Bedtime 4 and 7 year old

[Ricepops]

I have a 4 and a 7 year old who need very different amounts of sleep. We take them both upstairs at 7pm to get ready for bed, then DH and I read with/to them (1 child each).

DD (4) then has lights off at 8pm, she falls asleep straight away and usually have to wake her up at 7.45 in the morning to get ready for nursery. On weekend she often sleeps in until 8.30am.

DS on the other hand, is allowed to read in his room/listen to Audible until lights off at 9pm. I feel like I'm frequently up and downstairs to him as he can't get to sleep (hence have pushed lights out back until 9pm). It's often 9.30pm before he's asleep, and he's up at 7am and seems well rested. He's never seemed to need as much sleep as other children his own age.

I'm starting to feel like DS might need a new bedtime routine, as starting the routine at 7pm seems early if he's not going to be asleep until after 9pm. On the other hand, it might be disruptive to DD.

If you have similar age DC, how do you manage bedtimes?

@Ricepops

I have a 4 and a 7 year old who need very different amounts of sleep. We take them both upstairs at 7pm to get ready for bed, then DH and I read with/to them (1 child each).

DD (4) then has lights off at 8pm, she falls asleep straight away and usually have to wake her up at 7.45 in the morning to get ready for nursery. On weekend she often sleeps in until 8.30am.

DS on the other hand, is allowed to read in his room/listen to Audible until lights off at 9pm. I feel like I'm frequently up and downstairs to him as he can't get to sleep (hence have pushed lights out back until 9pm). It's often 9.30pm before he's asleep, and he's up at 7am and seems well rested. He's never seemed to need as much sleep as other children his own age.

I'm starting to feel like DS might need a new bedtime routine, as starting the routine at 7pm seems early if he's not going to be asleep until after 9pm. On the other hand, it might be disruptive to DD.

If you have similar age DC, how do you manage bedtimes?

I agree that he's getting ready for bed too early. A full 2 or 2 and a half hours prior to him going to sleep is too long.

I'm all for a wind down but it sounds like he'd benefit much more from a wild kick of a ball around the garden at 7 for half an hour, then a bath or shower, then bed.

DD is only 4 and will need to accept the change. Just don't advertise it to her.

I had three year gaps between all my DCs. Bedtime for them all was 9 ish. We never had a long drawn out bedtime routine, just a book or two, prayers, nighty night, lights out. Zzzzzz