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!

Help! Any suggestions? I think I have made a rod for my own back, in that I sit with my dd until she falls asleep. She won't let me leave the room! This was fine for a while as she dropped off quite quickly (ie the last two years - she's now just five) but my problem is she is staying awake longer and longer before dropping off and if I leave her she screams until I go back up. I try to have her in bed by 8, and on a good day now I may be down at 9, and a bad one can be 10 or more. It's driving me mad, as like all of us, am juggling (work, kids, my eldest dd 12) and I don't get to sit down until after 10 most nights. I then usually have a glass of wine, watch some tv, then it's bed and the whole thing starts again. Does anyone have any good techniques to apply to a 5 year old to try and break this cycle?? Btw, this is not just for selfish reasons, she also gets up at 7, so has turned into a grumpy, irrational monster by 5.30! She needs more sleep!!

Mine are a nightmare to get to sleep and im not sure what to do about them. They are 5 and 3 and share a room, always were asleep by 7.30 with no fuss until their dad left and I let bed time creep back a but. Now they bounce about till 9pm, wont stay in their beds and drive me crazy. I'm taking them up to bed every time they come down but not sure what else to do. I have to wake them up in the morning at 7 and their horrible and still shattered! What do I need to do? I need a sleep guru!

dil- I did this with my DD when she was about 2 and spent every night in bed with her, normally falling asleep myself. I just stopped and left her to scream. Went in and settled her now and then and put her back into bed. It worked and shes nw the best out of my 3.

My 9y doesn't go to bed timl 8:30-9pm, depending on her activities, and is then up at 7:15am for school, no problems. At weekends it is often later with a later wake up time. She's always been a night owl and doesn't need any more sleep than that. No point in her going to bed earlier as it makes no difference to when she goes to sleep.

DH and I still get a couple of hours to ourself and lots more time at weekends.

Mine (8&4) are in bed by 8(ish - supposed to be 7:30pm) and have to be dragged out of bed just after 7 to get to school on time. I would like to give 8yo a later bedtime than his little sister, but the only way to do that would be for her to go to bed even earlier, and we are just not organised enough, so it will have to wait until he can cope with a bit less sleep, I think.

On non-school nights it is more like 9pm, though.

DS2 (20m) is in bed around 7pm and generally sleeps till 7 or 7:30am. During the week DS1 (7) is in bed between 7:30 and 7:45, he reads/plays quietly in bed for 20-30 minutes or so and is usually asleep by 8:15, then sleeps through till the alarm at 7am. At weekends bedtime is probably nearer to 8pm, asleep by 8:45ish and he will then sleep till around 7:30/7:45. So generally sleeping between 10 and 11 hours.

I don't find it too difficult getting DS2 into bed earlier than DS1, mainly because of the 5 year age gap I think, DS1 watches TV whilst DS2 has his bath, then hops in the bath whilst I give DS2 milk, read him a story and put him to bed.

In the mornings they play upstairs whilst we're getting ready, we eat breakfast around 8:15 and then get dressed/clean teeth ready to leave for school at 8:45. I don't allow any TV in the morning as DS1 would be a nightmare to get out the door if he'd been watching TV!