"go to bed" said to child. Is it "turnoff light, close eyes; or"get in bed and you can talk,read, have light..

Question

When parents say to their children: go to bed. My version of it is "turn off the lights, close your eyes, that's it." Apparently some people think differently. A friend of mine is thinking that most people would think it means to go to bed, get some downtime, so 'read if you want, talk to a sibbling or the other parent if you want, in short, it's ok if light is still on. To me, if I say to my child your bed time is 9:30pm, it means "dodo". If the child would like to read or something before bed, then the child should go to their room ahead of time, say, 1/2 hour ahead of 9:30pm to get their 'downtime' ; not extending it to 10:00, because by then, to me, their bedtime is not 9:30 pm, but becomes 10:00pm. I would like to know the general public's opinion on this... Is bedtime "dodo", or does it mean 'go to bed" physically but not necessarily dodo.. Thanks! :)

Answer 1

Haha lol.  I know what you mean.  When we (my sibs and I) were kids, and my mom used to tell us to "go to bed," we were naughty and pretended that we didn't know she meant "go to sleep."  So we would "go to bed," literally, just stay in our beds and have the television on and talk to each other.

Kids are manipulative.  If you want them to go to sleep, then seriously tell them to go to sleep; don't bother with this "go to bed" nonsense.

Answer 2

Room darkening aids in sleep inducing. So if the lights are bright, I would say get a small lamp if they are not that tired. Children under 10 should really go  to bed by 8  or so as they are growing and need more sleep so if you know that they are behind in sleep, then go with the total lights out. It is not so important which way you choose as that it is done in a warm and loving manner which soothes and makes the child feel secure.