Comments on: Share Your Schedule

By: Channing

Channing — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:15:05 +0000

I thought you might be getting tired of my comments since I’ve left a couple dozen tonight but since you asked…
The boys head to bed at 7pm. Ideally that means lights out by 7:30 but I love reading to them and all 3 of us get a pick and I’m always surprised when that takes an hour or more. I suppose I should move most of that reading time to earlier in the day but when oh when?
Basically my boys sleep from 8pm until 8am and have since they were tiny. The baby will go to sleep sometime between 7pm and 11pm depending on how late she napped and sleep as late as 10am.
I go to bed way too late and wake up when the kids drag me from my bed. Bad mommy.

I finally found a way we are totally different – my fabric stash and my unfinished project list both take several shelves each. And I mean big deep shelves.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:50:05 +0000

Thanks Jaimie! I appreciate the advice and we will be trying to get on a better schedule. I especially think the 2-3-4 thing will work. I had never heard that before!

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:18:31 +0000

I LOVE a good schedule! I think it keeps us ALL (round here) in a MUCH better mood, especially me! Our nightly routine hasn’t changed just because the kids are out of school though, I don’t roll like that The kids are in bed (or getting ready for bed) BY 8pm, EVERYDAY, even weekends. My oldest is 12 and gets to stay up reading until she falls asleep, my 10 year old step son is STARTING to do that, & my 6 & 4 year old daughters are usually asleep within 20 minutes.

They wake themselves up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6-6:30am everyday ready to take on the world! It’s a great system and works really well, here. The only issue is that at their DAD’S HOUSE (I’m divorced) he thinks I’m just a big meanie and lets them stay up until 10 sometimes, then complains that they never wake up on time for school the next morning … he doesn’t see the correlation

By: Jaimie

Jaimie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:16:49 +0000

Laura, this is pretty elementary advice and you’ve probably tried this already, but do you have a firm bedtime routine in place? Starting from when our little guy was a small infant, we did the same steps before bedtime every single night. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate; we give a bath, pajamas, nursing in his bedroom in very dim light, a little cuddle and into bed. Another thing to consider is giving him cues that it is wind-down time in the house (dimming the lights, turning off t.v./music).

I’ve also heard that better naps lead to better nighttime sleep. I follow roughly a 2-3-4 schedule (first nap two hours after waking, second nap 3 hours after end of first nap, bedtime 4 hours after end of second nap). If your son is a catnapper, like mine was, you can try 2-3-3-3 and give him more naps.

Just some ideas to try!

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:10:00 +0000

I have a question for you (or anyone out there who may know what to do). My baby is 8 months old. He is healthy, a good weight, a good eater, but I cannot get him to go to bed/sleep before 10:00 pm! He just won’t wind down for me. And then he’ll wake up at 6:45 am. I know he needs more sleep. How can I get him to sleep earlier and get 11-12 hours at night? What is the daily schedule that will lead to easier bed times and better sleep habits?

Lara says: Jaimie had some good advice for you but one thing I wanted to add is that not all babies need 11-12 hours of sleep at night. My oldest daughter has never required a lot of sleep. She didn’t sleep very much as a baby and she still doesn’t. She was funny. She would cry and cry during the day so I thought she was tired and would put her to bed but then she would just play happily in her crib and never go to sleep. So I would feel bad and get her out again only to have her crying within a few minutes. I finally would just leave her in her crib for hours at a time since that was about the only place where she was happy.

She’s nine now and guess where she spends most of her free time? In her bed reading and sewing. She hasn’t changed a bit!

By: Jaimie

Jaimie — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:48:37 +0000

It’s a relief to hear that your children, who are older than my 11-month-old son, have an early bedtime. We put my son to bed at 7:00 (as in, he is asleep at 7:00) and sometimes people suggest that this is way too early. I disagree (if it was way too early, he wouldn’t fall asleep easily and reliably at that hour every night!)

Even when he is older I hope and plan to have a set bedtime that is early. I treasure my personal time in the evening and I think that many children are chronically overtired. My son has never been a great daytime napper, so he needs to get a good chunk of quality sleep at night.

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:19:32 +0000

Our bedtime routine starts at 8. I take the two year old up for his bath, get him dressed in PJs, and then all three boys brush teeth together. We say prayers together, and the 2 year old gets to bed (preferably by 8:30 or 8:45).

Then the 4 year old takes his bath, and gets a story from Dad while the 9 year old takes his bath. Then those two (who share a room) get tucked in. Preferably by 9:15.

Then my husband and I have an hour or so to play our favorite online game together, or read/watch TV. It’s our decompression time.

Mornings, the boys usually are all up by 8:30. Breakfast, chores in the morning, during schooltime, school starts at 9:30.

We do school (and Mom chores, if everyone is working independently) until Dad comes home for lunch, usually around noon. Lunch with Dad and recess games until 2, when the little ones have their nap. Then the 9 year old and i do his remaining school, finishing up (ideally) by 3 at the latest.

3-5 is free time, by 4:30 I’m making dinner.

5-6 is dinner. It always, always irks me when neighbor kids try to come over to play then, after they’ve been told that’s our dinner hour. I’m seen as the mean mom. But we don’t sacrifice family time for neighbor play, we just don’t.

6-8 is either work on a family project together time (Mondays), grocery store time (we all go together, split the list and the kids and take two cars, on Wednesday), or play and veg out time. Also dessert time, because we save our dessert for after our dinner has settled.

Then bed.

By: Kelli

Kelli — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:48:02 +0000

We are having a hard time with bedtime this summer. Even when I put my kids in bed at 9pm, they can hear the neighbor kids playing outside (our houses are close together and we share a driveway with our neighbor). We don’t have A/C to dull the noise – our windows are usually open!

We have always put our kids to bed earlier than the neighborhood, especially during the school year. DH decided this summer, our kids should be able to stay up almost as late as they want since that’s what he did as a kid! I don’t like it at all and I’m glad summer will be over soon.

I want to set a bedtime for the rest of summer and not go along with this craziness next summer. I’d rather be the weird neighbor who puts kids in bed early!

By: Kristi

Kristi — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:40:04 +0000

I am really into schedules. If I don’t have a plan for my day I go a little crazy. I can tell that my 4 yr. old daughter is the same way. I wrote all about our schedule about a month ago on my blog here: http://nurturemama.blogspot.com/2009/06/summer-schedule.html

I think I just need to work on getting myself to bed earlier. I’ve been staying up way too late–like right now. Okay, off to bed now!

By: Tami

Tami — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:49:16 +0000

I wish you lived in my suburban court, where all children run free into all hours of the night, while I, the Mean Mommy, actually has a set bedtime for my kids. The nerve of me! And yet I get questions like…”how do you not go crazy homeschooling?” “How do you get them to bed so early? Mine are never tired at night…” Said questions come from moms who also hand out endless OtterPops to the kids (again, I Mean Mommy, am the only mom that seems to frown upon OtterPops)

That said, our summer bedtime has moved up to closer to 9 (usually 8 or so in winter)…its just too light outside right now. I look forward to longer evenings and inching that bedtime back up. But, I am the same as you where evenings are DOWN time for all….there is a rhythm…dinner, clean up, activity with dad, bath (every other night) and bed. My oldest is 8 and will read for 30 minutes or so after I tuck her in. My 5 yo is usually right out. They both wake around 7.

Simply, I NEED some quiet time. Especially before bed. I have been to message boards that bash parents like us…setting a schedule and all….I just don’t get it…I mean, if you are the parent that loves being around your children 24/7, don’t need any alone time, more power to you. Wish I could be like that, I’m NOT, and if my kids need a sane Mommy, then everyone has a bedtime. Not sure why people have a problem with that?

When my kids try to argue about such an “early” bedtime in the summer…I simply tell them that mom and dad’s schedule is no different in the summer than the other times of the year, so we go to bed and get up at the same time, despite what all the others in the court are doing (playing basketball outside our window at 10 pm….seriously!!)

I suppose it will all change in the teenage years. Sigh.