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Me: It's 8 o'clock, time to get ready for bed.
Son: But I'm not tired.
Me: Go up and brush your teeth and climb in bed, and I'll be right there.
Son: (silence)
Me: C'mon let's get going please.
Son: (silence)
Me: I'm not asking you again. Go upstairs and brush your teeth.
Son: (sulking and taking 10 minutes to go up 13 steps) It's not faaaaaaaair. All the kids in my class go to bed at 9. Why do I have to go to bed at 8?
Me: I'm not the parent of all the kids in your class, now go.
Son: (mumbling from the top of the steps and taking another 5 minutes to walk 3 feet into the bathroom) This is so not fair. I'm not tired. I hate this. Everyone else goes to bed at 9. I don't know why I can't stay up until 9.
By the time he actually gets into bed because he's stalled and messed around in the bathroom, it's between 8:30-8:45pm. Every night. We've tried sending him up at 7:45pm to get the process started earlier, to no avail. And he IS tired, because by the time we go up to tuck him in, he's half-asleep and can barely eek out a hug.
So dear readers, all 3 of you, should we stand our ground and keep our 4th grader, aged 9, with a bedtime at 8pm, or do we cave in and move him up to 9pm?
3 comments:
Keep it at 8:00 if he's really that tired. He's a year younger than his classmates, too, so 8:00 would be appropriate for a 3rd grader. If you push it back to 9:00, he won't be asleep until 9:30-9:45 because I bet he won't walk up the stairs any faster! ;o)
I thought of something that you may want to try. Tell him that if he goes to bed at 8:00, goes right up the stairs and brushes his teeth and is in his bed no later than 8:15 for an entire week, then he can go to bed at 9:00. If he can't go right up to bed at 9:00 (after he earns it), then the next night it will be 8:00 again.
Elisan goes to bed at 8:30. And, she's ready by then. We raised the time when she hit 4th grade.
I'm not sure what to offer you, as far as advice goes, but we send her up promptly at 8:30 and expect her to be in bed ready to be tucked in within 5 minutes.
On the weekends, they (both) get to stay up a later - around 9:00.
If she is not sleepy at 8:30, (which is rare!) I tell her she can read a book until 8:50 or so. She likes that too.
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