What time did your young kids go to sleep

[shainski]

well our deal with our kids was this - if they took a nap, they got to stay up later at night - and usually we got them to bed about 9 to 9:30.

It was really better for us if they took naps - and we realized it was a house of cards - if one of them stopped then they would all likely stop. But they were much better behaved if they took a nap - even if it was 45 minutes.

Our kids are now 8,7,6 and 4 - and now none of them take naps and the bedtime is generally about 8:30 but it isn’t written in stone - and with all the extracurriculars, it is more of a target - earlier if they are crabby. (Our 4 year old will take a nap on a rare occasion as she is in K4 - and is home without her siblings after school).

We’ve never been a slave to the bedtime - and none of our kids needed a lot of sleep.

 

[Cat]

Wow. My 30-year-old daughter still takes a nap everyday.

I’ve told this story before on CAF, but I’ll repeat it. The school that my children attended had a graduated system of Open Campus based on grades (part of the “college prep”). Beginning in 6th grade, a student who earned a certain GPA was eligible to spend their study halls in the cafeteria instead of the library. In 7th grade, those with the GPA earned the opportunity to sit outside during free periods. And so it went, and by the time the student was a high school senior, that good GPA earned them complete freedom to leave campus without telling anyone if they had free periods.

So my daughter earned all her privileges through the years, and when she was a Senior, earned the “complete freedom” privilege.

Many of the Seniors who earned this complete freedom Open Campus celebrated their first day by heading to a restaurant or coffee shop, or to the Baskin Robbins down the road from the school, or even hosting a party at their houses (if they lived close enough to the school).

On my daughter’s very first day of “complete freedom open campus,” she was so excited. Guess what she did with that precious free period?!

She drove home and took a NAP!!!



My other daughter often says, “I was so weird when I was a little kid. I hated going to bed and I always wanted to stay up late. Now that I’m grown up, when it’s ten o-clock, I’m so HAPPY because it’s BEDTIME and I get to go to SLEEP!!!”

 

[Kelfa28]

My other daughter often says, “I was so weird when I was a little kid. I hated going to bed and I always wanted to stay up late. Now that I’m grown up, when it’s ten o-clock, I’m so HAPPY because it’s BEDTIME and I get to go to SLEEP!!!”

Ha!

Don’t you wish you could turn back time and tell yourself these things just to see the reaction you’d have as a kid?

I love it when it’s bedtime for the kids. That means it’s my turn to relax and wind down. Hubby and I can’t make it past 10:30 pm anymore.
Your daughter doesn’t have kids yet, right? When she does…she’s going to want to go to bed by 9:00!

My daughter is pretty good about bedtime but she hates going down for naps and will fight them. She’s a typical toddler.
It doesn’t matter. Nap time is nap time…whether she takes a nap or not. She still gets put in her crib and told to take a nap.

 

[Cat]

Ha!

Don’t you wish you could turn back time and tell yourself these things just to see the reaction you’d have as a kid?

I love it when it’s bedtime for the kids. That means it’s my turn to relax and wind down. Hubby and I can’t make it past 10:30 pm anymore.
Your daughter doesn’t have kids yet, right? When she does…she’s going to want to go to bed by 9:00!

My daughter is pretty good about bedtime but she hates going down for naps and will fight them. She’s a typical toddler.
It doesn’t matter. Nap time is nap time…whether she takes a nap or not. She still gets put in her crib and told to take a nap.

My older daughter took a nap from the time she was in the womb, and still takes that nap at age 30. She was the best napper in the class during kindergarten (All Day kindergarten, and they took a nap after lunch every day for a solid hour–for many of the children, it was torture, but not for my daughter!)

But my younger daughter never, ever took a nap, and still won’t take a nap during the day because it makes her feel sick and tired. (I’m the same way, which is one reason why it was imperative for me to get my babies sleeping through the night–I wasn’t able to take those little cat-naps throughout the day).

My younger daughter slept through the night at 6 weeks old, and within a few months, went to bed at 10 p.m. (and fell asleep within a few minutes after being put into her crib), and woke up at 10 a.m. But no nap.

So while her older sister was sleeping, I would tell her that we couldn’t bother sissy, and that she had to stay in the family room and watch TV. For two years, she watched Dumbo every single day! Now that she is 27, she loves elephants! I’m serious!

She was so cute during her sister’s naptime. She never made any noise, and sat quietly in the family room watching TV.

Yes, I was around while she watched Dumbo, and occasionally she would want my attention. But as a rule, she stayed by herself in the family room with Dumbo. I think that sitting like a statue in front of the TV was her way of “napping.” She wasn’t asleep, but she was quiet and more or less motionless, and she wasn’t eating anything. It was a rest time for her.

So the point is–never say never in parenting. There are parents who insist that their children WILL do this or that, but many times, we end up eating our words because our kids are all unique individuals.

 

[Joe_5859]

Not enough poll options!

I picked 8pm, even though our target is really 7:30pm (which tends closer to 8pm often enoguh ). Our kids generally wake up at the same painfully early hour regardless of when they go to bed, so we aim for an earlier bedtime. My wife and I are both night owls and our children appear to be early risers. It takes some getting used to.

I am amazed someone picked the 6pm option!

 

[Sarabande]

I am amazed someone picked the 6pm option!

Haha! The only reason we had the 6:00 p.m. option for my son and for my daughter when she was younger was because if they went to bed later, they’ll get up even earlier or have a bad sleep. Because my daughter rarely took naps, we’d sometimes had her go down around 5:30 or earlier, but 6:00 p.m. was usually our go-to time for her. My son usually takes a nap in the morning, so 6:00 pm to 6:30/7:00 a.m. is a good choice for us.

My mom told me that my siblings and I were heavy sleepers. We loved to sleep and still do. She’d put us down around 4:30/5:00 p.m. and we often wouldn’t wake up until around 8:00 or 9:00 the next morning. Now, I call that a miracle. lol!!!

 

[tafan]

Well, another issue where we could likely improve, but likely wont, ha. We have never been very restrictive as far as this goes, it has always seemed like there are better battles to fight.
By and large:

• For toddlers: IRRC: when they seem to get tired or when we get tired.
• For elementary kids during school year: around 8:30-9. This is the only one which is fairly rigid.
• For teenagers: whenever they want.
  -Summertime: rules are a little looser

 

[Joe_5859]

Haha! The only reason we had the 6:00 p.m. option for my son and for my daughter when she was younger was because if they went to bed later, they’ll get up even earlier or have a bad sleep. Because my daughter rarely took naps, we’d sometimes had her go down around 5:30 or earlier, but 6:00 p.m. was usually our go-to time for her. My son usually takes a nap in the morning, so 6:00 pm to 6:30/7:00 a.m. is a good choice for us.

My mom told me that my siblings and I were heavy sleepers. We loved to sleep and still do. She’d put us down around 4:30/5:00 p.m. and we often wouldn’t wake up until around 8:00 or 9:00 the next morning. Now, I call that a miracle. lol!!!

That’s a lot of sleep! Although, I would probably sleep that much every day if I could get away with it.

 

[Sarabande]

That’s a lot of sleep! Although, I would probably sleep that much every day if I could get away with it.

haha! I hear you. I try to get between 7-8 hours of sleep, but I rarely do. I’m always trying to make up at night what I couldn’t get done during the day. I think it’s starting to take a toll on me, though. I was thinking that maybe I had a problem because I tend to doze off around 8:00/9:00 p.m. and then wake myself up after being asleep for about 15 minutes or so. I’ve always been able to handle going on little sleep in the past, but now I think it’s just because I haven’t been getting enough sleep and when you’re in your 30s, it’s not as easy to just go on 5 hours of sleep.

When I do have the opportunity to sleep in, I usually can’t sleep past 8:00. I remember my grandmother telling me how for years, while raising her 6 kids, she’d long for when she didn’t have to get up at 5:00 a.m. When she finally could sleep in a little later, her body just wouldn’t let her stay asleep and she still got up between 5:00 and 5:30. She’s in her 80s now and it’s only recently that she will sleep in till 7:00.

 

[Joe_5859]

haha! I hear you. I try to get between 7-8 hours of sleep, but I rarely do. I’m always trying to make up at night what I couldn’t get done during the day. I think it’s starting to take a toll on me, though. I was thinking that maybe I had a problem because I tend to doze off around 8:00/9:00 p.m. and then wake myself up after being asleep for about 15 minutes or so. I’ve always been able to handle going on little sleep in the past, but now I think it’s just because I haven’t been getting enough sleep and when you’re in your 30s, it’s not as easy to just go on 5 hours of sleep.

When I do have the opportunity to sleep in, I usually can’t sleep past 8:00. I remember my grandmother telling me how for years, while raising her 6 kids, she’d long for when she didn’t have to get up at 5:00 a.m. When she finally could sleep in a little later, her body just wouldn’t let her stay asleep and she still got up between 5:00 and 5:30. She’s in her 80s now and it’s only recently that she will sleep in till 7:00.

I hear that. In college, I could go weeks at a time on 5 hours or less a night. Not anymore.

Yeah, my dad usually can’t sleep past 5:30 or 6 either. But then there are my in-laws who – now that they’re both retired – will often stay up past midnight and sleep in until 10.