Hacker News Reader

Comment by peteradio | Hacker News Reader

What time do you think little children go to bed?

Children tend to be solar powered. Getting them to bed before 10pm in mid summer nights can be a real challenge in northern latitudes.

Black out curtains really help. But starting the bedtime routine when the sun is out is a real chore. I honestly have no idea how Alaskans get their kids to sleep at all in the summer.

Blackout curtains definitely help here in Seattle, I grew up in the UK where it's even worse.

The other thing that helps is consistency and bedtime rituals, that being said I'm glad that as school starts the nights are already noticably longer and we'll soon be able to watch the sunset and be in bed on time

I really can't agree its "a challenge", I went to bed at 8pm every single evening as a young child. I remember it being still light out in the summer when I was went to bed, but there wasn't a choice, I was to be in bed, so I went to bed with a groan. Same with my siblings, we were all in bed at 8pm sharp every single day, no exceptions.

It's about setting firm rules and sticking to them.

And my parents made me go to bed at 8pm but I stayed awake until 2am. I’m not sure of the point you’re trying to make.

I think this depends on the particular child. I had one who needed to be put to bed early or the next day was going to be a nightmare for everybody. But I had another one who didn't do well with an early bedtime.

I don't think there are many one-size-fits-all answers when it comes to kids.

Honestly, they go to bed at the time the parent sets a routine after probably 3 or 4yo. My kids consistently go to bed at 9pm for school, 10pm on weekends/summer, and typically no problems going to sleep or waking up in the morning. It's been like that for years now. The time they did have trouble going to sleep at the right time is when they visited grandma for 2 weeks and had a wild and inconsistent sleep schedule the entire time. It took them about 2 weeks to adjust back to the normal routine. One hour adjustment from weekends etc is easy, but 2-3 hour adjustment is a huge stumbling block

We currently aim for 7.30 on a school night but might need to push it a little earlier, it depends on how well I manage to get her to school in the morning.

I work on the basis that younger children do better with about 10-11 hours sleep

If you go to bed at the same time as your kids you could get up at 4:30 and get 9 hours in bed. Really there's a slider for "free time at night" and "free time in the morning" that you can adjust; my wife is a evening person, so she gets up 30 minutes after the kids are up. I'm a morning person, so I get up an hour before the kids are up.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com