When do you think ten year old children should be going to bed?

[Scotty_ffgamer]

To some extent, it would probably depend on my kid. ~9 is probably a good time to set for the bedtime though. Fridays and Saturdays would have a negotiable bedtime probably. I honestly can't remember what my bedtime was back then, but it was probably something similar.

If my kid is anything like me, he/she will probably stay up way too late anyways with a book and a flashlight. Maybe not at 10, but I know by middle school I would be up until after midnight quite frequently reading Harry Potter or whatever. There was some of that in high school, but I would often play video games I just got until something like 3am. I'd keep the volume on the tv low and listen for movement from the rest of the house to know if I need to quickly shut off the tv to avoid getting yelled at for being up. I'd be willing to be flexible to high school kids on a bedtime depending on the kid, though. If I have a kid who is suffering in school and what have you, I'd be more strict on bedtimes and whatnot.

[Jiro]

Ignoring even the typo in the thread title, what's with this strict adherence to hours?! My bed time was 7:30 up until, I don't know, I think year six or seven when I bartered and haggled for 9:30.

On Friday and Saturday nights I was able to go to sleep whenever I felt like it. Generally that was sensible. Sometimes it wasn't, like my 21 hour Final Fantasy VII marathon.

[Kalevala]

I'm trying to remember what time I went to bed when I was 10. I want to say somewhere between 9 and 10pm. I would watch Dragon Ball Z and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing around that time, and my ritual was put to a stop when 9/11 happened and dad had CNN on just about constantly.

[noxious.sunshine]

All this stuff about "It depends on the kid" is kind of nonsense, IMO.

It isn't up to the child. It's up to the parent. If 9 p.m. is bedtime, then you get your child in bed, take away all electronics, and check on him/her repeatedly & kind of do what's necessary to help him/her fall asleep. The child doesn't dictate bedtime. Mom/Dad do. And when you set a bedtime, that means about 30 minutes before, the child is in PJs and in bed winding down to go to sleep.

Parker's bedtime is 8:30 on school nights & typically 9 or 9:30 on weekends. But if I have her, I tend to let her stay up later than that, just because I don't get to see her often. But the rules are that if I do, then Pajamas must be put on, she has to get in bed, and a movie picked out to watch. And I usually rub her back and stuff to help her fall asleep anyway.

[Miss Mae]

I don't think the people who are saying "it depends on the child" are saying that bedtime is up to the child. The parent still has final say on a bedtime. But all children are different, so all bedtimes will vary slightly. Some children, if they go to bed at say 8pm, will be up at 5am and that can be a pain. Other children may need to go to bed that early if they are going to be awake in time to go to school. There are all sorts of reasons different children might require different bedtimes.

Also, as much as the parent has the final say on when bedtime is, I think discussing and negotiating with a child and allowing them to feel like they have a say in the final decision will make the bedtime much more effective; a kid is going to be more likely to stick to a bedtime if they at least feel like they had some say in choosing it.

[blackmage_nuke]

The most important part of incepting is making them think it was thier idea.

Also sleeping in highschool is a good skill to learn for the future when they'll be sleeping in uni and sleeping at work

[Mirage]

9-10 sounds fine to me.

And yeah, depends on the child isn't the same as up to the child. If your child goes to bed at 10, has no problems getting up in time for breakfast before going to school, and doesn't fall asleep in class, why can't he or she be allowed to stay up that late? If your child doesn't get enough sleep when going to bed at 9:30, you clearly have to adjust the bedtime down to perhaps 9.

As for when a child should be allowed to set their own bedtime? Whenever they manage to consistently get up to eat breakfastand get through school without dozing off after just a single wakeup call (or using their own alarm clock). In my own case, this practically meant "never".

[Dat Matt]

10pm, let them get used to boobs and swearing on TV

I remember staying up late on a Friday to watch Eurovision. The show was god awful but I was 9 and I got to see some boobies. Great times.

[Shiny]

Considering that many people have their dinner around 6-7pm, it would make sense to have bedtime be at least an hour after. You don't want to send them to bed right after they eat -- laying down with a full stomach is bad for you. When I was younger my bedtime was nine until dinner became later at 9pm, so my bedtime was closer to 11pm by the time I was eleven.

[Iceglow]

As an uncle to several kids. In my opinion? Aged 10? Bedtime is 8pm. Dinner needs to be prepped by about 6pm and homework down by then.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

"Back in my day", I think I went to bed at 9pm. It was an adequate amount of time when I had to get up for school at 6 or 7 in the morning and I never felt super tired at school.

As for weekends, I think it might have initially started out as 10pm but ended up being as late as I wanted on Fridays and Saturdays. It's been so long ago now it's hard to remember.

An easy way to get children to cooperate with you is to allow them to have a television on as long as they don't get out of bed. I liked sleeping with the TV on. I was scared of the dark and it gave me the illusion that I had company.

[Miss Mae]

I'm pretty sure having electronics (e.g. tv) going when you're trying to get to sleep is supposed to negatively impact on the quality of your sleep, but that may have been disproven somewhere along the line.

[Shorty]

It's still valid, especially with children. I'm on my phone so I can't provide a source, but I am sure it is easily searchable.

[Miss Mae]

Interesting to note. I think using whatever works is valid in a way, given scientists seem to change their mind about what is good and bad in this area with each new moon.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Having the TV on didn't keep me awake. Like the noise of a fan on a hot summer's day, it just became a sort of comforting background noise.

It doesn't work now as an adult. Now if I try to sleep and the TV is on it just feels like someone's trying to talk in my ear when i'm focused on something else and it's annoying. The exception to this is ASMR videos, or really any type of video that is geared toward relaxation and sleep.