Night Owl? - Lake Wales,FL

He's getting over 9 hours of sleep, so he's probably ok. My kid are 12 and 9 and they go to *bed* at 8pm. They don't have to go to sleep, but they have to stay in there and not come out. They play, read, draw, listen to music, etc. And they put themselves to sleep when they are tired. They also get up easily on their own. They have been doing this since they were about 4. And the best part of it is that's when OUR quiet time starts! Hubby and I can watch what we want on tv, do some chores, whatever. When we go to bed around 10:30, I check on them and make sure lights and radios are off and they are tucked in. Its really worked great for us. I think its good that your son is able to do this. So many kids go kicking and screaming to bed. I think he's ok doing this. Good luck!

It could just be a phase. My daughter did that and still does it sometimes. It will usually last a couple of weeks and then she will go back to her normal routine. The one that got me was when she would wake up at 5am ready to play. I would tell her she could play quietly in her room until it was really time to get up. Thankfully that didn't last too long.

Is he still taking naps? If so, it might be time to phase them out by making them shorter.

Does he still nap? When my oldest was 3 1/2 or 4 (can't remember) he started doing that. I realized that if he napped he was going to be up late, but if he didn't nap he was out like a light around 8 or 8:30. It seemed pretty clear to me that he was done taking naps. He sleeps about 10 - 12 hours each night now, and I love it!

I had a night owl as well. By 2 all forms of nap were over. She was up to midnight if she had a nap. Horrible. Anyway, after a quick run outside in the evening after dinner. Could be a bike ride around the block. Then it was bath, book and bed. But we put the tv on with a disney movie or some such. She watched that and it helped her fall asleep. Still she never went to bed before 9, No use fighting whats in the kids system. We did learn no real action movies sometimes that wakes them up. My daughter's favorite was the Fox and the Hound from disney. Have to be careful with disney though some are too scary for bed. Also for a girl lol my little pony maybe not somuch for a boy. Do you have cable they have that nik jr at night with the bed time shows. They play franklin, bernstein bears etc. It will really help him settle down and go to sleep. Leave a cup of water next to his bed incase he gets thirsty. I put the sleep timer on so it turns off automatically after a certain time.

I'll just add this to the responses: is he getting enough activity during the
day?

Running around, playing, jumping, moving all about etc?
Maybe you could move his bedtime to 830pm to see if that helps?