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 friends whose babies went to bed later than 7pm but now they are starting school and need 11 hours sleep they have to go to bed earlier... Bit of a pity work places and school start so early, I suppose.

I prefer 8pm myself as DS only wants 10 hours asleep and I can't face a before 6am start.

I would love my adorable 2 year old to stay up with me all evening cuddling, if he wasn't such a stroppy little bugger boy then the next day

I also like to watch as much sex,drugs,guns, university challenge on telly whilst swearing my head off

Thats why mine goes to bed at 7ish

I used to struggle to keep dd awake until 6.30 until she was about 7.She always slept about 13 hours a night.Now her dc go to bed by 7 and wake about 7 in the morning.It just seems healthy and natural to me.If you put them to bed at 10 they cant possibly fit in a reasonable nights sleep.Imho 8 o clock is the latest that under 10s should be in bed in term time.Holidays of course are different-you can be led by the child then.

we eat as a family at 5:30.
the children go to bed at 7
they wake up at 7

if i try to put them to bed later (like when on holiday) they scream for hours and wont settle because they are overtired.

My DD decided on 7pm as her bedtime at about 5 weeks old and 2.5years later is still doing that. If I didn't put her to bed at that time she go herself. If we're out and about and she goes to bed late she's still up at 5.30 - 6 am, but grumpy and knackered.

I do try a push it back a bit later and it felt good in the summer when on holiday to have her up till 8 - 8.30 and sleeping till 7, but that was down to the time difference.

I blame it on the random 'up with the larks' gene she gets from my dad, who gets up at 5 every day whatever happened the day before. I ain't no lark!

But we eat as a family at around 6 in the evening. Life has just time shifted a bit. DH is at work for 7.30 most days now and says the time before 9 is the most productive. Maybe he's a secret lark too .

We eat together at 5.30. Children are in bed for 7.30-8. They wake between 7 and 8.

Can't generalise and say "duh those stupid brits putting their kids to bed at 7 then whining when they wake at 5" as if we're idiots.

If mine go to bed later, the next day is hideous as they are too tired. They are 7 and 3.

If they're up at 7.30 on a school day, that gives us less than 1 hour to get ready and have breakfast. When it is weekend they play and we get up when we want to.

I quite like to have some time on my own in the evening. Nothing wrong with that.

DS has to be up at 7am, he needs 12 hours sleep, i'm not going to deprive my child of sleep therefore he needs to be in bed by 7pm, its really not difficult to understand at all.

if this is what is considered uncivilised then I am completely out of touch with civilisation.

My ex and his girlfriend are truly weird, they put her kids to bed at 5/ 5.30...as a result their normal waking time is 3 or 4 in the morning and this is when they get up. That means that they themselves have to go to bed by 7.30 to cope with it. Its their business of course but it means that when my /our kids stay with their dad every month they get woken up at 3 in the morning by her sprats. My kids used to go to bed 7.30/8 which meant they would wake up at 7ish and meant we got a bit of alone time. Later at the weekend though.

My 5 yr old also has to be up at 7a, for school, so I make sure he is in bed by 7-ish. He can't cope with less than 12 hours sleep.

On Fri/Sat I am slightly more relaxed, but by 9pm he is usually a shivering wreck of exhaustion anyway!

My 1 yr old sleeps roughly 6.30pm-6.30/7am. I used to keep her up until whenever she fancied going to sleep, but have found a routine suited us all better as she got older.

Each ot their own, but I do think 9pm is too late for a most infant school age children.

I think it's mostly driven by climate. Countries where it's really hot then it's far more pleasant to go out in the evening when it's cool and still lovely and warm. I lived in Asia for a while and it's so hot during the day and people generally work really long hours so the evening is a chance to cool down and catch up with the children. Also many kids don't officially start school until a later age and go to nurseries where they would probably be encouraged to have a sleep in the afternoon.

I too have been bemused at the obsession with 7pm- nothing wrong with it as a bedtime, but it's the "OMG its 7.45 ds(6) is still awake I am going insane" type of thread that leaves me . Or the many, many friends who "made" their 2 yo drop their naps because he wouldn't go to sleep at 7 otherwise...

Also, sometimes this is adhered to strictly- I never understood why in summer, with those gorgeous long british evenings, children are rushed home from the playground at 5 on the dot to have their tea and go to bed .

Having said that- it is a myth that mediterranean children are beautifully behaved at 11 pm in restaurants. there's an inordinate amount of overtired, tantruming children and i always wonder why their parents drag them along. And moreover (in Italy at least) children nap till 5-6, including at nursery/preschool/school, so they get the same amount of sleep just distributed differently.

Incidentally my babies never went down at 7- if anything their bedtimes have been gettting earlier and earlier as they grow older. Dd1 (4), having dropped her nap a couple of months ago, cannot make it past 7.15 at the mo, while dd2 (21m) usually stays awake until 7.45-8 as she still naps for 1-2 hours in the day.

how the hell can people manage dinner as a family at 5.30??? Dh (and I until i was working) are never home before 6.30 at the very earliest.

It depends on your line of work though?

My DH starts at 9 and finishes at 5 so we eat at 5:30.

dh and i have always worked 8-6 (or 8-7, or 8-8...). plus you add the commute home... maybe that was London

Last post was in answer to TMM

Could be, most of the people we know get home at six at the very latest, quite a few are home by five as they start at eight.

Live in Wiltshire though so maybe its a slower pace here!

dd2 (11months) goes to bed at 7ish, dd1 (nearly 4) at 7.30-7.45ish.
It's pretty simple really-they're tired and they need to go to bed. If they weren't tired, I would probably put them to bed a bit later as I see precious little of them mon-thurs as it is. But they need their sleep. We're up and out of the house by 7.45 most mornings so there is no scope for a lie-in most of the time.
Lucky you OP if your kids are at their best in the evening! but, y'know, children aren't all the same, or so I've heard

DD (15months) goes to bed between 5pm and 5:30pm and has done since she was about 4 months old. I don't do it because I think that's 'bedtime', that's when she's winding down and wants to go to sleep. She wakes up about 6:30am and that's fine by us because we're both early birds (I think 10pm is late ). As she manages to go longer in the evenings, we'll push her bedtime back. She has a 2.5 hour nap in the day so she obviously just likes sleeping likehermum

I am so pleased you posted this!!! my toddler is half mediterrenean so me and his dad compromised at a 9pm bedtime, in winter I struggle but in summer its lovely

when we stay with friends its so hard as they want to start the evening, and have theirs packed off by 7pm!!!

Yes DC wakes at 7.30 am to 8.30a, so none this of this 6am shite

In summer we do evening (ie 7pm) playground visits are there are NO english kids there