I’ve got a kid who needs lots of sleep as he is up at the crack of dawn. A preteen who needs slightly less sleep, but is still up with the dawn chorus. And a teen who is taking after her Mommy with her capacity to sleep the sleep of the dead. Serious sawing of tiny logs. A Mini-Me!
The teen has started pushing the envelope on bedtime. Lots of dawdling. One more homework assignment. Reading one more chapter. Asking me at 8:30 if she can watch a 1 hour TV show. I tell you bedtime for teens is no walk in the park. I long for the days of — gulp — 7 p.m. bedtimes. Ahh, bliss!
But, back to reality…
On school night I hold firm to a 9 p.m. bedtime. IMO this is still too late as she gets the bus at 7 a.m., but it’s a compromise of sorts. But, weekends…
Weekends are an entirely different story. Weekends make me want to wail “I need me-time, ME-TIME!” The child will not go to bed. I’m calling her a child because she is seriously devious about finding ways to stay up late.
She will say: “Let’s stay up and have movie night” Before I can think of a reply she has sprung in to action by getting her brother to collect snacks and drinks and her sister to make signs for the family room. I could die from the cuteness and enterprise of it all, but seriously I want some ME-TIME and kids need to go to bed. Sometimes we do have movie night, which is fun, but I like some time to watch my movie once in a while!
It’s a good thing tat she has no TV or computer in her room. One less distraction. She does have ipod, which she uses for late night listening. Sigh…
So, how much sleep does your teen get? What is your teen’s bedtime? How do you get your teen to go to bed at a reasonable hour?
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