How do you handle the weekend, do you keep your kids on a school schedule or let them blow it off?

Question

I'm new to this whole school thing, my 5 year old just started kindergarten. I have her on a strict school schedule but as the weekend nears I am wondering if I should keep her on it or if I should let her enjoy the weekend and stay up late and sleep in late. Some advice from some more seasoned parents would be appreciated, thanks!

Answer 1

at the age of 5 I would keep a schedule for them when they're older it's ok to stay up later on weekends

Answer 2

You can adjust her schedule slightly for the weekend...let her sleep in until 8 or so (I'm assuming she normally wakes at about 7?) and go to bed about half an hour later, or let her read in bed before lights out.

Answer 3

I let my kids stay up a little bit later so it feels like a treat but not tooo late - or I am dealing with a monster the next day!!!!  

Answer 4

I let my son sleep in and stay up a little bit later on the weekends when he was that age. Also, he generally would have more activities (visiting family, going out, etc) on Friday and Saturday eves than he would during the school week. I've always made sure he gets a good amount of sleep all week, and I think it's paid off. You can tell which kids don't get enough sleep.

My son always works very hard at school, so I figure he needs downtime on the weekend and the rules relaxed a bit.

Answer 5

At five I would keep her on the schedule.

Most kids will stay up late then sleep late on the weekends, but in reality it throws off their sleep schedule and makes it harder to fall asleep and therefore wake up (hence the monday morning blues)

As she gets older she may want to stay up later and thats fine, but at 5 there's nothing for her to be staying up for anyways

Answer 6

I let my son stay up about an hour later, any more than that and it messes up the whole week. I also try to keep the same schedule with food.