Bedtime for teenagers

[BraverThanYouBel1eve]

Do you have bedtime and 'screens off' time for teenagers? If you do, what time is it and how do you impose it? If you don't, why not, and what time do your teenagers go to bed by themselves?

Thanks.

[dementedpixie]

Tend to direct them to bed when we're going up so could be 10.30pm, could be later depending on if its a weekend or not. Never really impose screen limits tbh. Dd is 16, ds is 13.

[whoiscooking]

DC 17, 15 and 12. No bed time or screen limits for the older two, when I go up to bed I encourage them to turn lights off soon if they're still awake. Things not normal at the moment and 17 year old is staying up til all hours but I'm ignoring that for now.
Normally youngest is sent to bed by 9.30, no screens in bedroom after dinner.

[FATEdestiny]

Mine (DD15 DS14) are going to bed same time as us at the moment - 10.30pm-11.30pm. In normal term time it would be 10-10.30pm.

Phones put on charge in the hallway is part of the ritual of going to bed. It's just established as that's where phones live overnight.

Occasionally they try it on (usually when there's a new boyfriend or girlfriend on the scene). But DH and I put out phones on charge at the same place, so it's rare we don't spot if there's a phone not on charge. We would definately notice in the morning, because we're always up first. So DC would get a rollocking and we'd triple check phone was out of room every night for next week or so.

[Titsywoo]

Not really but they both have their own bedtimes that they always seem to stick to - if I go and say goodnight at 11pm they are both in bed and will both be asleep by 11.30-midnight (that's at the moment as we wake up a bit later, it was an hour earlier when they were in school).

[Mary8076]

Yes and yes, these are both very important for their growth, especially the sleep since it affects everything, school, mood, health...
For bedtime i follow this tab:
10 yo - 10:30 hours
11 yo - 10:15 hours
12 yo - 10:00 hours
13 yo - 9:45 hours
14 yo - 9:30 hours
15 yo - 9:15 hours
16 yo - 9:00 hours
17 yo - 8:45 hours
18 yo - 8:30 hours
They are supposed to be in the bed light off at the right time, according to the wake-up time. Usually I don't need to impose it because they are used to respect the schedule, but if they are still awake (without reason) something like 15 minutes past bedtime or they are not respecting it again and again then I impose it.

Screen time is restricted with parental control, maximum 2 hours a day and there is a block for the night starting one hour before bedtime.

[MaggieMay1972]

Getting my 16 year old daughter out of her bed is more of a challenge at the moment, unless it involves food or one of her friends on the land line. I’m sure that girl would have her mobile taped to her ear if she could.

[mathanxiety]

I never had a bedtime or screens off time for mine when they were teens.

They had school at 8 and knew they had to be up to get their carpool there or walk 45 mins. Two of them had practices for sports which started at 5.30 am.

They also had homework.

I reckoned that managing their own time and learning to set priorities were important skills to develop. Also, they used their phones as alarm clocks.

They were expecting to head to university away from home, with nobody there to check they were in bed and not burning the candle at both ends.

[mathanxiety]

Also, wrt screen time, mine did their homework on laptops. They often had 4-5 hours of homework a night. They could watch TV if they had a little time and wanted to relax. They spent from 8-3 in school and had sports and extra curricular activities afterwards. Zoning out was nice for them.

[MaggieMay1972]

She also has online tutorials everyday so I suggested she wore something other than her Andy Pandy onesie and do something with her hair. Next day she came down dressed as Princess Leia , hair makeup, the works - and would only speak in French for the rest of the day. Absolutely no point appealing to her father, she has him totally wrapped around her little finger so perhaps dressing as a Princess is appropriate. Where did I go wrong !.