As a Parent, do you require your kids to sleep early?

That's a tough question in our house--we require our kids to GO TO BED at a certain time--9:00 pm on weeknights, 10:00 on weekends. But, lately, one of my sons has not been able to fall asleep, and stays up for hours reading. We have tried everything we can think of--chamomile tea, deep tissue/muscle massages, lights on, lights off, classical music, waves and nature sounds--nothing seems to work. Now that he is able to read exciting books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, he wants to stay up and read. If we force him to turn off his light, he waits for us to go to sleep and then turns it on again. So now we have him on the "honor" system--he is allowed to stay in bed and read (nothing else) as long as he himself puts the book down by 11:00. Unfortunately, he is sometimes still awake at 11:00, but we can't think of anything else we can do--he just has trouble falling asleep. We are hoping when daylight savings time ends in November, that will help, but we'll see. It is so hard--he is not purposely trying to disobey us, but his mind is full of so many exciting things that he would just rather stay awake.

In my place kids do not sleep early, we have freedom to decide where and when to sleep. However, we should be responsible for our act. If we late for school, we got punishment both in the school by the teacher and at home by our parents. We cannot use our TV and PC after 10 PM, because our father cut the power line. Comic book and video games is banned on our room. Thus sometimes we had to sleep early because did not have any interesting thing to do.

I really encouraged to established early sleep habit with my child. I just observed that the quality and quantity of sleep with my daughter affect everyone around her. If she doesn't get enough sleep or being disturbed when she is sleeping she is somehow moody and her tantrums occurs frequently enough to make us feel burn-out sometimes. That is why it is really important for me to encourage my daughter to sleep early and although each child is unique individual with distinct sleep needs parents should established good sleeping habit.

Hi Airasheila! When my son is still in grade school I require him to take a nap in the afternoon and sleep early as well cause he goes to school early. When his in high school I still require him to sleep early and not later than 10pm. Now, that his in college his allowed till 12am only and on weekends till 1am. I am strict when it comes to sleeping time, cause I have experienced working all night with out any sleep and your body really suffers even if you sleep the whole day. For some reasons night sleeping is way of better in recharging your body compared to day sleeping.

Yes, I do require my kids to sleep early especially during school nights. My kids should be up by 5:00 am because their school bus picks them up at 6:00am in time for their 7:00 am class. I believe kids really need all the rest and sleep that they can get because they're in the growing up phase. Their bodies need to do a lot of recharging to give way to growth and development. Since kids have a lot of homework to do, it is important for parents to guide their kids on how to manage their time so as to get homework done on time. But during weekends, I also cut them some slack. I also allow them to sleep late watching tv or playing since they can wake up as late as they want to on Saturday and Sunday morning.

I believe it is better to require kids to sleep early because that is also a way of how to discipline your kids in bedtime. Parents should accompany their children in their room so that kids will obey them. Read them some short stories and etc. Also,kids will get used to it when they start going to school. They have to know how to discipline their self.

I always make my kids go to bed by 7:30 pm unless I am babysitting before they go to bed then I let them stay up for awhile to continue to play with the kids I am babysitting. I pretty much like to keep them on schedule it helps them fall asleep better and not be to tired the next day. I also like keeping them on a schedule so I have time to myself. Then if I want to go out I will have my sister come over to my house and sit here while my kids sleep. We take turns I will watch hers so she can go out and she will watch mine so I can go out.

My kids all have set bedtimes, but getting them to fall asleep is a different story. They know the importance of getting enough sleep, just as I do, but they have nights when they just lie in bed, with the lights off, and think. Other times, they will fall asleep early, but wake up extremely early. I do not allow them to have televisions or video games in their bedrooms, nor do I allow them to have their lights on after bedtime, this does help at times, but they still have those nights when they have trouble sleeping.

For me even if i am not a parent but i will required them to sleep early so that they will not be tired by tomorrow especially when they will have a class.

yes its a nice question and if i am a parent i will let my kids to sleep as earlier as possible because if it happens they feel fresh the next day and can be active through out the day and also in order to be healthy we require 8 hours of sleep and so it is better to make them sleep as earlier as possible......