am i the last parent in the world whose 5yo goes to bed at 7pm?

[FloraFinching]

dd1 is in reception, and we have therefore entered the minefield that is after school playdates. there always seems to be a raised eyebrow from the other parents, when i (politely ask them to collect at 6ish, to give dd1 time to wind down before bed.

All the invited children seem a little bored/tired/fraught after 2 hours in any case, so surely that's a natural end point? Or am i just terrible at playdates?

My 3 and 4 year olds (4yo still at preschool until sept) go to bed at 7.30pm, dd2 (7) goes to bed at 8pm and dd1 (10) goes to bed at 8.30pm. Obviously in the holidays and at weekends they are allowed up later to make the most of playing out in the fresh air whilst it is light in the evenings.

My dgs aged 5 goes to bed at 7 and his 3 yr old brother goes at 6.45.They share a bath at 6.30 then the older one has a play with mum or dad [they take turns] while little one has story/suggle and settle,then he goes up at 7 for his story etc.

"until the age of 9 or 10 it was 7.00pm."

How on earth did you manage to wear your child out so much he was ready for bed so early? DD has never been a tired child. She is 11 now and has to get up at 6.30 for school. I try to get her in bed and ready to sleep for 9pm and 99 times out of 100 we fail. She simply is not tired!

She was a Brownie until she was 10 and their meetings didn't finish until 7.45. She is off to Guides in 10 minutes and won't be home until after 9pm.

Same as Bunbaker, here. My DC are never sleepy. They may be tired but they're never sleepy. Since babyhood they have had a routine of bath, story, cuddle, bed and have never settled. 9 now and rarely asleep before 10pm, then up at 6.30pm. They go to bed at 9, but read or listen to music for an hour, We tried being strict but they got so stressed 'trying' to get sleepy that we realised they're better off winding down their own way.

I've always felt a bit envious of people who have good sleepers. We've never ever had peaceful evenings to ourselves. It's getting to the stage where I want to get to sleep before they do.

DSS1 (13) is told to go to bed at 10pm (far too late as far as I'm concerned, but the time pre-dates my moving in nearly 2 years ago).

DSS2 (just 6) normally is put to bed at 7.30 however today he's only having his tea now because he went to a friends house to play and have tea, but they went out (only got back a few minutes ago) and all he's had is an ice cream . We regularly hear his friends of the same age playing outside at 8-8.30pm and keep having to turn them away at the door when they keep knocking for him when we've told them he's not coming back out.

Dd is older now at 10. Bedtime Is between 8 and 9. Lights out at 9. More flexible at weekends and holidays.

At 5y it woud have been 7:30 and lights out at 8, except for drama day when not home til 8. Again flexible at weekends.

But dh does/didn't get home til 6:30/7pm so he'd never have seen her in n evening if it'd had been earlier. As it happens dd is a real night owl anyway.

My DD is five and no way would she ever be ready for bed at 7. She tends to go to bed at 8 ish (sleeps til 8 so we are pretty lucky). She was in a show last week that didn't start til 7, along with a whole bunch of 5 year olds. In the real world I have never met anyone who puts their children to bed so early!
We are a family of night owls I guess. On holiday she can stay up til 11 or so, with a siesta.

racinghead children who go to bed happily are not always good sleepers - my ds1 (nearly 5) falls asleep during his story if he goes up to bed later than 7.30 (and sometimes does anyway even if he is in bed at 7.05) - but he gets up between 5 and 5.30am, no matter what time he goes to bed, even on the odd occasion we have been out and he has managed to stay awake til 9.30pm or something due to constant action. He does sleep through, and does obey the rule to stay in his room til he hears an adult get up, but I don't know if the compulsion to start the day at 5am, summer or winter, regardless of when he goes to bed, qualifies him fully as a "good sleeper" :o His sister used to be the same until recently, but now she is 6 I sometimes have to wake her at 6.15am - maybe twice a week.
The 1 year old goes to bed fine most nights at 6.30 but was up every hour or so until recently (we're down to average 2 wake ups now, though some nights are worse and some better) and is also bouncing about and impossible to get back to sleep after about 5am.

Early to bed and early to rise ... even on the nights exceptional circumstances have them going to bed late!

I think people, adult or child, are natural night owls or natural early birds - it's just lucky if the parents and kids match up, and if the natural sleep pattern matches the way your lifestyle/ work day or whatever has to be lived!

My five and four year old go to bed at seven. Some.nights they are awake for half hour, others they are sparko straight away.

We have to get up at seven am though, and I have to wake them. We leave at 7.40 for nursery/school/work so earlier to bed here

YANBU My DD2 (5) just can't cope with after school play dates for a start. She's a summer baby so finding school FT exhausting. Bed is at 7pm but by the time we've done teeth, story, kisses its probably more 7.30 by the time she actually sleeps. I am more relaxed at weekends and in the school holidays.

My dd is 6yo and I aim for 7pm but in the summer its normally 7.30ish, I like having my evenings to myself and dd needs her kip!!!

My 5 year old and my 6 year old go to bed at 7!

Sounds reasonable to me my 3 yo is usually in bed between 7 & 7.30 and drops off pretty quickly provided he's not had a nap in the day otherwise he can be a nightmare to settle.

My 8 yo (and DP's 7 & 10 year old when they stay) in bed usually between 7.30 and 8pm though we can spend over an hour telling them off for pissing about and not going sleep which gets infuriating as it means no wind down time for us prior to going to bed.

I'm pretty sure the rule was "be home by six" when I went to friends' houses after school even when I was a teenager!

Am just about to start bedtime for ds1 (5) now, so by the time he's been to the loo, brushed teeth, got changed, read a story, told me about his day and sung a song, it'll be 7. He wakes up really early in the morning (6 am is a good day), so this way he'll get enough sleep. We've tried putting him to bed later, he still wakes up just as early. There are other children in his class who regularly stay up until 10, and I know of one 7 year old who goes to bed at midnight (with a night-waking baby, I usually go to bed about 9ish)