Why I Make My Kids Go To Bed Every Night At 7 P.M.

My aunt has lived in Texas for the majority of my life, whereas I have always lived in Ohio. This means I don’t see her much and our in-person communication is pretty much limited to holidays and special events like weddings.

Once, she was in town for just a random visit and wanted to come by and see me and the kids. But she didn’t, because it was 7 p.m. and she knew (everyone knew) that at 7 p.m., my house shuts down and it’s time for my kids to go to bed.

“I didn’t want to mess up your routine,” she told me. “They told me how you are about bedtime!”

She wasn’t lying. For the first five years of my children’s life, I have been anal about bedtime. At first, it was just so they could get the recommended 11 hours of sleep a night that my pediatrician kept bugging me about. The clock hit 7 and without much fuss, my kids would stop playing their games and head upstairs to begin their bedtime routine. As they’ve gotten older, I’ve become a little more relaxed and let them play until 7:30.

This summer, I relaxed a bit and let them go to sleep much later – like 9 p.m. I’d make them brush their teeth and put on pajamas but they could play in their room until they felt like going to sleep.

Big mistake.

Instead of having that downtime to relax and do whatever I wanted, I was still on “Mommy Duty.” And since my kids get up at 6 a.m. no matter what time they go to bed, I was inevitably losing three hours of “me-time” a day. And that’s no good.

Putting my kids to bed at a regular time was good for everybody. For my kids, who needed their rest. For my stress levels, which needed to come down a bit after a day full of “mommying.” For my husband, who would like to talk to his wife without kids’ elbows and requests in the way.

So now I’m back to the regular bedtime – I don’t care if it’s summer or not. And even two days into it, I feel less stress and my kids are happier in the mornings because they’re not as tired. Don’t be afraid to experiment in your family with what works best for you. You set the tone. You make the rules.

What about you? Do your kids have a regular bedtime – even in the summer?

Comments

  1. yes…but it was a bit more relaxed in the summer…but i’m a believer in regular bedtimes well in to middle school.

  2. We’ve always had a regular bedtime here, 8:00 means time to brush teeth and get to bed. Lights go out at nine since Sid loves to read to herself in bed. I made the big mistake of letting her stay up later this summer and now bedtime is always a fight.

    After the drivE-In Tomorrow We’re going to work on getting back on schedule.

  3. My daughter goes to bed at 9pm during the school year. I was going to let her go to bed two hours later but i started taking OT at work. My mother watches Bubba while I work and she lets her get away with everything so Bubba goes to bed whenever she wants which can be as late at 6am! Im not too worried because in the last two weeks if August we will be going back to 9pm, no matter what Granny says. .wish me luck!

  4. It’s good that you’ve got this routine instilled at such a young age. I feel as if I were to try something like this I would be met with stiff resistance at my house. But hey…new school year, new routine – right?!

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  6. We do an 8pm bedtime during the school year. It’s better for us with soccer practice after school. But during the summer I’m relaxed because of the time changes – if the sky isn’t dark, the kids won’t sleep (I don’t blame them). So bedtime is usually 930pm ish during the summer. To be honest, I’m more concerned with MY bedtime than theirs. Lately I’ve been going to bed so late! I used to be one of those moms that went to bed a half hour after the kids… Oh how I miss that.