What is a reasonable time to put a five year old to bed during the summer?

Question

At her fathers house the bed time is whenever. At my house I say 9 or 10. I want to be consistant. During school, I put her down at 8. What do you think?

Answer 1

I think you should put her down at the same time you usually do, or if you really want to maybe half an hour later (8:30), no more than an hour (9) but that's for consistancy, plus if there is a REASON to get up (doctor's appointment) then getting her up in the morning won't be such a task. Honestly my children (who are too young to go to school yet) go to bed around 9-9:30, I am a stay at home mom and schedule my appointments around what time they normally get up (which is usually around 8 in the morning) I think what is more important is that you have a consistant bedtime (whatever time you decide) and you are not constantly changing it (it's not healthy for the kids so you need to have a good long talk with the father). Also as long as they are getting enough sleep let them stay up as late as YOU want. (My husband deployed 5 months ago and that's when I let my kids slowly start to go to bed later and later, realistically they go to bed by 10, but I START putting them to bed at 9... sometimes when they've had a tiring day they actually get there by 9:00, but I started letting the kids stay up later so I would have "company"). Also take into consideration YOUR schedule, make sure that if you still need to be to work at 8 everymorning (and you drop them off at daycare at 7:30) that you are still allowing them enough sleep at night, just because they are not heading off for school doesn't mean their sleep schedule should change if the time they need to be up and around doesn't change.

Answer 2

My 5 and 3 year old are in bed by 8-830 during the school year and also the summer, unless we have something special going on that night. I still like to have a little time to myself at night to do whatever if I want. I can't deal with kids from morning til night, lol. I think it's just up to each family honestly, whatever works for you all.

Answer 3

Consistancy is the best. Set a bed time not too much different to bedtime when school is on. If anything kids are more active in the summer and probably need just as much sleep.

Answer 4

My son is six. My daughter is 2. They both go to bed at 8:30. In the summer I let them stay up till 9:00 so it's not that hard to adjust back when school time comes. It's O.K. to go over for special occasions.

Answer 5

My older kids get later bedtimes during the summer. But usually only 1 - 1/2 hrs later.

My 4 1/2 yr old still has the same bedtime - summer's so short, and it takes so long to get him back on school schedule.

And besides, with 5 kids and 2 on the way - I NEED my ME time!!

Answer 6

You should talk to the father and come up with a time that is fair and reasonable. Both of you should try to have consistency at both houses so that the child knows what is expected of her/him at either parents house. I have the same issue my 6 year old goes to his fathers house but the retinue is the same -eat snack , brush teeth, read story, lights out and bedtime. good luck .

Answer 7

My kids have ADHD and 8:00 is bedtime during school time. I stay with 8:00 .... so no one gets out of schedule around here. If we didn't have a health problem around here, I would try one hour later in the summer.

Answer 8

It depends on what time she has to get up. A five year old should had at least 10 hours of sleep per night.

Answer 9

I think 9 on the weekdays and 10 on the weekends. This way when it gets close to school, it won't be a dramatic change and she still gets to stay up pretty late.

Answer 10

i think 9 is a perfect bedtime for a child this age but whatever time you pick you need to be consistent with it and discuss consistency with her father too children with routines tend to thrive more so than ones without