tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955763082619730399.post6421204243435736640..comments2023-11-05T06:19:09.219-06:00Comments on Playing the Music of Life: A Musician Mama Exploring Creativity, Home-schooling, and Adventure: Should Children Have a Bedtime?Lyssahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04148646576042516203noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955763082619730399.post-16904110432182304722013-05-22T15:56:37.956-05:002013-05-22T15:56:37.956-05:00Honestly, we've always been super loose on bed...Honestly, we've always been super loose on bedtime. I can stay up all night if needed since I'm naturally a night owl, but I cannot function before 9am. (And my brain usually isn't "on" until about 10am.) So instead of a firm bedtime, we have a firm morning rule. But even that is somewhat loose - they can wake up before 9am, but they have to play quietly in their rooms until the 9:00 is on the clock.<br /><br />We also have had to steer clear of any sort of routine for the day, period. My son is very, very specific in how things are done, and if our routine wound up being even just a minute off he would melt down. As more kids were added to the mix, it became even more impossible to be exactly on time for everything, so for the most part we have general times for doing things, but nothing really set in stone.<br /><br />I do have an alarm that goes off at 9:30 each night so that the kids have a reminder that it's officially time to be quiet and start calming down for the night, and if we have a particularly busy day the next morning then I'll make sure the kids are sleeping by 10:30. If they're reluctant, I remind them that if they don't get enough sleep then we can't do all the things that we want and need to do, and they're pretty okay with sleeping after that.<br /><br />Other than that, as long as they're quiet so the parents can sleep, they're fine. Yonah did stay up all night once, but the natural consequences taught him that it was a really dumb idea that shouldn't be repeated. And he hasn't done it since.that.brenna.girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01060420909910477454noreply@blogger.com