Early Bedtime for the Kiddies

My kids 2yrs and 4 yrs go to bed at around 7:45 most nights. we have black out shades on their windows so the time change hasn't been an issue.

Mine go to bed at 7...they both (5 &3) mentioned that it was still light last week but that was it...not giving me a hard time about it yet! I LOVE the spring change b/c they sleep later in the morning for a few weeks and when they do wake up they think it's not time to get up b/c the sun isn't as bright as before!!!!

We have a seven o'clock for bedtime for Kiddo. Our house wakes around 6:30 and it's advised to give little ones his age(ours is almost five) between 10-11 hours of rest. He sure needs it and wakes in a good mood.

We've been doing this for the last two years. The later light doesn't seem to be a problem for him; we just keep the bedtime routine boringly consistent. Summertime can be a little harder, but only because the neighbor lets her kids play out pretty late and so there's sometimes loud meltdowns which are far more disturbing than the late sunlight.

Our almost 7-yr old boys go to bed at 7:30 and are sleeping by 8 pm. They wake up at 7 am after almost 11 hrs of uninterrupted sleep. Heavy blinds keep their room quite dark and its also very quiet all through the night.
They are very tall and intelligent for their age .... I attribute a majority of it to their long & uninterrupted sleep routine.

Well this isn't going to answer your question directly so I apologize...my son typically enjoys an 8:00 bedtime and is lights out by 8:30. It's a little late for his age, I think, but it works well any other time is hit or miss. What I find terribly odd is that even though his bedtime is technically earlier since the time change, he's FREAKING OUT by the time 8:00 rolls around as if we should have put him to bed sooner? I don't know. So, tomorrow we're going to experiment with a 7:00 bedtime lights out by 7:30 (we read stories and say prayers) and we will see how that works but he's still sleeping in until the normal time (adjusted for the time change) so when he would usually wake up around 7:00, he's now waking up at 8:00 on the dot. I don't get it.

My almost 4 year old goes to be around 7:30 (lights out and alone in his room, but then he sometimes rolls around for 20 min before falling asleep) and my 7 month old closer to 7.

I've always been jealous of families who could just make the decision to do later bedtimes so there's more time for fun in the evening and everyone sleeps in the next morning. It all comes down to the needs of the individual child. My older son cannot function that way. If we let him stay up till 9 or 9:30 he will still wake up at 6am and be a total bear the next day so its not worth it. Sometimes I feel bummed making him go to bed that early especially since it makes the evenings rushed (Daddy comes home around 6, we have dinner, go for a walk, and then its bedtime) but its what he needs.

I have a friend whose 1 year old doesn't make it past 6pm, he yawns and rubs his eyes and just passes out by 6, 6:30 at the latest and sleeps till 7am. Just depends on the kid. As long as you're following your child's cues, you're all good.

preschool age....about 8pm, except in the summer - sometimes 9pm.

school age...always in bed by 8:30 & up by 6:45. In the summer, sleep was 9-9....which was great!

by the time my sons were about 10, bedtime was consistently 9-10pm, sleeping until 7am during the school year & sleeping until 9am during the summer.

from teen years on, bedtime was at their discretion....as long as it wasn't too late. :)

My almost 7 yr old is in bed at 8:00 on school nights 8:30 on Fri Sat. If not he falls apart the next evening around 7:30.

My almost 2 year old is in bed by 7:30 on our new time change (so, to him it's still like 6:30 pm!) Prior to the time change, he was sleeping around 7. He sleeps 11 hours and I wouldn't dream of a later bedtime (though I wish we could so I could spend more time with him!) because he wakes up when he wakes up anyway and is a real BEAR without a full nights sleep. When he was younger, there were many nights he was in bed by 6 or 6:30. Earlier bedtimes usually help kids sleep better and longer.

DD goes to bed at 9 p.m. I'd rather it be later than have her wake up! It works for us.

My kids do sports, dance, and gym. It is not reasonable for us to plan any kind of a bed time until at least 8:30 but we are often not even getting home until 8:15 to 8:30.

I think early bedtimes are just too hard on the family. There is no time for family activities and they whole family time is all about bedtime then you have hours to do nothing with the kids. To me that's just sad. I would rather have some activities and spend time with them awake.

That said.

There are these panels at home improvement places like Lowes that are 4'X8' sheets of 1/2 Styrofoam that have silver film on each side. Mine says something about penguins...they are for insulating windows and such to get heat and cold out. They can easily be cut to fit next to the glass in windows.

They block out 99% of the light and also help with the bills.
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When I was a kid my parents made me go to bed around 7:30 or so. All the neighborhood kids would be outside playing until dark. Often 9 or so. When they found out I had to go to bed so early they would sit outside my window and make fun of me.

My parents finally realized they had to change my bedtime. That's one reason I don't do early bedtimes, I realize there are often needs for this due to work hours. Other than having to get the kids up at 5am to get to work by 6 I don't really see any reason to put older kids in bed until at least 8 or 9pm. They don't need to have 12 hours of sleep. 10 hours is plenty for school kids. They get up at 7 they should go to bed by 9. That's where my thoughts come from, just clarifying a bit.

Not sure what u consider early, but mine are in bed by 8:00 every night. They both sleep with lights on in their rooms so the time
Change doesn't really affect them. We also get up at 6 on weekdays. They are 6 and 5 yrs old.

Mine are 2 and 5 and are in bed between 7:45 and 8:30. My 2yo is on an abbreviated nap schedule, which means there are some days that she doesn't take a nap. On non-nap days, she's in bed (and usually out cold) by 7:30. My 5yo goes to preschool 3 days per week, so on non-school nights, I usually let him stay up until 8:30 unless I see he's tired. This will probably change to an earlier bedtime once my son starts K in the fall because we'll have to up much earlier and every day.

We have good curtains in their room to block out most of the light, and we're fortunate because the porch overhang keeps out most of the light.

my 2 year old goes to bed at 7, my 4 year old at 7:45. Ideally, my 4 year old would go to bed at 7:30.

When they were babies, I put them down at 5:30.

I have a friend that puts her 3 year old down at 6:30. He then sleeps to 7:30. No naps.

my kids are 4 and 6. I try to have them in bed by 730 most nights.. sometimes we make it other times we dont. They wake up on their own between 7 and 730. so they get 11-12 hours a night.

most kids wake up with the sun.. no matter wehn they go to bed they wake up at the same time.. (like an internal alarm clock goes off and they are up .)

If your kids have school or day care in the am.. they need to go to bed early so they can get up early and get all of their rest.

we might have my 4 year old take naps this summer so he can stay up later..

my kids have a 730 bed time, they are 7 and 10. They get 1 hr of reading time after bedtime , lights out at 830, unless they have gotten in trouble and had their reading time knocked down . They are doing fine.

Between 7-7:30 for my 5 and 8 yr olds and around 8 for my 11 yr old.

We put our 1 year-old to bed between 7 and 7:30 pm and our 4 year-old to be between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. We have blackout shades in both rooms so they can sleep even if its light outside. No problems.

It depends on the child's natural chemistry. We are all night owls in our house. My son doesn't have preschool until 12:15 so he doesn't usually got to bed until about 9:30. He gets at least 12 hours of sleep every night (he is 4). Unless there is a reason to go to bed early (parents have to get up early for work, school starts early the next day,ect) what is the point? We do use very heavy shades in his room to block out the light. I got them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and they work really well to keep him asleep in the morning. You can use them in the evening as well.

Mine are both usually tucked in and lights out by 7:45. They are 4 and 5.