What is an appropriate bedtime for a 5yr old?

Question

It is an ongoing nightly struggle to get my 5yr old son to go to bed. I try to start his night time routine by 7:30 pm (brushing teeth, reading...) so he will sleep by 8pm. He needs to get up by 7:30am latest for school. He dilly dallies, ends up sleeping close to 9pm and then is so tired in the morning, I have to drag him out of bed!

He has a full day of KG and then has various sports like karate, swimming, soccer..... so he's pretty active all day. I am totally exhausted by evening but shouldnt he be too?

I have tried to put him to bed earlier, but it's still light out and that makes it harder.

I dont give him any dessert, sugars, juices, caffeine.....

I would love some suggestions. Thanks!!

Answer 1

At this age, children still really need 12 hours of sleep - even though they may not think so - and as he is tired in the morning, I would definitely think he needs more than he is getting.

As a first suggestion - get black out blinds for his windows - I have found these to be an enormous help with my own children, even on the sunniest evening their bedroom is dark.  Start the routine a good half hour earlier, but make sure he has time to unwind before then - if he is doing too much after kindergarten it may well be that he is too hyped up to relax and go to sleep - we all need some down time to switch off in.  Keep to the bedtime routine, just bump it ten minutes earlier each evening until he is settling down at a reasonable time.

You could even try a reward chart for him - at this age kids are pretty materialistic about sweets/toys etc - so giving him  a goal to aim at if he gets on and gets to bed might just work.

good luck!

Answer 2

I would say just make the goal to have him IN bed by 8pm. Yes it's light out, but you could get darket curtains to help that some.

If he's laying quietly in bed by your set time, no getting up no matter what....then soon he will get into the routine.

Answer 3

My five year old goes to bed at 8pm.  We put a dark shade that you can pull down in his room.  It really helped.

Answer 4

We put our boys ages 7,5, 3 yrs to bed by 8:30pm during the week.  We start baths at 8pm and then take medicine, brush teeth, and finally read books.  That all usually takes 1/2 hour so they are down by 8:30pm.  On the weekends we let them spend pirate tokens they have earned to stay up later.  Each token is work staying up 10 minutes later.

Answer 5

When I was 5 years old i went to bed at 7pm every night and was more than energised for the next day. All children are different so maybe your five year old needs more than the recommended level of sleep. I suggest that by the time he is 9 he is ready to move onto bed at 8.30, he will probably, like i had have energy to get up at 6!

Answer 6

WOW, well they do have that nighttime soothing bubble bath out for little ones, you can try giving him his nightly bath in that, and maybe seeing if he will drink some warm milk. Can you put a little boombox beside his bed with relaxing music while you are reading a bedtime story with no real excitement in it..haha. I am pregnant with my first one, but I have helped raise 5 bros and sisters, so I deff have been there. You are doing right by starting earlier, and cutting out all the junk and caffeine, maybe he shouldnt have any candy or caffeine all day, try that for a week and see if it gets easier. Good Luck!

Answer 7

I remember when I was younger and I would complain that it was "too light out" to be going to bed as well! But around that age, I was always put to bed around 7 and then if I was good or a special tv show was on, my mother rewarded me by letting me stay up until 8. So if you just start your nightly routine earlier, it would help to get him into bed earlier as well.. and you could also do the same thing that my mother did by rewarding him on a school night and letting him watch his favorite show until about 8 or so. Nobody likes rules, that's why it's such a struggle. Hope I helped, and best of luck! =]

Answer 8

Idk. Maybe put him to bed at 8:15 or something.

Answer 9

5 year olds need 10-12 hours of sleep. So, if he's going to bed at 9 and getting up at 7:30, he should be getting enough sleep.  Not all kids get up and go the minute it's time to wake up.   If anything, I'd cut out some of the extra-curricular activities. Sounds like he's over-scheduled to me.  All day kindergarten is a lot for a 5 year old...when you add karate, swimming, and soccer to that, it might be wearing him out.  If he does these activities at night, that might be why he can't fall asleep right away.

Answer 10

try waking him up earlier one day... so that he would go to sleep early, and the following morning wakes up right.