KILDARE PARENTING COLUMN: Why I still put my kids to bed at 7pm each evening
It's Just a Phase
I was scrolling through Facebook when the kids were at school the other day and I came across a link someone shared.
The headline read, “Science Says Moms Are Happier When Kids Go to Bed Early”. Talk about stating the bloody obvious, I thought to myself!
I’m a mam, I’m happy and my kids go to bed early. It’s not rocket science. Aidan is nearly six and Sarah is four and they both go to bed at 7pm. Religiously.
It’s a routine I started when they were both only a few months old, and to be honest I didn’t expect them to be going to bed so early for so long. However, why would I try to fix something that isn’t broken?
Come 7pm every evening, they are both clearly tired and they have no issues with that. Of course, it helps that neither of them can tell the time yet! Even in the summer time, when it’s still bright outside, they still hit the sack at 7pm and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Aidan is a very early riser and he’s all go from the minute he gets up. He normally wakes Sarah not long after he opens his eyes, so it’s all go for me from around 6.30am every single day. It’s no wonder I want to get them to bed early at night, is it?
It’s nice to have some me time in the evening. Yes, I’m alone when they are at school, but I normally spend that time sorting laundry and cleaning the house.
That way when the kids are in bed, I have nothing to do but chill out, watch some television and maybe even have an uninterrupted conversation with Daddy Chambers.
I have loads of friends who look sideways at me when I tell them I put the kids to bed at 7pm. I think they reckon a 7pm turn in time for a nearly six-year-old, in particular, is too early. I don’t care what anyone thinks though!
I also have friends who tell me their kids don’t go to bed until all hours; sometimes 10pm or even 11pm. Each to their own, but I think I’d lose the will to live if my pair stayed up that late. I’d rather face in to a really early morning than having them up that late.
Oh, and that’s another thing. People tell me if I tried keeping Aidan and Sarah up later at night they will stay in bed later in the morning.
Well, I did try it and I can confirm that it doesn’t work. They are still up at dawn, and all I get is less time in the evenings and two kids that are really cranky because they went to bed late.
I’m not quite sure how long more I will get away with the 7pm bed time. To be honest I’m surprised I’m still getting away with it.
This summer may be tricky but I’ll definitely attempt to keep it up!
In saying all of the above, I’d like to point out that I’m not sitting on the couch by 7.05pm. Quite the contrary, actually.
Neither Aidan ,or Sarah will go to bed without someone lying down with them. Myself and Daddy Chambers alternate kids each night, and if one of us is away, we take both kids to bed in our room and move them in to their own rooms after they fall asleep.
The routine involves a bed time story each, and then a chat and more chat after that. Said chat can go on for ages, depending on the form, and we can’t leave the bed until they are asleep. Every night it’s at least 8pm before we emerge from their bedrooms, and some nights it’s way later.
Then there’s the nights when one or both of us adults fall asleep with the kids, and wake up in a haze at about 10pm because poor old Seamus the dog is going mad barking in the kitchen, deeply dissatisfied that he has been left on his own for so long!
I’d love the kids to get to the point where they go to bed on their own, but they are so not there yet. If I was to let them off to the leaba alone they would be up to all sorts in the room, and it would be all hours before they nodded off. With that in mind, I’d rather take the hour out, do the stories and have the chats and get them off at a decent time.
So yes, this mammy is way happier when the kids go to bed early. The article I came across online was spot on. And according to the article it’s good for the kids too.
“A study looked at thousands of kids beginning more than a decade ago. Researchers used interviews, conducted every two years, to evaluate families’ mental health and sleep habits.
“Not only did they determine that kiddos who hit the hay by 8:30pm at night displayed ‘better health-related quality of life’, but their mamas did too!” it read. Amen to that!
You wouldn’t have this column every week if Aidan and Sarah didn’t go to bed early so you all must be delighted they go to bed early too, eh?
Until next week, folks!