Our kids have recently realized they go to bed earlier than most of their friends. Possibly most other human children their ages.
They found out first in a round table discussion over Goldfish crackers and school milk that many of their friends go to bed at 8pm (gasp!) or even 9pm (liars). One of Hanna’s friends in grade four even claimed she had a 9:30pm bedtime. Her name has been withheld to protect her parents from a knock on the door by Child Services.
The 7:30pm bedtime has served us well.
I’m not suggesting everyone is tucked into their beds, night masks on and counting sheep at 7:30pm sharp but that’s when our routine of arguing over who gets carried, holds hands or runs down the hall with Mommy or Daddy begins followed by an aggressive tooth brushing, bathroom break and a couple of books.
It didn’t make sense to me to delay the 7:30pm bedtime for so many reasons.
- I look forward to my quiet time after the girls go to bed.
- Ellie (age 7) is sound asleep before the kids have decided who gets to run down the hall first so the schedule clearly works for her.
- Chloe (age 3) stays awake well after Greg and I are asleep which suggests there’s no logic to keeping them all up later.
- Hanna (age 9) gets a sunburn this time of year regardless of how much I crank her blinds closed. She is very aware of how early it is.
So I suggest that Hanna spend some quiet time in her room either reading or coming up with ways to torment her younger siblings focusing on the smallest details if she really wants it to work.
On occasion, I have allowed her to sneak out once Ellie’s limp body has been carried from the tooth brushing station into her bed and Chloe is distracted re-enacting five little monkeys jumping on the bed.
This is when we are usually watching a recorded episode of The Big Bang Theory. Winners all of us, I know.
Greg and I thought it would be okay for Hanna to sit in on an episode from time to time.
The language is usually clean, the topics are almost always way over Hanna’s head despite her insistence on laughing and arguing that she knows exactly what the four geniuses are talking about.
The other night, Greg was away overnight at a work “thing” and I allowed Hanna to join me in the after hours club to watch a show.
Chloe came skipping down the hall, forgetting she had two monkeys worth of head injuries to complete before falling asleep.
I simply didn’t have the energy to walk her back down to her room and put her back into her bed so Hanna, Chloe and I watched The Big Bang Theory while Ellie was on her second hour of REM sleep.
We had a couple of giggles, I muted any reference to sex and Chloe has adopted a new favourite bedtime phrase.
“Bring it on Bitch!”
