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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Bedtime for a 15yr old - mumsnet input wanted!

36 replies

Sonnet · 03/01/2012 15:28

Hello All - I would really apprecaite your thoughts.
My 15 yr old DD gets up 6.15 to 6.30 am. As last term went on she was going to bed later and later.

What time would you all suggest?? I think 9.30 but apparently that is too early according to DD!

OP posts:
louderthanbombs · 03/01/2012 15:31

Mine goes at 10pm on a school night. I turn internet off at about 10.30-11pm when I go to bed.

usualsuspect · 03/01/2012 15:31

I think 9.30 is a bit early for a 15 year old

percysgirl · 03/01/2012 15:31

Ooh - early starts for your DD Sonnet. My DS is 16 and goes to bed at 10 and my DD is 14 and goes to bed at 9:30 (any later and they are just horrible). Her bedtime sounds about right but I bet she says all her mates are allowed to stay up later! Wink
Good luck xx

percysgirl · 03/01/2012 15:32

PS I turn internet off at 9pm cos I am wicked like that Blush x

empirestateofmind · 03/01/2012 15:37

My two teenage girls are up at 6.30am and go to bed about 10 to 10.30pm.

Original poster
Sonnet · 03/01/2012 15:37

Thanks for the input. It is the early starts that worry me - so if i said 10pm with lights out at 10.15 the concensus that 8 hours is enough ???

Will probably start at 9.45 with ligts out at 10.15 and see where that gets me... Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
Sonnet · 03/01/2012 15:39

so 8 to 8 and a half for works for your girls empirestateofmind

interesting, thanks

OP posts:
purplecupcake · 04/01/2012 13:39

i think its different for each child .. mine are 16 and 17 .. both go to bed at 11.. 16 year old gets up at 6.45, no problems occasionally she will go up to bed at 10 ish when tired, the 17 year old .. well she would sleep for england, early mornings are so no her thing no matter how hard i try, she should be in college at 9am, it takes me from 8 till 8.50 to get her out of bed, then she complains shes too late to have breakfast!

cory · 04/01/2012 14:44

Depends on the child. I was fine on 8-9 hours at that age (my parents often went to bed before me) but dd is not.

mumeeee · 04/01/2012 15:53

Purplecupcake. BU the time my DD's were 17 I was leaving them to get themselves up. Although if I did sometimes knock on their door if I hadn't heard them. But that was it if they were late for school or college then that was their problem. Also I left it up to them to decide if they wanted breakfast or not.

purplecupcake · 04/01/2012 16:01

if i didnt wake her up mumeeee she would miss college every day, she would sleep till 2pm, get up get dressed, eat, lay about and then go to the bf's .. she didnt attend mainstream school so has no GCSE's.. this is her second chance at gaining something.. i aint going to let her throw her education away.. If i knew for one minute that she would get up and go alone i would leave her to it.

But i still think each child is different on how much sleep they need :)

webwiz · 04/01/2012 18:11

I agree with purplecupcake that each child is different in how much sleep they need but they are also different in whether they take the required amount on their own or need to be forced!

DS is 15 and thinks nothing of having an early night if he is tired and tends to be up in his room pottering about most nights by 9/9.30 anyway. At the same age DD1 seemed to think it was some sort of badge of honour to stay up as late as possible every night and then could never get up in the morning without a huge amount of input from me. DD2 took the middle road and would need a bit of a push to go to bed at a reasonable time but would always get up easily on her own in the mornings.

You can usually tell if they are getting enough sleep by how long the saturday lie in is. DS's is quite short but the DD's could sleep all day given the chance.

spendthrift · 04/01/2012 21:33

10pm, but be very clear that the phone or whatever is nowhere near her bed and is left where you can see it.

roisin · 04/01/2012 21:39

ds2 still needs a lot more sleep than ds1 (14). And I need more sleep than ds1 too. I can tell when he's not getting enough though.

He goes to bed at 10-ish, but rarely asleep before 11. But his alarm doesn't go off til 7am, and he doesn't get up until about 7.20. So I guess he's getting at least 8 hrs most nights.

FlyingTeapot · 04/01/2012 22:55

I take the computer away at about 10:30, but the phone stays in the room and is used for texting etc. Am going to put a stop to this as she is a nightmare to get up in the mornings. I feel the grief already.

LineRunner · 05/01/2012 03:17

It was 11pm, for a 7am wake up, but bedtime has got earlier through her own choice lately.

She sleeps a lot at weekends.

mumeeee · 05/01/2012 11:07

Purplecupchase. I agree with you that each child is different in how much sleep they need. Also if I knew my child wouldn't go into college at all if I didn't wake them up. So I can see why you wake your DD.

Acanthus · 05/01/2012 11:27

Yes the phone always has to be downstairs in the schoolbag which is packed the night before. Any other way leads to doom and disaster if they have an early start.

girlwhousedtobeme · 06/01/2012 16:43

can you turn the internet off??? Didn't know that!!

My biggest gripe is that they stay awake on their phones/ipods/blackberries or whatever even though lights are out and tvs off.

Kind of feel sorry for my dds tonight Grin Grin Wink

sorry, in answer to your question nearly 13 dd2's bedtime has just gone up to 9.30 and that's more than enough during the week. 10pm at weekends. The other's 17 so more or less makes her own but around 11.

LeBOF · 06/01/2012 16:47

I don't think you can set a bedtime at that age- they should have developed enough to understand themselves how much sleep they need. I don't interfere with dd1's bedtime (although she goes up about half nine, then potters in her room- I need some down time too), and I definitely don't supervise her getting up. If she is late for something, tough shit. That tends to motivate them, I think.

Acandlelitshadow · 06/01/2012 16:58

I'd suggest leaving it to her. She's more than old enough to sort herself out both ends of the day.

jshibbyr · 09/01/2012 08:52

15- 10pm to 10:30.
16 make own bedtime, my rule was had to be in bed before parents.
most teens if tired will go to bed, i know some nights i used to go to bed at 9pm or earlier specially when i was working from 6am weekends then school had to be up by 7am every day.
i had to get myself up from the age of about 6, so not sure on this melark of getting them out of bed when there that age :P, might just be me :P

HattiFattner · 09/01/2012 09:04

My 15 yo has a suggested bedtime of 10ish school nights, but we have allowed her to set her own timings - if she wants to stay up til midnight, thats her affair, but she still needs to get up at 7. AFter a couple of days of late nights and early mornings, she figured out for herself that she needed more sleep.

ruddynorah · 09/01/2012 09:09

You can turn your wireless box off. If they have their phone they can get online though.

HomeDeo · 14/01/2012 13:39

teenagers 13 aren't children anymore you have to let them work out what suits them and hattifattner's coment just highlights that their not stupid if you just let them work out what time is right for them because you can't get to sleep if your not tired and if they are stuck in thier bed room sooner or later they'll find someway of amusiong them selves so it wouldn't make any diffrence how early you put them away my 14y goes at 10:30ish because we watch the ten oclock news and then we go to bed and they go to bed

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