Do your kids have a bedtime or sleep routine?

Our bedtime routine varies day to day. My fiance works until 6pm every night, so dinner is usually around 7. We relax for awhile then I put my daugher, 8 months, in the bath tub about 8. Then i just let her fall asleep when ever she is ready. I don't force her to go to bed. I think that you already have a fairly good routine, and that an earlier bedtime just puts more strain on you.

I don't see anything wrong with the way you are doing it. They don't have school in the morning so who cares what time they sleep into. Once they hit school age it might be a little bit of a different story but for now letting them fall asleep on the couch and bringing them up to bed is fine. There are no screaming fits and everything is peaceful. My sister and I used to do the same thing when we were kids and we turned out just fine. 9:00 is a good time for a 3 yr old to be in bed and 7:00 is a normal wake up time. If you put them to bed any earlier then they will wake up earlier and you will get less sleep as I don't see you being in bed by 7:30! Your husband needs to relax on the sleeping thing. There is tons of time to get them into a routine before they start school. My daughter is 5 and in SK and she goes to bed at 9pm and must wake up at 6:30am to get ready for school. You're kids will be fine and you are the one looking after them all day, so you need a good nights rest as well. your husband won't understand that though as he isn't around during the day to see. I'd keep doing it the way they are used to, you aren't hurting your kids by doing that.

If they don't normally fall asleep until 9:00, then 7:30 or 8:00 seems like too early a bedtime. But putting them to bed in their beds sounds reasonable to me. When my daughter was that age, I would sit in her room, read her two books, tell her goodnight, then leave. She quickly got into the routine and was able to fall asleep without much trouble.

Kelly

I think it is important to have a routine and a set bedtime (keeping it flexible), but it is not necessary to have them scream and cry to get used to it. It is easy for him to say what you should do when he doesn't have to be there to deal with it. Choose a bedtime that is close to when they go to bed now. Tell them what will happen. Start a routine. For example- put on pajamas, brush teeth, read a story, then go to bed- or something that works for you and your children. Then sit with them for a while, but try to leave before they fall asleep. What I do with my son when he has a hard time going to bed is sit with him for a few minutes, then gradually move closer to the door and eventually outside his door. This may help ease the transition for your children instead of having them cry it out.

Good bedtime habits are important because sleep is the foundation for good health. When children learn to soothe themselves to sleep, they will be better able to handle conflict during the day. They will be able to adapt that skill to other situations in their lives. Also, when they go to preschool or school, the routine and the good night's sleep will become even more important.

I know what you are saying, sometimes it seems so much easier to just let them do what they want and work around them, but long term it just makes a parents job ten times harder and miserable! I nearly made the same mistake a few times myself!

My two year old daughter has her routine, she gets taken upstairs about 6.50pm and has a wash or a bath, then she has her hair brushed and teeth brushed and then she goes to bed and I read her a story. Most times she will fall asleep during the story but if for any reason she does not then she has her tv on. She is so set in her routine that if by 7pm she has not been taken upstairs she comes and tells me by crying and being whingy.

My other two boys are 7 and 6 and at first when they were little, I did not have a set routine for them, and it was hard they just seemed to be up all the time. In the end I knew that if I did not set a regular routine then I would never have a moment to myself of an evening and so I set the same routine for them. Now that they are older they stay up a little later and then at a certain time they go upstairs and watch tv until they fall asleep.

Yes we do. My daughter has always gone to bed between 7 pm and 8pm. Now that she is in kindergarten it isn't even a debate. Bed time is bed time. I think it makes it easier on her to have this routine. We will probably change things up a bit when she gets a little older.

My son is 5...and for the most part yes we have a routine. Since he was about 3 and we were making progress with potty training...we started one. About hour before bed he gets bath, then 30 mins before or so, he gets a half a glass of water or drink of some sort, then after i remind him to use the potty and brush his teeth. Then if its a week night and school (now that hes that age) he goes to bed at 8 o clock, if its fri or sat, he can go in his room at 8 and watch tv til hes tired or til 9 at the latest. Seems to work well, and even when he was younger, i was fortunate to not have big hassles with him at bedtime. Good luck, and i promise it will get easier.

They have a bedtime at 9pm but they usually want to go to bed... weird huh? lol But they have to be on our work scheduals.

This one is a toughy.
Sometimes my kids would cooperate. You know how kids are.

Lately, since my oldest goes to school since the 3rd, I have been telling her to get ready at 9:30PM but I need to have her in bed earlier than that.
She's 7 and in second grade.

My other one goes to bed for the most part with her sister which is good.
SHe sometimes are the one that falls asleep.
Keeping the light on would help instead of shutting it off if they are by themselves.
My kids have a prob with it if without any tv on in their room.
Unfortunately, tv would knock them out.
Depending if they have a nap or something.

If we go out somewhere I like to be back by 7:00 then she has time to do whatever she wants and then 8:00 is bathtime. Then she gets a snack and we watch tv upstairs in my bed until 9:00. I read her a book and then put her to bed. Shes 2 btw.