Monday, December 1, 2008

Bedtime Rituals

Bedtime rituals and times differ so much from family to family.

It’s no secret that we have a family bed and always have. AND we homeschool, so we don’t have to be anywhere in the morning. Gradually this has turned me from a morning person into a bit more of a night person. The kids seem to stay up later and later (past 10 p.m. … gasp!), sleep in, and their homeschooling still gets done. The only problem arises when the boys spend the night with my dad and stepmom, who most likely ends up crashing before the kids do.

One friend of mine is totally structured. She puts all 5 of her kids – who range in age now from 5 to 12 – to bed by 8 p.m. every night regardless of age. If they are not tired, they read or chat, but they have to be quiet until they fall asleep. If there’s a show on TV she is dying to see (a rarity), she’ll put them to bed even earlier. I admire her discipline and realize I’m a total wimp.

I know of someone who put their kids to bed by 6 p.m. when they were little, before her husband even got home from work. First of all, I WANT my kids to know who their father is. Second, what the hell time do those kids WAKE UP????? I didn’t become a stay-at-home mom so I could wake up earlier than when I was a working girl (meaning I had a job, not that I was a prostitute).

If your kid is in school or goes to daycare, I realize you have to be up early, which means an early bedtime. But if you homeschool or are a new stay-at-home mom, for instance, how does bedtime go in your household?
And for those of you with grown kids, I’d love to know how and what time you got your kids to bed, too.

I can see my mom’s comment now: “You were in bed by 8:30 at the very latest EVERY SINGLE NIGHT in elementary school and you LIKED it.”