Help My Kids Wont Go to Sleep Early!

I had this problem with my daughter. If there was a light on anywhere in the house she was up. No matter if her door was closed or not. I would get her to bed and start my homework. She would pop in and want attention. It was so hard.

You need to pick a time that is earlier. It could start being midnight. Just get them ready for bed then sit down doing something quiet. Reading a book to them, something that will signal to their bodies that it is time to wind down.

Then turn the lights out and if you need to lay down with them until they start falling asleep. Then do it 30 minutes earlier the next week or month. It takes a long time to change biorhythms

People who work rotating shifts lose part of their life expectancy for changing their sleep cycles so often. It is a big deal to change it and doing it right is very important.

Just keep working on moving their bed time up each month and work hard, no backsliding. After they go to bed you can get up and do quiet stuff. If they start waking up then you are going to have to decide who's more important, them and them getting to bed in the evening or you and your after midnight time.

I assume they are not school aged or they would be falling asleep a lot earlier than this. Once they start school I think a 9pm bedtime is the latest little ones should be up. They can be in thier room winding down with the lights off but they need at least 10 hours of sleep per night. 9pm-7am.

If you guys are sleeping in really really late due to the late nights it's going to be hard on you to change your sleep patterns too. They will have to be up and ready for school so you need to start working towards that goal too.

How old are your children?

when they go to bed at 1 or 2 , what time do they get up in the morning?

What is their schedule each day?

Do they take naps?

Are they school age?

I agree to wake them up earlier and earlier every few days.

During the day, make sure they get a lot of outside active play.. Running, riding bikes, swimming, climbing.. This needs to be for hours.. They need this to get their energy out..

Running errands does not count as an activity.. They need to be really active.

Make sure if they do not take naps, they at least have a quiet time with no TV or video games, just sitting on their beds reading books, or listening to books on tape.

In Forida, you are like us.. The sun stays up super late.. So you may need to consider putting up some block out shades on their windows. I used to put up quilts 2 weeks before school, to get her used to going to bed at the earlier time.

We also had a fan and she had an electric air filter in her room.. these humming machines, blocked out the neighborhood noises.

We would eat dinner in a calm atmosphere.. no silliness, no TV, no cell phones. etc.

Then we would get ready for a bath. put away the toys, get the room set up with lower lights, some quiet music.. No loud voices, no cell phones going off, etc.. Just start a nice calm evening.

Then a calm bath. I used to wipe her really hard almost like a massage. This kind of wore her down.. Then I would dry her off again with strong strokes, Put on the pj's, read some books to her.. This is not the time to ask her questions or engage her.. this was quiet reading to her and then sleep.

I continued to read to her through 5th grade. Sometimes, she would read out loud to us.. The Harry Potter books were perfect for this..

As she got older the bedtime was a little later, and she would read to herself in bed.

As long as she got up in the morning without complaining.. I pretty much let her set her schedule.. This worked for us. We still had a goal, but she could have 30 min.. more every once in a while..

Start waking them up a little earlier each day. If they usually get up around 10:00 am, start waking them up at 9:30 am. After a few days, start waking them up at 9:00 am.

Also, if they are in bed but not sleeping and not disturbing you, does it really matter? And if they don't have to go to school yet, does it really matter?

When you need them to get up by a certain time, that's when it matters.

My son likes to stay up late, but the earlier I wake him up, the earlier he goes to sleep. I wake my kids up at 7 am during the school year, but 8 during the summer. It keeps good habits of getting up and starting their day. Also, my kids are 12 and 15, and that makes a difference on when they go to bed. My 15 year old daughter now chooses to go to bed by nine so she gets her sleep in since I wake her so early :) Good Luck!