How long does bedtime reading last in your house?

[Storytimetime]

I’d like to know how long other people’s bedtime stories take and for what age. I’m talking about the child reading plus the parent.

And if you have two children with an age gap that is not suitable for joint story time, how long does it take in total?

I have two children who are 7 and 5 and the bedtime routine of both children reading a school reader to me plus then each having a book read to them takes around an hour (if it's just me doing it on my own). Then they both want long cuddles so often it's an hour and half! That's why I keep telling them we need to start the routine earlier otherwise lights out gets later and later...

We do about 10 mins of the adult reading and then the same for DS2 who has just turned six.

Timesavers I have used in the past when doing bedtime for both (DH and I usually divide and conquer bedtime but don't read to DS1 any more because he's onto chunky novels) are getting DS2 to read to me during DS1's bath time or getting DS1 to read to DS2

Thanks @TheRealMummyPig. The lights out getting later is what prompted me to ask.

Thanks @Legomania. My eldest is 6 and it’s the books getting longer that seem to make bedtime suddenly so late.

I do youngest’s bedtime while eldest is in the bath but it seems to be a good half an hour for his and then at least 45 mins for DD.

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About one hour of time of them sitting/lying in bed - some of that is reading time (child reading then adult), some of it is playing songs or chatting. For younger dc it includes breastfeeding and lullabies. DCs have a 4 yr age gap and DH does the eldest and I do the toddler (due to breastfeeding). One of our favourite bonding times so we've never been tempted to rush it, but I'm sure it could be shortened if we needed to.

13 yr old, we read together for an hour

Four year age gap here too. And likewise, I enjoy it and the reading time feels about right. But….it can easily turn into two hours with the intermittent chatting, dawdling on the way to brush teeth etc and it feels like most of the evening.

So I wondering if bedtime does dominate others’ evenings to the same extent.

Same age gap, and bedtime does dominate the evening. I’m sure I might miss some aspects of it when the time comes that they go up by themselves, but also the thought of having a long stretch in the evening to do stuff for myself is very appealing.

Well I cut all messing about and….1hr 45 mins 🤦‍♀️

But it was all lovely, calm time with them suit was enjoyable.

I have two kids, a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old. We started bedtime stories very early—before they were 2 years old—and it’s been such an important part of our routine ever since. Both my husband and I enjoy reading to them, so we’ve always made it a shared effort.

These days, my daughter reads by herself before bedtime, but one of us still sits with her while she winds down. At the same time, the other parent is usually with our son, and we still read to him. The amount of time we spend varies—it can be anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, sometimes even longer, depending on the night. I absolutely love this routine; it’s such a special way to connect and end the day together.

Depends. It would have been 15-20 minutes if I was in the mood to do it or 5, speaking very, very fast if I wasn't (bad parent🫣).

I know it's an old thread but if you have concerns about bed time taking too long you can work together to a time, I've been working towards 6.45 with my 5 year old for a couple of years (although it was 5.30 at one point)
The good thing is it means you have the confidence of when you will be free to do your own stuff, and your kids know if they do the boring bits quickly they can have more story time.
This works for us because my son would string things out for hours, he's the master of "just one more urgent/important thing"
So the essence is if he's ready by 6.30 we read until 6.45, if not I go down at 6.30 and let him get ready by himself. Then I check on him a few times, which means even if I have to walk out at 6.30 I will always be back (briefly) after 5 minutes.
Also it's a nice way to teach them about the time, also prioritisation, and also that adults have boundaries. And they are comfortable that they know what's going to happen.
Good luck anyone reading.

5 kids under 8, all pile in to our bed for reading before bed (i read to them from our family book), then after about 10 mins 2&4 year old are taken to their room, when they're asleep 6&8 year old go to their rooms to read independently while 1yo goes to sleep, then we put 6&8yo to sleep. So total for 8 year old can be 30 mins reading, but usually 5-10 mins for younger ones.

This system happened organically but really works for us. We encourage reading and have no screens on for the kids in the daytime.