What time do your kids *really* go to bed?

[addicted2shopping]

Its 7.30pm and im currently in Ikea with my 4 year old having some dinner in the reateraunt. Then we are going across the road to Tesco to do some shopping. Now, i thought people might look at me as if to say'shouldnt your daughter be in bed at this time?!' but i really wanted to come out as i was so bored indoors. I thought all kids (under the age of 8 anyway) went to bed at 7 because firstly, the Cbeebies bedtime hour is between 6-7 and secondly i see it on tv all the time. Anyway getting to the point... There are loads of kids here some in school uniform and some have gotten changed. Theres at least 10 kids in this resteraunt that i thought would be in bed. Wht time shoud a child be in bed by?? Is 7'oclock what everyone says to just not look bad :)

Interesting. DS (7) use to always be in bed by 7.30pm. Usually at 7ish. Then he started swimming twice a week and we didn't get home until 8.30pm. He began to struggle getting up for school at 7.30am despite him always rising between 6.30-7am since birth!

He changed to lessons at local pool, fun ones and goes once a week. Because he wasn't settling to sleep I started back at 7pm nightimes and added 10 minutes for everynight he went without a fuss and settled. (no later than 8 pm!)

It worked so well that after the weekend he is having a 7pm Sunday, earning a 7.30 M-F and if he's really good when he drops on Saturday.

I have been amazed how much more sleep he needs now he's getting it and very embarassed I dropped the ball

DD is 8 - currently cleaning her teeth. She'll be settling down to sleep by 9. Up at 7.15 in the week, she sleeps later at the weekend and struggles to get to sleep.

I got caught by one of her teachers taking her INTO the pub at 8.00pm a few weeks ago. A proud moment.

supernanny I'll swap Spartacus for Game of Thrones and a massive pile of ironing. Couldn't watch all those muscles etc if dd was still up now could I?!

How much sleep do your kids need in comparison with you all though? DD needs a good 11 hours a night and I can happily sleep for the same - more on the weekends. I revert to teenagerdom and don't get up unless I have to.

Another good reason for an early bedtime - is that it is nice to have a bit of peace and quiet.
I used to like them in bed when they were small but now they are older I like them being around in the evening.

DS1 is often on youtube watching hockey matches or he will watch Porridge and other old comedies through lovefilm with DS2.
Last night me and DS2 watched 'We need to talk about Kevin' and it was about 11.00pm before it finished.

Btw to everyone- i am not boasting if anything its the other way round. I would be boasting if i could get my dd to bed early. Youre the lucky ones not me!

Agree it gets almost impossible to send them to bed before dusk at this time of year when it's still light so late, despite thick curtains. Bedtime on School nights has been an almost constant war, with a lot of compromises on both sides.
ddtwins are now thirteen, we're currently settled on 9.30 with an understanding that the sitting room must be vacated by 9 so that daddy can watch unsuitable telly (Game of Thrones in this house too!)

Ds1 is 6, lights out at 715. He's up by 530 tho', without fail. He's probably dropped about an hour of sleep requirement in the past year.
Dd2 (3), lights out 615, she's up at 6 every day, so makes her 12 hrs just about (no day nap)

DD is 10y and she goes up to bed between 8 and 9 on a school night. She will often read but it is lights out around 9pm.
At a weekend it is very flexible and can vary massively depending on what we are doing.

I can sleep a lot.

Bedtime is very rarely later than 10.00 - 10.30pm. We do get up at about 6.00-6.30am during the week. I sometimes run at 6.30am so have to be up before 6.00 on those days !

I do like an afternoon nap too - sometimes for an hour/two hours? It doesn't stop me sleeping at night.

Oh - and as a passenger on a car journey longer than 30 mins I will be asleep for some of it. Ds is the same.

My DD has never needed 12 hours sleep. Maybe 11 when she was smaller. Now 10 hours at most. She's always been the same. She is also a night owl by choice. She takes after me. DH is the opposite.

Ha!

Dusk doesn't occur until about 11pm where we are and it was broad daylight at 3am this morning (it bloody woke me up and I thought it was midday it was that bright!)

Bedtime stands regadless of how light it is here otherwise they would only get 2 hours sleep a night at the height of summer!

Ds1 (7) typically goes upstairs about 8-9 (just realised he is still downstairs now and I haven't even started thinking about bed time). He is then usually in bed half an hour after going up and depending how tired he is, he might just climb into bed and sleep or he might have a little draw or play in his room. It's not usually for too long though.

Ds2 on the other hand is just 4 and always been bad at going to sleep in the evening. Even as a baby he never fell asleep after his 7 o'clock feed, I gave up trying to get him down in the end and just let him sit in his bouncy chair or high chair with dh and me. Now he goes upstairs at the same time as his big brother but will stay awake playing for much longer. He's usually very quiet and quite content - every so often he might come and trot into our room for a kiss or hug and then will trot out again to carry on playing. He rarely goes to sleep before 10 and every so often we'll have a bad week or two where every might will be between 11-12 (and I don't like going to sleep if he is still awake) so that is a bit of a pain.

And very rarely (tonight is the first for months!) he'll have an early night where he crashes before 7 but they are few and far between.

Ds1 used to be better at going to sleep before ds2 shared a room with him, but he liked to play with ds2 so he forced himself to stay awake (he also didn't like the fact his little bro could stay awake longer than he could ). Now ds2 is in his own room he is getting much better at being the first one asleep again!

If DD had gone to bed so early (thinking of 6-7pm) DH would never have seen her most days. It would just have never worked for us.

My 7 and 5 yr olds start bedtime between 7 and 7.30 depending on how I am coping. The youngest is asleep within minutes usually and the elder asleep by around 8.30 latest. The occasional late night wander round Ikea and Tesco won't be the end of the world.

It makes no difference to me what bedtimes are usual in the 'continent' in hot countries it makes sense to be up later and make the most of longer cooler evenings and the lunch times are longer possibly with siestas in the afternoon so meh.

I take the kids (3,5 and 7) up at 7,they brush their teeth and put on mightwear and I read to them then they can play if there is time but I expect them to be in bed by eight the younger two are usually asleep before 8pm.

Putting them to bed later because it is still light would only be logical if they were on holiday (and even then I find it preferable to not get them to bed later than around 9) as the School day starts at the same time regardless of the season. They need to sleep, I need some down time in the evening, yes some people, like Margaret Thatcher apparently, function on 3-4 hours sleep but I barely consider her human so she doesn't count .

The boys next door go to bed considerably later (age 6 and 10) which is fine if that works for them but often when I hear from the children after 7 or 8pm it is whining, crying and shouting which sounds no fun at all.

I do not really mind when other people put their kids to be bed, I will continue to do what works here as if it ain't broke...

Ds is 8. Until fairly recently he was always in bed by 7 on school nights, and not much later at weekends. Recently this has slipped a bit, and he's usually in bed by 7.30, reading til 8. We're up most mornings by 6.30 to leave before 7.30, as I am a teacher and need to be in school before 8 .

I'm a BIG believer in children needing plenty of sleep to be healthy, focused in school and non-grumpy, and I know ds benefits from a good 10 hours a night minimum. In truth I'm probably too routine driven, and often marvel at friends' kids knocking about downstairs at gone 9, but I stick at what works for us.

going to bed is one thing, going to sleep is quite another!

ds (4) and dd3 (7) were put to bed at 8pm tonight, both still awake :(

Mine have never, ever been in bed before 8pm.

Bedtime started at around 8ish when they were little and has crept later, so DD (9) is meant to be in bed by 9.30pm, but it is often later, and I have trouble getting DS (13) into bed before I go. But I am absolutely not a morning person, and we live fairly close to school, so we don't need to be up that early.

Early bedtimes seem to be a very British thing, and I have never really understood it.

DD goes down at 6.30 but to be fair, she's 5 months old

I'm a big believer in bedtimes and think they should only be pushed back in the case of special circumstances. A trip to IKEA is not a special circumstance for me.

It's important for DCs to have rest and relaxation, even is sleep comes later. Bedtimes are good for kids and parents to get some down time. Even if that is reading in bed for half an hour or so before sleep.

Didn't think you were boasting OP.

My kids have never ever been 7-7 or the like. I tried and tried and tried some more but they were having none of it. Some kids just need less sleep and putting them to bed early means they stew for ages in our case. They're 7 and 9 years old now, I try to have them in bed, lights out for 830 these days, it can be later, around 9ish but never earlier. The oldest is up before 7 and youngest we wake up around 715. They don't seem to be tired during the day, they have loads of energy no matter what so whatever they are getting seems to be the right amount and quality for them.

Interested to know how much sleep people get themselves, I probably average around 6 hours a night in the week and try and catch up with a lie in on the weekends. My kids will still wake up from time to time in the night so that can be 6 hours of broken sleep in the week.

Do people get the so called prescribed 8 hours a night?? Assuming you don't have babies!

My DS who's 4 didn't sleep through till he was nearly 2. Now we start bedtime routine (bath book etc) at about 7/7.30. And we try to get him to bed for 8. Occasionally he's asleep in the car home from nursery (6pm?). Usually it's 8.30. He wakes up anything from 7-8am. So he kind of gets about 11 hrs/night.

Dd who's 19 months old is still awake and probably won't be tired till 9.30 or so. She doesn't sleep through either so is up a min of 2x a night.

Both go to nursery.

Incidentally was just talking about this to dh and we are super envious of friends whose kids just sleep at 7. Or at least get in bed for that time even if they have had an afternoon nap!! Their son who's the same age as mine has a nap on days they don't have nursery and still goes to bed at 7. I don't get that!!

Depends on your child.
My 2yo insomniac does well on an 8:15 bedtime and a 6:30 wakeup; anything earlier is pointless and gets upsetting (if I try to put her to bed at 7 she would first be puzzled, then try to escape, then cry - she wouldn't sleep, we've tried).
My DN who is two years older would be in tears if he didn't get 7-7; he napped for longer as a baby as well where I was lucky to get 20 minutes out of mine.

DD is 6. Generally starts going to bed about 7:30. Will usually be "in bed" by about 8. Don't know when she goes to sleep but if she's quiet in her room I'm not bothered.

DS is 8. Starts going to bed when DD is in bed. So around 8pm ish. Although later on cubs night as it doesnt finish until 8:30 which is more like 8:45.

Both are on the later side of waking up so I think their bedtimes are fine. They might stay up later for a special occasion.

DS nearly 2yo, sleeps later as he finishes napping at 3.30pm. The light keeps him awake too. Bath at 7.30, bed at 7.45, he sleeps till about 6.30 but naps from 12-3.30.
On weekends the routine is more lax though.

I don't really mind what time mine go to bed because they always sleep 12/13 hours anyway.

Ds2 who is 19months is usually in bed at 7pm because that's when he's ready. He'll wake at 7am.

Last night we where a bit busy so he happily went to bed at 8pm and woke up this morning at 8am.

Ds1. Who is 3 tells us when he wants to go to bed. It's very rarely later than 8.30pm. Mostly he's fast asleep by 8pm. He also has 12/13 hours sleep regardless of what time he went to bed.

I like being a bit flexible with their bedtimes as it means we can go to friends houses for bbq's or dinner or out to a restaurant and not have to worry about getting home for a certain time.