If your school age kids go to bed around 8pm (like they are supposed to!) what time do they get up and what do they do before school?

[Eulalia]

Might seem like a dumb question I know. But everyone is always amazed at how late my kids go to bed. Reason is ds1 (nearly 9)has autism and only way I can get him to sleep before 10pm is to give him melatonin. Often its nearly 10 before dd (age 6) is in bed too. They are up at 8am which is plenty of time for them to get ready for school before the bus comes at 8.45.

ds1 I know only needs maximum 10 hours as if he gets his melatonin early enough and gets off to sleep straight away he may even wake earlier and have 9 1/2 hours and cope OK with that. It is dd I feel I am letting down as I do sometimes have to wake her in the morning. I try to get her to sleep first (she shares a room with her brother) but she is now resisting going to bed first. Also complicated with when to put ds2 (age 2) to bed as he sometimes has daytime naps still.

Anyway I just wondered what other kids do in the morning, watch TV? Also how much sleep does your 6-9 year olds have?

I find if ds1 gets up too early before school he may start doing something and get involved in it and not want to go so its easier if he is actually a bit rushed.

dh complains a lot about lack of quality time and I know its not good and I feel everything revolves around ds1's habits but its a bit like that when a child has a disability.

Apologies for the long and rambly post!

DD goes to bed around 7:30pm-8pm. She wakes up aout 7am, just as I leave for work (3 days a week anyway). She says goodbye to me, gets washed and dressed, has breakfast with DH and then watches a bit of TV, before leaving for school at 8am.

DD1 (almost 9) went to bed about 15 mins ago and will get up at 7.15. DD2 (6) and DS1 (5) went up at 8 (normal bedtime is 7.30) and wake at the same time.

DD1 should go up at 8, lights out at 9.

I value our quality time.

My two youngest are 8 and 11 and are never asleep before ten,they get up about 7.30 I have tried to get them to sleep at a more suitable time,but they just end up fighting and grumpy .
My older ones were just the same,some children just need less sleep,you are not alone.

dd1 is 8 and is going to bed right now
but should have gone to bed at 7 as she gets up at 7 regardless of when she goes to bed and she NEEDS 12 hours still

shes late tonight as it daddys birthday

My 10yo and 8yo go to bed at about 8.45 but are rarely asleep before 9.30. They get up for school at 7.45, so they get a good 10 hours.

I wouldn't want them up very early, I never saw the point of putting little ones to bed ultra early when no one wants or needs to be up before 7.30.

My 23mo goes to bed about 8 and sleeps for 12 hours. No child has ever gone to bed before 8 in this house, in fact

Oh very at 12 hours. Sometimes ds2 manages 12 hours but is more like 11, none of mine have ever needed much sleep.

The best thing would be for some wind down time in bed before sleep but ds1 and dd either fight if left alone or act silly and wreck the bedroom. ds1 won't read either. Maybe it will be better once they get their own bedrooms. Can anyone remind me of the ages they can share together up till?

No child has ever gone to bed before 8 here as well. But like castille, we have no desire/need to wake too early. Mine are 4 and 6 and are asleep by 8.30 (on a week day). They usually wake up anytime between 7.30 and 8. Then breakfast/dress/wash and we are out to nursery school.

ds (10) dd (6) both go to be about 8-8.15 ,read then asleep by 8.30-9 on weeknights . Usually up just before 7. Breakfast with dh about 7.15, back to our bed to lie in until 7.45, ds might do last minute homework or dd reads, wash and dress, ds off to school with dh at 8.10 , dd and I about 8.25.

both my my dd's 3 and 5.8 go to bed at 7pm they get up any time from 6.30am although normally its around 7. If they go to bed late they general won't sleep late and are horribly grumpy by the afternoon.

DS (6) and DD (4) both officially go to bed at 7pm, but DD plays at dressing up for at least another half and hour or so, and DS draws and reads for 1-2 hours. They get up at 6.45 so DS can get to school for register at 8.25.

Morning routine - uniform, breakfast, school reading, school spellings, and then 10 minutes of drawing time before walking to school at 8. We should really do the reading and spellings the night before, but I feel that school from 8.25-3.35 is quite enough for any six-year-old boy, and that his after-school time should be spent playing!

Dd 7yo- bed at 8, asleep by 8.30/8.45
Up at 7.15(she has to be woken)I get up earlier to get dressed/have coffee etc

Breakfast and warm drink
Washed teeth clean dressed hair done
Playtime(whilst I get ready) for 15 mins before walking to school

At the weekend she is rarely in bed before 10 and up at 8.30, and by sunday night she has dark circles under her eyes.

dds (11, 9) go to bed about 8.30-9 during the week and get up at 6.30

Mine are 5 & 7 and I have a similar problem in that DS2 needs more sleep than DS1.

They are both in bed by 7:30, but Ds1 can read for a while if he wants to (usually chooses not to)

Ds2 sleeps until at least 7:30am ,but often I have to wake him at 8am.

DS1 gets up at 7am, but is often awake before then. However, we have a strict rule that he is not allowed "up" before 7. So, he can read or play quietly in his bed, but must not do anything that will disturb ds2. Started the rule when he was very young (about 3), by having a digital clock next to his bed and he wasn't to get up until there was a 7. Now he doesn't question it.

To begin with it was to save my sanity, as otherwise he was expecting to get the whole house up at 5am, but now he mostly wakes at about 6:30 and reads for a while, which is great, because as a typical boy, although a competent reader he doesn't really choose to read when there are other alternatives.

All of my dd's (6,3,9 months) go to bed at 7.30, listen to one chapter of book and then its lights out.
I have to wake them up at 7am, dd1 would quite happily not surface till 10 if left!
Then its dressed, breakfasted, washed, bit of tv while i sort out packed lunch and load pram before we leave at 8.30 for the mile walk to school.

I am to have DS (6) and DD (4)off for 7pm but it's usually more like 7.30. DS falls asleep when his head hits the pillow, DD draws, sings, faffs about until the back of eight. My reasons for sending them off early are largely selfish (I've had enough by 7pm!) but DD still needs 11/12 hours and I often have to wake her up in the morning.

In the mornings I like them up at about 7. I'm totally in awe of those who've said they can get ready for school etc in 45 mins - it takes that long for DS to get himself dressed! So from 7am it goes - milky drink, breakfast, get dressed, teeth, hair, reading with DS. Then about 8am they get a bit of telly while I drag a brush through my hair, clean up breakfast mess etc before leaving at 8.20 to walk to school.

I reckon that if your schedule is working fine for you (apart from the qaulity time issue) then stick with it but maybe try to factor in some child free time with dh at another point in the week or have a night out a week - if that's possible?

Ds3 goes to bed at 8.30 pm, straight to sleep, ds4 bed at 8.15pm, sings, reads etc until, about 9.30 pm but major crisis from ds3 if he isn't in bed after ds4. Generally I have to wake them both at 7am, although sometimes they are up and dressed by about 6.45 am. (disclaimer - we leave house at 7. 25am)

My DD1 is 6.5 and goes to bed about 7. Some nights she is asleep by 7.01pm, others she might still be awake at 8pm. Never much after that. She has been known to fall asleep around 6.30 and has to be carried up to bed. She also has SN's (Down's syndrome) and has to work a lot harder at things that her NT peers take for granted soi gets pretty tired.

The girls wake up around 6.30ish, sometimes 6, sometimes nearer 7. They throw a few toys around, have breakfast, get dresses and then watch a bit of cbeebies or play with a toy until DP and I are dressed and ready to leave.

Whatdayisit - we have the "not before 7" rule, too (though not on school-days, sadly for us!!) DS had an animal clock in his room from when he was two, and knew he wasn't to come out until the hands were at the lion and the elephant. As he knows nothing different, it has worked wonders!

As DD copies everything DS does, it works for her, too - even though she's not got a clock!

LuLu - I have also had enough by 7!! I know there's no chance that they'll go to sleep then, but after 12.5 hours of mummying per day, I've had enough by then...

dd1 (12 ) tends to be asleep by 9.30. DD2 by about 8.30. I have to wake them at about 7 on the three mornings I have to get up for work. On the other 4 mornings the younger one usually gets up about 7.30 and the older one given half a chance would be sleeping in till about 8.30 (but not on a school day obviously)
No tv on my work days.

if dd2 (total square eyes!) is totally ready before school leaving time then she can watch tv. DD1 would rather have the extra time in bed.

Thanks for messages. Am currently tryng to get the older two to sleep, it is nearly 10pm. Arggh! ds1 was insistent that it was not bedtime around 9pm because it was still broad daylight and even though I showed him my watch, clock etc he just said "all the clocks have gone wrong!"

My two are 13 and 14 now. They have always got up at about 6.45. The time they go to bed has just got gradually later as they have got older. So when they were about 10 they went at 8pm, but now it's usually 9.30 or sometimes 10.

One word of caution... both children and adults can become used to living in a sleep deprived state. If you are having to wake them in the morning they are going to bed too late. If they wake of their own accord then they just need less sleep than most people.

I know fortyplus, I feel bad about that, not so much ds1 as its part of his condition and he genuinely doesn't need a lot of sleep but it's dd. I feel like a failure but it's hard at the moment with dh abroad and I am left with all the kids. dd always catches up at weekends though.

DS 12 & DD 10 have to be in bed by 8.30pm and then lights out at 9pm. By 8.30pm I have had an enough and what some time on my own to eat chocolate infront of TV without having to share

Our neighbours children who are probably 6 & 4 are often boucing on their trampoline as mine are going to bed...but the row in the mornings as they are trying to get to school...

atm i only have to fool dd (2) so this may not work for your children but i go upstairs and do a 'blackout' before/as i take her up to bed so the curtains in her room and my room and then shut bathroom door as at 7pm the sun is streaming into my house. So she still has her stories read to her in electric light which she turns off. It mostly works and is starting to encourege ds 12 weeks to sleep to.