Why do British children go to bed so early?

[Builde]

We find ourselves out of sync. with everyone else in that we don't put our children to bed at 7pm; more like 9pm.

We do this because our children are always at their best after tea (they settle down to a good play), if we put our 5 year old to bed at 7pm she would be up at 5am, and it's easier in the morning to have no time at all. (If we have some time, they start to play and we can't drag them off to school/nursery).

It also gives us a chance for a lie-in at weekends and during the week to breakfast in bed before getting the girls up.

Does anyone else follow this civilised routine, or is it just us in the UK?

I have no idea - it is a huge mystery to me. And this business of getting up at 5 am for children who have been put to bed at 7 pm - it is totally and utterly bonkers!

My DD (5) goes to bed around 10 pm and wakes up of her own accord before her alarm at 8 am.

my girls go to bed at 7
then they wake at 7.30 ish
so one hour to get three girls ready for school in the morning

if they go to bed later for more than a couple of night they are knackered and noone has any fun

I mean, in an ideal world they would sleep for 14 hours and we would have early nights and lie-ins, but children over the age of 4 generally sleep between 10 and 12 hours. So, lucky Trinity whose children do sleep over 12 hours.

(As an aside, as the oldest child, my parents always put me to bed at 7pm, and I remember spending hours lie-ing awake trying to get to sleep. Needless to say, my youngest sister never got put to bed early because we had all grown up and no-one felt like bedtime at 7pm; us older ones had only just got back from the park or brownies etc.)

well two out of three sleep
the littlest wakes every two ish hours still grr

how odd
put your kids to bed whenever you want - I don't think this is a british thing

In Japan the average bed time is about 9:30. I went to a restaurant last night with DH, DD (3) and DS (8 months). WE finshed at 9:30; there were loads of kids still there. Friends here sometimes say "OH he wouldn't sleep till 11 last night".

Having said that, I understand why you'D want them to go to bed earlier. I'd love to have more time with DH of an evening. OR time to do my own thing.
But I don't understand it when people make out that kids need an early bed-time. MOst kids around the world don't go to bed as early as British kids.

DS is now 8 and goes to bed around 9. When we did to the early bedtime he would wake really early too so we stopped that pretty quickly. And also DH is not home till around 7/7.30 so he wouldn't get to see him if he was going to bed at 7.30.

Although DS is now trying to push bedtime to 10 and then I do struggle to get him up in the morning for school. Funnily enough never any problem getting him up at the weekend!

I don't know, Builde. I find a lot of Brits also don't eat with their children. The mother feeds them on their own and then she eats her meal when the dad comes home from work.

Mine have always gone to bed at 8 and we eat as a family.

Then they complain when the kid wakes up at 5.

Well, duh!

Mine have never been to bed at 7! DH doesn't get home from work until then, he'd never have seen them. TBH, they go to bed earlier now they have to get up for school, than when they were little and could sleep in.

Maybe it's to do with the (sweeping generalisation, sorry) British habit of going to bed early as an adult? If I went to bed at 10pm, I'd want to get the kids away by 7, just to have a bit of adult time. I'm a night owl though (between 12 and 1am usually) so the DCs heading off between 8 and 9pm still leaves me plenty of time to relax.

I think it is a very British thing actually, very unusual in the continent to see children in bed at 7pm and I find it quite depressing.

I think it is lovely to have dinner with the children both at home and out in restaurants without them moaning because they are tired and used to going to bed at 7pm.

I also find it odd that children have a different evening meal and earlier than their parents.

I have always been a night owl and remember well going to friends' houses for a sleepover and not being able to get to sleep for at least 2 hours when lights were out at 7pm!

I think it's partly because as babies they go down early, fixed time, 7 or 7.30 pm and bedtime becomes the fixed point, not the waking up time. Entirely logical to me if a child starts consistently waking earlier to put them to bed later.

Maybe going to bed early as an adult comes from being put to bed early as a child?

in my home

dd goes to bed at about 8, so that i don't lose my marbles.

Mine don't .

We work all day so want our DC around a bit longer. We have never had strict bedtimes anyway.

DD gets up at the crack of dawn whenever she goes to bed.

Do they?

Mine go to bed at 8pm and are awake at 7am.

I would not want them up later than that, tbh. I do want some time alone with DH

and MN

mine got to bed 7,30-8 and wake at 6.30. This fits in well with school hours for us.

They eat at 5.30 and dh gets home at 7.

Weekends/hols are different.

dd1 at age 1 went to bed at 9, at 2 it was 8, so dh could see her but school has changed things

I think in other countries, toddlers have longer/more naps until an older age than they tend to here.

I have no idea TBH. I used to think that it would work better to put DS to bed later, but it doesn't seem to matter how many naps he has, if I don't put him to bed between 6 and 7 he gets completely overtired and is up (and unhappy) until abut 1am when he finally falls asleep from exhaustion.

I think there is a difference between working parents. Seems to be if you are a sahm you need a break in the evening as you have been with them all day and need some adult time.

If you work all day you like the kids up a bit later so that you can actually see them and spend time with them. I don't feel the need for adult time in the evenings as have had that all day.
Seems to be the pattern amongst friends of mine certainly.

It is lovely when we go to Italy in the summer to see (beautifully behaved) chidren in restaurants until late participating in the conversation and it is certainly something I am going to try and recreate!

My DDs (3.5 and 14 months) both NEED 12 hours sleep each night. Any less and they are a nightmare the next day. Therefore they go to bed at 7/7.30 and wake at 7/7.30. I would love it if DD1 would stay up 'til 8.30ish and eat with us but it's just not practical with her sleep patterns. Hopefully that will change over the next year or two.

Is it really just a Britsh thing? What about the rest of Northern Europe (Germany, Scandinavia etc)? I wonder if it's more common in countries with our climate and short winter days.

"It is lovely when we go to Italy in the summer to see (beautifully behaved) chidren in restaurants until late participating in the conversation and it is certainly something I am going to try and recreate! "

You see that is what mine do. I would love to be smug unfortunately they only do that when they are out. They are normally not quite so well-behaved at home

I'm foreign and it really strikes me as a British middle-class thing, Aubergines. It does. Just my experience, but there you go.

Orm - at least they don't show you up!

I think the climate does help, also in the summer everyone has had a nap after lunch which helps.

Life in the UK is geared to things happening earlier in the evening than in other parts of the world. School finishes early, shops close early etc, so people start their evening at 5pm, which is still the afternoon here (France).

That said when we lived there I maintained their "French" bedtimes (no earlier than 8pm at any age) because I'm no fan of early mornings.

That's fine if it works for you.

I have 4 children so bed time ranges from 7:30-9:30. Even then it's not rigid. However dc2 has major sleep problem at the moment and is still awake past midnight.

I do need time without them as I'm with at least one of them all day. I tend to only get 1.5 hours and then I'm asleep.

We all eat together at 5:30 -6pm. We never go to restaurants so have not got that worry!