This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Why I put my kids to bed at 7:00 … it is a hot topic, that’s for sure! When our children were younger, we had all of our kids in bed around 7:00 every night. They were asleep around 7:30 every night.
UPDATE: This post was written several years ago in 2014, when our kids were much younger, but I believe that it is important. We still maintain a regular bedtime, but they no longer go to bed as early as they once did.
I owe so many well-rested nights and happy children during the day to the fact that we have a regular and early bedtime for our children. In fact, many Dutch parents put their kids to bed between 6:00 & 7:00 for very similar reasons that we have an early bedtime.
Before I begin- remember that although this works for us, it is not for everyone. As with all of my advice, do what works best for your family. ♥
Our kids (ages 2-9) are in bed by 7:00
Yes, our young children are in bed at 7:00. It is 2014, and my children range from 2 years old to 9 years old. Our 9 year old now goes to bed at 8:00, because he is older and needs less sleep. Until they are 9 years old, 7:00 remains their bedtime.
Last week, a fellow blogger shared my post about what to do when your 2 year old is still waking at night. In the post I talked about our early bedtime and gave some life-changing advice for our toddler that was waking up. That post led someone to leave the comment “Who puts their kid to bed at 7:00 pm?”
WE DO.
Yes, We have received mixed feedback about this, but it works for us. I know that 7:00 is early. I know that it cuts into their day, but I can tell you that I would rather have happy kids for 12 hours a day than tired or grumpy kids for 13 hours a day. (Our older kids wake up at 7:00 no matter what time they go to sleep. Really!)
Playing hard in the day makes kids tired by bedtime!
Our four YOUNG kids play hard during the day. They run around a lot and they spend a lot of time outside with us.
They are busy in the day, so they are tired when 7:00 rolls around.
They DO NOT nap anymore and they are just plain worn out by the evening, even if they don’t want to admit it (and they never do! haha!)
We have tried to push this back when we are on vacation, but they just aren’t as relaxed and easy-going the next day. They are a little more on edge, just like we are (as adults) when we don’t get the rest that we need. I put them to bed early because I want them to be smiling & ready to take on the day. 🙂
Plus- the are usually asleep in 5-15 minutes, so I know they are tired.
Do they ever stay up late?
YES! Once a month they each stay up late for Their Special Night. Plus, every night, our oldest son gets to have Read-Alone time in his room before bed, too. Or they can read their spelling words while they fall asleep with this little hack.
If that have football or wrestling, they are up even later, but we AIM for an early bedtime! Our younger children have a really hard time waking up for school at 7:00 am when he doesn’t get his full 12 hours of sleep, so I do try to get him to bed as early as possible.
I want him to be able to focus at school, be energetic in play and at his sports and be happy at home! This little chart can help you to know how much sleep they truly need…
Kidshealth.org says:
“Most kids between 5 and 12 get about 9.5 hours a night, but experts agree that most need more. When your body doesn’t have enough hours to rest, you may feel tired or cranky, or you may be unable to think clearly. You might have a hard time following directions, or you might have an argument with a friend over something really silly. A school assignment that’s normally easy may feel impossible, or you may feel clumsy playing your favorite sport or instrument.
Sleep Impacts Growth & Health
One more reason to get enough sleep: If you don’t, you may not grow as well. That’s right, researchers believe too little sleep can affect growth and your immune system — which keeps you from getting sick.” All in all- sleep is important! Your kids need it, even if they don’t WANT it.”
Do you have time with them in the evening?
I am not saying that this is right for everyone, so please hear me out. My husband and I both work from home, so this works for us. Two of our kids stay home with us during the day, and our older children go to school until 3:30. We have plenty of family time daily from 3:30 until bedtime.
Before my husband worked from home, I used to have the kids showered and in their pajamas before he got home, to give us more time together. Remember that it is quality over quantity.
Does it happen every night?
7:00 bedtime does not happen every single night, but it’s our goal every night. Most nights, one of our kids will be at practice until 8:00, so of course bedtime is later on that night.
Sometimes, it’s even earlier than 7:00. A few years ago, when my youngest kids were 3 & 5, they would fall asleep in the car at 6:00 on our way to drop the older kids off at practice… and I just take them up to bed and they slept ALL NIGHT LONG. They never woke up during the transition to bed. I know it’s crazy, but when I try to wake them, they are NOT happy, so on those nights, I just let it go.
It’s good for your marriage:
My husband and I see each other all day long while we work from home or while we are spending time with the kids, but at night we have time to watch a show, play a board game, etc…
Now, I am not saying that this is why we put them to bed early or that it is why we started, because it’s not, but we do enjoy that time together. Did you know that the #1 fear of preteens and teenagers is divorce among their parents? Quality time together, with your spouse, reduces this risk greatly.Make it a point to tell your children that you are going to spend time with your spouse.
Children Need Sleep
Remember- our bedtime certainly isn’t for everyone, but it works for us. It is healthy for our kids to get that amount of sleep and it helps them overall. Quality sleep + healthy foods make a huge difference for children (and adults).
On the other hand…
I wanted to share a story, for those of you that have a late bedtime. My very dear, long-time friend, Julia, has always had a late bedtime and her children follow her lead. They stay up well past 10:00 and it works for them. They sleep in every morning and they are happy, healthy, smart children. Her children are the same ages as mine. I know that I need to wait until 11:00 or later to talk to her on the phone. 🙂
All of that to say that this is what works for us, but it is up to you to find out what works best for your family.
I hope this helped to shed a little light on families with early bedtimes. Sleep well… no matter the time!♥
I’ve been doing that since a doctor once told me about it. He says children like routine and need sleep. He did it with his children and had great results, so we tried to do the same. I’ve had similar issues with people when I’ve told them about our daughter’s routine. However, they’re also the same that state my daughter is well behaved. I think having the bedtime structure is important. And even though she’s almost 8 years old now, we still do a 7 bedtime. The only thing that has changed is we allow her to read for 30 minutes in bed.
We do that with our 8 year old, too 🙂
I think it’s so important to do what works for your family and your kids. My kids have always been night owls, and they’ve never needed much sleep. I find with a 10pm bedtime, my kids will actually sleep in till 7am, with a 7pm bedtime they would be up for the day between 4am and 5am. Both my kids dropped naps before they were 2, my eldest before he was 18mths. Getting sleep sorted was a nightmare for a while until I stopped trying to force my kids into the recommended boxes and just accepted them as they were.
Yep- I say do what works for your family!
We have never had the kind of kids you see that would just fall asleep. They seem to find it hard to wind down and give in to sleep. They never liked it..I would just say that they loved life too much.
My daughter in prep when she was aged 5…. and you are all going to tsk tsk.. she would fall asleep by 10:30 pm. Yes had to wake her in the morning but her behaviour was great at school. We had her in bed but she would just take sooo long to give in… even as a baby. She is 7 now and is in her room at 8 and starts falling asleep by 8:30 pm.. I go back in to see her every 5 10 mins she normally talks to me a sleeps she lays there… asks for a sleeps hug and can be asleep by 9 or sometimes 9:15… she wakes up herself by 7:30… plenty of time to get ready for a 8:30 am leave for school.
My 3 yr old showed some potential when he was younger but now he is very hard to get to sleep. If he does manage to fall asleep at daytime it’s for an hour maybe max of 2 and it can take me until 9 9:30 to get him to sleep at night.
If he doesn’t have a sleep..like today I spent an hour and a half trying and failed to get him to sleep… 2 had his Aunty staying tonight so I would aim to get him in by half 6 or 7 at the latest..on a no sleep day and tonight with no day sleep he was resistant but asleep by 8. U think he would just day right off quickly. When he has day sleeps I take him in at 7:45 read story and start getting him to stay in go leap by 8… I am usually out of his room by 8:50 pm
I would love to get them both in early. .but it usually means a longer sleep process 🙁
But I do think sleep is important I have just never been good at getting them to sleep!
But I will try tomorrow night..as we would love to have more time to talk at and relax and be …off duty xx
haha! Your “tsk tsk” made me laugh. That sounds just like my friend’s kids. I just laugh at her when she talks about them going to bed at 10:30. 🙂 The only thing that has worked for her is to slowly move up their bedtime by 30 min. a week, so I suggest that to everyone. 🙂
Appreciate this article so much. Lots of great stuff. And we put our little boy asleep at 7 p.m. as well, so it was nice to read about someone else that does the same. One just small reaction, is that I’m not sure the article needed the author explaining why she chooses to work outside of the home. Whether parents are stay-at-home or working-mothers, it has no bearing on if they are good parents or not, so I just worry a little when it appears mothers feel they have to justify working outside of the home. You may have just been explaining a bit more, rather than justifying, so I don’t want to make assumptions. That is just how I read it, but I’m just one person. But thank you for writing this piece!
Our kids are a little bit older now so we have adjusted their bedtimes but when they were younger, we always put them to bed between 6:30 and 7. Not only did it give us some time as a couple and me some sanity time, it also allowed for us to be able to once in awhile for a special occasion let the kids stay up later and not have it be ridiculously late. When kids have a usual bedtime of 10 or 11 at night, a special late night would have to be at least midnight but for our kids, getting to stay up until 9 or 10 on Christmas or New Years was a real treat! It is also of course healthier for kids to get more sleep.
I also knew that by starting their bedtimes earlier, we could adjust the bedtimes as they got older and not have them be ridiculously late.
When I met my husband almost 4 years ago he had a 2 year old and a 5 year old. I couldn’t believe their bed time routine and how well they went to bed and slept. Even today, 6 years old and 9 years old and they still have good bedtime routines. Generally it’s 7:30 & 8:00, depending on their activities for the day and their apparent displays of being tired. Even on special occasions when they are allowed to stay up late they end up in bed by 9-9:30am. We also do it to have quiet adult time in the evenings too. We too also need rest and relaxation so that we can dive in to the active days ahead of us! 🙂
For years we had a 7pm bedtime. But then we moved and my husband’s hours changed so we pushed it to 8. Some mornings it’s so hard waking up my 6 year old for school at 7:15 but if I put her to bed any earlier she doesn’t get to see her Daddy as long as he would like to. We try to watch them and put the to bed earlier when they need it. Last night they went to bed at 7 since it was such a busy weekend. I agree that most kids don’t get enough sleep. I know many families who keep their kids up until 9 or 10 and they have to be up at 7. There is no way that is enough but they just tell me that their kids don’t need as much sleep as mine. Um no, all kids need sleep but hey you’re the parent so I’ll keep my mouth shut.
I have a 1 and 2 year old and they both play hard all day long I have a routine day planned but my two year will go to bed between 8-9 and wake up at 5am every time we tried taking the nap out he fell asleep at 630-700 and was up at 3 am I don’t know how to fix this he just started doing this about a month ago and I have tried a lot to get his sleeping habbit back. Please help if you can
Check out my tip on “my 2 year old is still waking at night”. I bet it will help! 🙂
I agree with you fully. When my husband and I got married we were 18 & 21. By the time I was 23 we already had 4 children. I stayed at home with them. We did everything together. We played all day, walked to get groceries, learned together, the works. I also knew on days that I may need the car if I were to go get my husband form work at 3:30 they would be asleep then staying up all night so I simply never dropped him off and if we had an errand we walked. They would eat dinner, take bathes, and be asleep from 6:30pm until 6:30am every single night. It left time for me to go to night school and spend time with my husband. Now fast forward. I graduated college, get a job, and we decide to have one more baby but three come at once. Well the rules have changed and with 7 children, three in college that we pay for since owning our own business now they do not qualify for grants means we both work a lot of hours. If these boys went to bed at 6pm I would only see them on the weekends. I commend you for still being able to do it and if I could change the times and be an at home mom again I definitely would but for my ‘second’ chance I am a full time worker who cannot live this way any longer. My children are 28,25,24,21,12,12,12. Yes I started a whole new family but I would do this again inn a heartbeat.
I know I always get weird looks and for some reason other parents feel the need to put up a defense. Do what works for your kids. I find that if my kids don’t get enough sleep or stay up to late they are cranky and don’t sleep well. My 2 and 4 year old have a bed time of 7, my 8 year old is usually in bed at that time so she doesn’t miss the stories. We let her stay up till 8 but shes usually curled up with a book in her bed anyway.
I bet this works for your family very well, but we just cannot get the kids to bed that early with activities in the evening, as well as my husband getting home around 6pm. Our time as a family is more important than an early bedtime. Also, we do interest-led learning at home (technically homeschooling, but not exactly), so we don’t have to be up earlier than 7-9am usually.
If we didn’t have family time, we would probably push it back… luckily it works for our family. 🙂
I’m so surprised you had to explain yourself! As have kiddos ages 9, 7, 2 and 6 months, all of which have early bedtimes and always have. Sometimes my littles are in bed at 5:30/6 if we’ve had an early day or an extra busy one. My 7yo is a total crank if she doesn’t get at least 12/13 hours of sleep. So a 7:00/7:30 bedtime is a must. Especially if I want them to function and perform well at school. Each child is different but sleep is so important for the mind, body and soul!
Right?! 🙂
Yes! Kids NEED sleep. I’ve had to argue this with my husband forever. They need it to grow, for brain development, to manage their emotions, & they’re less likely to be over weight as adults.
My son wakes up around 5 every morning. My husband says it’s because I put him to bed so early. But he wakes up at 5 noatter what time he goes to sleep-7:00 or 10:00. So he may as well go to sleep earlier (especially now that he doesn’t take a nap) & be rested (and give me some quiet time in the evening).
haha!! Ours are the same way- bed at 11:00 pm and they get up at 7:00 am! It doesn’t matter – so I give them the sleep that they need! 🙂
If I was a stay at home mom I might feel the same way. As a single mom, I have to work. I pick my 9 year old daughter up from school between 5:30 and 6. She does her homework in the after school program, but she doesn’t do it very well. We have to cram dinner, checking/fixing home work, bath time (every other day), and some sort of resemblance of quality time into what’s left of the evening. Typically bed time is 8:30 and wake up is 6:30. People have to do, what they have to do.
Yes, Its hard to do that when your schedule doesn’t work that way… but 8:30 is still not too late, especially when you are working and not getting home until 6 or 6:30. 🙂
I have three kids ages 9, 8, and 6. They all go to bed at 7 unless sports get in the way and to be honest, I don’t like when it does. We have played with their bedtimes in the past and seven was the magic number that worked for them. They wake up refreshed and without a problem for school. I often get the “How do you do that?” For our house it’s what is normal. I love it for all the reasons you have already stated in your blog. Thanks for this posting this.
🙂 Thanks!
I don’t know how you all do it? My kids are night owls. My 4 year old’s natural rhythm is 11pm to 9:30 am! It’s awful! I have tried everything, but bedtime is still a huge struggle for us. No matter how early I get my kids (2 &4) in bed they do not sleep. I am constantly putting them back in bed. Once in bed my oldest won’t stay there. She wakes up whining and crying every 2-3 hours unless someone sleeps with her. It’s exhausting. How I wish my kids would go to sleep by 8 so I could accomplish something!
Oh man- that’s so hard!! I would just try slowly moving bedtime up by a half hour every week. That’s how my friend did it.