Summer bedtimes


A parent was lamenting the insanity that is bedtime in her house. (She should come to mine, where we’re always trying to lull at least one of the babies to sleep around 9).

Anyway, what happens in the summer at your house. Do you stick to bedtimes or do you relax and let the kids go to sleep when they want?

Categories: Kids, Teens and tweens
Jennifer Gish

8 Responses

  1. Indigo says:

    My husband and I have kept to our bedtime schedule. Our boys are not old enough to care whether or not other kids might still be outside playing. And even though it’s still fairly bright out at 8pm, they don’t find it any harder to fall asleep than at nap time when the sun is shining bright.

    If we make an exception to bed time, it’s usually because we are all outside on a beautiful evening playing outside and not paying attention to the clock.

  2. Interested says:

    I let my son stay up later in the summer. His normal bedtime is 9…now he can stay up until 10 or so.

  3. Bridget says:

    My kids go to bed at the same time. My daughter is actually more tired because she is doing more outside stuff and usually she is not taking a nap.

  4. Naomi says:

    My kids are teens. One keeps to his normal morning-person schedule: up at 5:30, bed by 10. The other goes completely nocturnal, going to bed when his brother wakes up and sleeping until early afternoon.
    It’s very strange–like having two different only children.
    At least they’re both awake for dinner, even though it’s really lunch for one of them.

  5. laura says:

    play till they drop.

  6. Jen Smith says:

    In the summer we push bedtime back 30 minutes. The twins still leave at 6am and Austin still goes to school. I can’t move it any later than 30 minutes or I have CRANKY kids!

  7. curlygirl says:

    Our work schedules are more relaxed during the summer, so the entire family’s bedtime schedules change. This means that we push our toddler’s bedtime back about an hour so that she will sleep a bit later in the morning.

    But, the bottom line is always what she needs. If she’s fading at 7:30 (her normal bedtime during the school year), then we put her down at that hour.

    I do notice that she’s napping more during the day, too, which helps support the later bedtime, but I think comes from playing so much outside.

  8. Tara says:

    Bedtime is a struggle regardless of it being school year or not. I try to maintain some type of order.