My 5yo gets very tired, but we're really struggling to get him to have sufficient sleep.
For background: he has a consistent bedtime and routine of 1930. Gets up at 7. I think he often wakes before then but lies quietly with his Gro-clock. Falls asleep quite quickly at night. But he's in reception and it's exhausting him. He often has big shadows under his eyes by nighttime and is stroppy and emotional. He utterly refuses to nap or ever accept that he is tired on the weekend and he doesn't lie in. I never wake him in the morning if he sleeps past his usual time, but that is very very rare. Even when he is clearly knackered and we insist he goes to bed to lie down in the afternoon, he is fully capable of lying on his bed rolling around grumpily for an hour rather than napping.
He's imaginative and sensitive and worries a lot about ghosts, skeletons etc. He sleeps with the light on which I worry affects his sleep quality, but if he wakes up with it turned down or off he panics and cries. He sleeps with "ghost spray" as he was terrified of scary thoughts of ghosts for a while.
Short of taking long drives in the middle of weekends, any tips and tricks to help him sleep more/better? Will he just grow out of this as he gets used to the demands of school?