creaky floorboards were so I could peg it back to bed and pretend to be asleep if anyone came out of the lounge), reading under the desk at school in the middle of science lessons, reading on buses, while watching TV, at dinner... well I am still at it!

I can't put them down either. There comes a point in every book where you have to keep going. I try and head this point off by having several books on the go at once, but it never works! I also daren't read books in my lunch break at work or I'd still be there at hometime with my nose still in them...

Good luck, but I suspect you might be onto a loser long term!

I did this too, and my mum took me to the GP to ask about it. He told her she should leave me to it as long as I was in bed, if I was tired enough I'd fall asleep.

Oh dear we are all coming out of the woodwork aren't we. My mum took away the lightbulb and the torch.
DS is a bit the same. We let him go to bed with a book then go and take it away and turn the light out. We went through a patch of keep going back to turn the light off again/ take the torch off him etc.
At the moment he seems to be going through a more tired patch and is having to be woken up in the mornings (previously unheard of) so I think that he is not protesting about the lights off policy as he really is tired in the evenings now.

FWIW I still stay up to late reading in bed and regret it the next day. You would think I should have learnt better by now wouldn't you?

im worse now have a kindle it goes everywhere with me long queues in supermarkets i read it , on the bus , in the drs etc etc .Helped by the fact Im aways sitting down

In secondary school I would often walk the entire mile to school with my head in a book, barely lifting my head to check for traffic before crossing 2 main roads. It would drive my mother mad.

Well I was optimistic at 2 nights.
This morning I found a football annual under the bed.
Tonight Horrid Henry.
He swears blind they've been there "ages".
I'm not angry. I can't be it'd be hypocritical. I just worry about him being exhausted.

Oh I had a friend who would come round to our house but after a while I'd get a bit bored of her. She would sit and talk to my Mum and I'd get a book out. It WAS really rude and my mum would flip but I knew what I'd rather be doing.

My DD is 7 so younger than OP's son I know. She goes to bed at 7pm and reads for half an hour then switches light off. Wakes early at 6am to read for an hour before getting up. I think that's quite a lot of reading but am very pleased for her enjoyment of reading and 'unlocking' reading and becoming a free reader.

Even as she gets older I think we will still keep an early bedtime and she can read for an hour or more.

I was an avid reader too as a child but wonder if it started through boredom as I was put to be very, very early. My mother's catchphrase was 'there is no such thing as too early a night'!!

He needs to learn to do as he is told. He is being deliberatly defiant and should have a consequence. Today it is just reading but as he gets older he will defy you about more serious things. All children need to follow rules at some time.