When the kids were babies I was blessed with good sleepers. They always went down at 7 pm, and I'd nurse again around 10 or 11pm before I turned in for the night.
As they grew into toddlers I kept the 7 pm bedtime routine. They may not have needed it, but I sure did. Much as I love them, by 7 pm (None of them napped. Ever. The downside of sleeping through the night I guess) I was exhausted, and I needed adult time, time to unwind, to have a conversation with someone who spoke in polysyllables.
Even once they started school, bedtime for years in our house was 7:30. I liked it. I love the feeling of tucking them in and knowing they were safe and sound until morning. And I loved having two good hours of relative peace (and sometimes cleanng) before I too went to bed.
It used to bother me that one day bedtime would be later. I dreaded it. But the inevitable happened last summer when long days of sun and activity stretched bedtime out sometimes until 9 pm and because there was no school, I let it go. When September rolled around, predictably the kids buckled at the thought of 7:30 bed, and we stretched it to 8 pm. A good deal for the youngest.
And now, I can't imagine it any other way. Evenings are relaxed and unhurried. There's time for leisurely dinners, walks through the meadow, a game, reading, even a bath before bed. They are older too, less needy. I like having them around and our conversations are interactive and interesting.
Most nights they're in bed by 8pm. Erik reads until 8:30. The girls until 8:15 or so. And it works. Beautifully.
3 comments:
I'm starting to enjoy evening fun with the kids, too, although they still desperately need their sleep, and I desperately need my quiet time after they are sleeping. Janelle happily goes to bed by 7:30 these days, and Connor heads off to bed at 8:00 and reads with Mom until 8:30. We still enjoy our snuggle time. But I know the days are coming when they will be wanting to stay up later than I do! I sometimes wish this merry-go-round would slow down!
We have followed the same pattern as you have with bedtimes, and my kids never napped either! But they were in bed at 7pm and that was it.
Now they are older, I enjoy letting them stay up later playing. And they are usually even fun to be around now. It just gets better and better, doesn't it?
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Finola
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