Hello!

What time do your kids go to bed and how old are they? My kids tell me I make them go too early (compared to their friends) but very interested to hear your thoughts. MoM x

Posted by MoM, 09/05/13

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  • The moment they started to misbehave or not sit still they would be sent to bed. The times changed when it was daylight saving though. Usually it was bed around 7:30 (ages 5 and 12) but they could read or play quietly in their rooms until they were tired. It was always lights out by 9. The youngest would be asleep by 8 at the latest but the oldest would usually have to be told to turn his lights off. You must remember though that all children are different where some need more sleep than others.


  • 1 yr old 6.30pm and 3 yr old 7 to 7.30pm


  • Ages 7 and 9 in bed by 9


  • My 3 and 5 are in bed at 7.30


  • My 4 year old is supposed to be in bed by 7 but realistically it’s usually 8


  • Every family is different. Personally mine go to bed on the later side, 8/8:30pm at 3 years. It works for our family and that is all that matters.


  • My 16 and 15yr old go around 10.30 or 11 pm (possibly later in the weekend) my 10yr old goes around 8.30 ish and my 7yr old goes around 8pm


  • I always try to get my 3yo to bed or sleep between 7/-8. In the last few months it’s been getting later as she wants to stay awake with me :-/


  • My 10 year old goes to bed at 8.30 and my 13 year old goes between 9 and 9.30. My boys have had an 8.30 basically from as early as I can remember


  • 2yo – between 6.30-7pm
    6yo – 7pm
    8yo – 7pm but is allowed to read for half an hour in bed.

    They get up at 6.30am


  • My 11 year old goes to bed no later than 8:30 ideally, 9 on weekends but this often translates into 9:30!


  • We had our go to bed at 8pm and 8:30 lights out. Worked well until high school. 10pm was lights out until year 10.
    Kids need 8 hours sleep at least.


  • Our 3yo son has never liked going to bed too early – if we put him in bed any time before 7.30pm, he will fight sleep and stay awake until after 10pm. We found if we start the bath/bed time routine at 8pm, with the aim of being in bed by 8.30pm, then he will fall asleep just after 9pm. He still naps 2 hours during the day, and gets up at 6.30am. Each child is different – we tried many many tricks to get him to go to sleep earlier, including keeping him from napping during the day and eating dinner earlier, but that was too hard for everyone – tantrums, tears, and then there was an upset child to deal with.

    We are hoping to change the behaviour once our 2nd child comes along, and also when #1 is going to pre-school. We are looking forward to the day he drops his day sleep – we are letting him take charge on that one – hopefully, once he drops his day sleep, he will want to go to bed earlier.


  • well that is an easy one to answer, our 10 year old goes at 8pm, we tried 8:30pm and we had trouble getting him out of bed at 7am, so dropped it back to 8pm, no problem then, his sister who is 15 has been told lights out at 9:30pm. Yes their friends go to bed later, some of them are tired at school the following day. They have been told that we don’t care what time their friends go to bed they have a set time and it gets reviewed every birthday, we need them fresh for school to learn and what their friends are allowed to do have nothing to do with them or with us. They are allowed to stay up later on school holidays or days when there is no school the following day.


  • My kids all went to be at 8 on school nights and 9 on the weekends until they were a little older…when they were around 10 years old they were allowed up until 8.30 on school nights and 9.30 on weekends.
    Once they reached high school they were allowed to monitor themselves.


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