Okay, how do I stop DD reading all night?

[mrsruffallo]

DD is a real bookwarm I have just gone in to check that she is sleepinghand she is sneakily reading again.
She is 7.
Any suggestions/same experiences?

give her some more boring books

I have no suggestions. I was the same and used to stay up til past midnight reading. Nothing would stop me. Did me no long term harm and I am now very literate, well-educated etc. if that is any consolation?!

Oh I am watching this with interest as my 7yo DD is exactly the same! DP went in to check her the other night and found three books hidden in the bed

And then she won't get up for school in the morning and there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth...

Well, I have ti admit I was the same ,too. I had a secret torch for under the bedcovers
Maybe it's hereditary?
Poor thing looks so tired some mornings though..

My DD is like that.
The good thing is that she never whinges about going to bed if she knows there is a good book awaiting her, so I still put her to bed at 7 o clock with my little 'uns. She is 8.
Then, I do a strict lights out policy, at the appropriate time (8.30 in her case.) If she turns them back on to read, or goes in the loo to read (which has been known!) then I won't take her to the library the following week, so she has nothing to read!

Take the bulb out

Wow Lymoind that really makes sense. She asked to go to bed tonight (we have had a busy weekend) then went to the toilet 3 times in a row!

I know, secunda, I am sure it is a GOOD THING in the long term, but 9.30 is too late for a 7 yr old to sleep imo

I was the same, nothing stopped me sorry.
My father tried taking all my books once, I don't recommend it. I had some hidden anyway and just hated him for it.

Oh the shame
Look at my typing
'bookwarm'
'hand'
'ti'
I must be more careful
Sorry everyone

I was just the same too - read in the loos at boarding school all night.

Sadly, the hereditary bit hasn't worked for us, 2 out of my 3 are major book-dodgers. I wish they would read all night, tbh!

No answer I'm afraid. My DS (7) is exactly the same too. He also does the sit on the toilet trick.

It's not so bad in winter as can turn out light, but these light evenings are a nightmare.

I just work ont he assumption that if he gets really tired one night, he'll sleep earlier the next night. doesn't always work though.

tbh i don't think 9.30 is impossibly late for a 7-year-old - late, but not terrible. How early do you have to get up?

dd3 is just like this too, not 7 until the end of August but 9.30 is an early night for her! Still up with the larks and happy at 7am but often awake much earlier and guess what reading again until the last minute.......... she was nearly 6 before she learnt to read!

Oh, the fun of those secret-reading-in-the-loo sessions!

Seriously, make sure she gets to bed early enough to get a good long time to read. Its the only way I've found to deal with it, alongside you turning her light out.

Now, I'm off to bed with my new, very thick, Peter F Hamilton novel, which I will undoubtedly read til 1am, forcing poor DH into the spare bedroom when he moans about the light being on, and I'll be exhausted in in the morning!

Oh, and black out curtains - or black out blinds behind the existing curtains, are very useful at this time of year.

Yes, it is hard to discourage the habit in the light evenings

maktaitai- we don't have to leave until 8.30 at the very earliest, but she always wakes up between 7-7.30
Do you think that is enough sleep?

I would simply remove the books and also give her a warning too. And consequences if she doesn't listen to your request - exactly th same way I would treat DD if she was ignoring any other request we made to her.

Would you be as understanding if she was sneaking a DS/games console under the covers instead of going to sleep?

Dd is allowed to read until a certain time - and after that she is to put her books down and at least attempt to sleep with no futher reading.

"Poor thing looks so tired some mornings though.. "

It is this sentence that makes the whole not going to sleep earlier an issue. What she is doing with her time at bedtime is not the issue. Yes, reading is generally good and to be encouraged - but NOT at the expense of getting enough sleep, and if she looks tired in a morning then she isn't getting sufficient for her.

'night lymond

She just went to the toilet again and we had a little chat, She said 'I can't help it, I am just obsessed with reading'
It's true- she reads labels, advertising boards, sides of buses, old newspapers laying around the house etc

I know it's mostly a good thing and I have tried the 'early to bed' angle in order to give her more time to read, but it just doesn't work....

I wonder if it is worth trying a star chart?

Is she only allowed to read at bedtime? Maybe relax rules about when she can read in daytime and make it clear bed is for sleep.

Another suggestion which worked on me as a full on bookworm kid - switch her to audiobooks at bedtime (with light off). Much harder to stay awake!

There are always books lying around, reading in the daytime is not restricted at all

Audio books--that is a nice idea though1

I do empathise with both you and your dd, I was an absolute reading freak when I was that age. I even used to read the back of the cereal box when I was eating breakfast, I read constantly (when my mum took us to the library followed by the cafe, I would devour them in the cafe then take them back and swap them). I just couldn't be parted from my books. However my mum would smack arses if lights weren't out by a certain time!

AFK
Mine too!
Ah, the seventies