How Do You Get Your Kids in Bed by 7?

Yep, its nine o’clock at night right now and both of my kids are still awake. I’m sure many of the so-called sleep experts and many other parents would put me in their books of shame. But, I’m not ashamed to admit that this is pretty typical in my house. My kids are not in bed by 7. Never have been and probably never will be. I’m also not ashamed to admit that I am jealous of the parents out there who can get their kids to close their eyes at 7 at night and not open them until 7 in the morning. Are some of you lying about your kids sleeping habits? I would love to put a nanny cam in your house to see if you are telling the truth!

I don’t want you to think I haven’t tried a more regimented bedtime routine. We do the whole story thing, tuck in, and night night, just like all the books and magazines tell you to do. Then we get untucked, read an encyclopedia and stay awake for hours. I just can’t seem to successfully force a bedtime on my kids. It’s not like my kids are up till midnight, but they are more in the nine to nine thirty range. Now, there’s a study that actually shows that the time parents choose for their kids may not jive with his or her internal body clock. This study is worth reading because it makes me feel like maybe my kids are not as crazy as I may have thought and maybe I’m not either. Maybe.

My kids do have a routine, but they just seem to fall asleep when they’re little body says enough is enough. Unfortunately, it’s not always when I’m ready to stare at the back of my eyelids for the next seven hours (that is seven, if I’m lucky….more like six). There have been plenty of nights when I try to get them in bed earlier, but it just doesn’t work. That is, unless I want temper tantrums and fights that make me angrier than when they took ALF off the air in the eighties.

With all that said, if you are one of those parents who HONESTLY get your kid to be early, enjoy it. Just know that I’m awake with jealously and already thinking of all the coffee I’m going to have to drink tomorrow to keep up with these energizer bunnies.

Night, night and sweet dreams…

6 Comments How Do You Get Your Kids in Bed by 7?

  1. SheriQ

    No 7pm bedtime here. My kiddos are 7 & 9 & we head them towards bed by 8:30pm. That doesn’t mean that they are sleep by 8:31 or 9, either!
    It took lots of time & many repititions of “stay in your room,” “get back to bed,” and “go to sleep,” but they now know that if they can’t sleep, they can turn on their little reading light & grab a book or ONE stuffed animal.
    It doesn’t always work, but it certainly has curbed the weeble-wobble activity from their room to me.

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  2. Katie @ Pick Any Two

    My kid is in bed by 8:00 most nights BUT he’s still very young (17 months) and he doesn’t yet have any siblings. So I’m expecting things to change down the road. I think we get into trouble when we try too hard to fight against their bodies’ natural tendencies.

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  3. Susan Maccarelli

    Found you from the Facebook hop…My kids are 2 and 3 and in bed and asleep by 8:30 usually. They are usually in bed by 8, but messing around and drawing out bedtime or in there singing or something for a while. Alas, they don’t sleep late. The 3yo sleeps until about 7 and the 2yo is a loose canon waking up any time between 5:30 and 6:30 am. I am always annoyed when people tell em they will sleep late if i put them to bed later. I have tried it a million times and they don’t sleep any later – ugh! I am always amazed by the kids who sleep until 8 and 9am. I’m not sure what I would do with all that free time!

    Reply

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