What time is bedtime in your home?
Tuesday August 11, 2009
My teen and preteen tend to get very quiet when I’m starting my 5-year-old’s bedtime routine. They seem to think that if they are silent, I will believe that they have become part of the furniture and not send them off to their beds for the night. While I do believe in some independence, there is a hard and fast rule of a bedtime in our home. We are very early risers, not by choice, so we need to be early-to-bed people too – or we all get moody. How about your teen? Leave a comment and take our poll.
What time does your teen get to bed on school nights?
My 14-year-old has no trouble getting to bed at 10:00, but my 17-year-old has started to rebel against the 10:00 bedtime. He says he can’t get to sleep that early anyway, so he might as well be up and accomplishing something. Also, none of his friends seem to go to bed at 10:00 either as they’re still all online at that time. It’s a tough call, but as he’s nearly 18, I’ve started applying the “let him face the consequences” theory. If he continues to stay up late and starts to get exhausted and fall asleep during the day, perhaps he’ll see the wisdom in getting to bed at a decent hour. Still, I start laying on the pressure to go to bed around 11:00.
My daughter, 18, has always set herself a strict 9 p.m. bedtime, and puts herself to bed then. She has a really hard time staying up past that, unless it’s a special occasion. (Of course, she’s a very early riser, too.) My son, 15, usually goes to bed closer to 9:30 or 10 p.m. If we let it go too late, he gets very silly and has a hard time sleeping.
My husband and I fall asleep on the couch watching TV shortly after that.
My 15 year old daughter puts herself to bed, usually around 9:30. My 13 year old son would stay up all night if given the option. However, they both go to their rooms at 9:00. They are allowed to do whatever they want to do there (read, listen to music, quietly, etc.). I believe the old adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” So my theory is you can make them go to their rooms (parents need alone/quiet time too), you just can’t make them sleep. One other rule I have, is after 9:30, if it has to be plugged in to work, you aren’t allowed to use it.
Hey!
My 9 year old starts getting ready for bed by 8pm and is in bed by 8:30. We have to get up at 5:30am and she really needs her sleep. My 15 year old son just goes when he feels like it. Luckily he gets real sleepy by 10pm.
My oldest would never get to bed early once he turned 17 and was impossible to get up in the mornings. It was a fight all the time.(He has since moved out since he turned 18.)
My 14yo son has a hard time lately with the 8pm cut off for the tv. he wakes at 630 am at the latest to catch the school bus. we usually have early waking hrs no matter weekday or weekend. I guess it’s just being a teen and rebelling.
I am 15 years old and I haven’t had a set bedtime since I was 14. Mostly because I don’t fall asleep till midnight even when lying in bed. However I still go down to my room at 10-11 depending if my dad, my mom and I were watching a good show together. And heck if I am tired I’ll go to bed as early as eight o’clock. Everyone has different sleep preferences, and as long as they are getting enough sleep to function I wouldn’t worry. Eventually the kid finds a time that works well for them. And as previously stated if they aren’t going to bed when they need to they’ll face the consequences in the morning.
I’m a sixteen year old, and I haven’t had a bedtime in ages. I genuinely can’t remember when I last had to go to bed. I’m still in highschool and used to go to sleep at around two or three in the morning, doing homework and various other things. I stay up until nine am or so on the weekends, but lately at school I sleep at around eleven or twelve. I’m doing well academically, and I wake up at six, (except for weekdays). I’m not terribly tired at school, and have enough energy to get through the day. I think teenagers should be allowed to determine their own bedtimes because it gives them both practice in the freedom to decide what’s best for themselves, as well as feel the consequences of their actions. i.e., if you sleep at six in the morning and have to go to school at seven, you will fall asleep. I just think teens should have certain freedoms, and bedtimes are not such a problem. If you stay up later than you think you can, and are tired the next day, the teenager could determine for themselves whether or not that was a good decision or not. They’d also feel more independent and responsible for themselves. Especially when your friends are able to stay up later than your bedtime, and even if its small, little things like that can bother people.
Just my two cents?
i have a 78,a 23 year old and a 1 month old, they are alot smarter than you are,this is awful!your a retard.
Wow scarlett, you have a 78, and 23 yr old and a 1 month old? Talk about some big gaps in ages you must be at least 90. Why you would you call anyone a retard on this forum? Since you can’t even use proper puncuation or grammar.
My 14yo has been going to bed later and later as the years go by. She’s a night owl by nature and has always had trouble falling asleep, so even when bedtime was 9:00, she’d just lie there, sometimes for hours, until she fell asleep. She still has trouble falling asleep even if she has to get up at 7 for school. Maybe more exercise would help??
On school nights, my kids usually go to bed 9 p.m. or earlier so that they will have a good mood in the morning and not be late in school.
I can’t believe you all, you sound like you’re living back in the 1950’s in Pleasantville. My daughters by contrast, act more like the character Jeremy in the “ZITS” comic strip. From the time they were very small, my wife always encouraged them to watch TV until 10 pm or even 11 pm. I constantly protested, but she and they argued or ignored me. Now that we have Internet, they often stay up all night. One of them stayed up all night, the entire summer, for the last 2 summers, unless we unplug and hide the cords. She always got up at 3 or 4 pm. We enrolled her in camps and activities, but she often overslept and wouldn’t even go. Has never had a job. I finally subscribed to “Net Nanny.com”. Even with no computer on, she will listen to IPOD or text message most of the night. She has been to many counselors and psychologists with no improvement. Many parents tell me they have similar problems. The 21st century electronic age has truly been a curse to our youth (plus it has led to obesity for some).
My 8 year old daughter wants to waste her bedtime till the time my hubby watches the TV. But when he is on tour, she sleeps by 9.30 just like me, without any tantrums.