I am really confused, I have a 3 and 5 yr old they go to bed 7pm - 7am ( have a rabbit alarm clock they are not allowed up till 7am and well trained) when do kids start staying up later? Is it down to the kids? Is there an age that they stay up till 8pm or 9pm? Don't know if we are doing the right thing and don't talk to other parents with kids this age. Any advice welcomed

Sorry, can't help much, mine's not yet two. I would guess that when they start waking up dead early it may be time to consider a slightly later bedtime. Mine is in bed for 7.30. I would have thought they were both a few years off 9pm.

What I wanted to do was hijack the thread for a mo: how old were they when you got the clock, and how soon did they pay attention to it?

My daughter is just coming up to 4 and has gone the other way... Sometimes she is absolutely exhausted and ends up in bed before 7. I think that you will know when they can stay up later as they will be wide awake earlier in the morning.

The rabbit alarm clock is fantastic though... 'Sleepy time bunny' I presume? Only problem is if Ellie goes to bed at 7 I have to set the alarm at 5.30 as it won't pop down otherwise - then I forget to change it later so it when it wakes at 5.30 I have to convince her it's not time to get up.

Okay, that sounds not so good. My whole point with the bunny would be to convince him to stay in bed later...I'd be mortified if it went off at 5.30! So it's a twelve hour thing is it? You couldn't set it for later in the morning?

I think you will just get a fell for it and ti will be a natural progression. How it happened for us was that our eldest (just over 7) had things he wanted to do and the 7pm thing started to get a little later. He now goes to bed anytime from 7.15 to 8pm depending on what is going on.

So it's a twelve hour thing is it? You couldn't set it for later in the morning?

Yes, its a twelve hour thing and yes you can set it for later in the morning but you need to remember to go in and change it an hour or so later or it'll wake up at 9pm !!!

This (http://www.atomictime.co.uk/clocks/clock_childrens.html)is where I got mine from:

I have 4 kids aged 12, 10, 7 and 2 years. The youngest 2 go to bed at 7.30pm, the 10 yr old at 8pm and the 12yr old at 8.30. At the weekends they all go to bed 1/2 an hour later. They aren't allowed to get up until 7 am either, but they just have a normal clock now that they can tell the time. You might find that as they go to school, they need the full 12 hours sleep for a while.
We send ours to bed at that time so that by 9 o'clock, its just us and we can catch up in peace!

:thumbsup: Thanks, investigator. Not sure I quite get the whole changing it after bedtime thing. But I may try it anyway...sometimes I just have to see something or I remain incredibly dense, lol.

I agree vanessa, one of the most important things about bedtime is maintaining parental sanity. When I was a kid I thought people were stupid to complain about how early their kids woke up, I thought I'd be 'sensible' and let mine stay up later so they'd get up later. Now I realise that an early bedtime is fabulous!:D

Thanks for all this, I will just keep doing what we are doing for now, one thing I hate is kranky kids through no fault of there own but 'lack of sleep' have learnt a few lessons on holidays/family visits and it's well worth just sticking to the routine and enjoying some adult time after!

Hi I have a 4.5 year old and if I ever put him to bed an hour earlier, then he wakes up an hour earlier. We just put him to bed regardless at 8pm and he wakes up any time from 6am. We have learnt thru experience that if we ever put him to bed at 7pm, then we know we may be in for a 5ish start.

Should be fun and games all over again as the clocks go forward soon. This always confuses my son's internal body clock.

Wouldnt mind finding out about the bunny!

Hey, Yellowrose. Follow Investigator's link or do a google search...there are a couple of varieties out there. I am still considering it, as I know he is capable of playing quietly on his own for half an hour but sometimes decides he wants company. At least this way he will get a nicer clue that he needs to keep to himself a bit longer than me ignoring his yodels and heartbroken (mmhm, right, lol) sobs.
It can only be good for him to know there is a time limit for us as well, after which he can be guaranteed attention.

The Bunny clock is a clock which (surprisingly enough) has a bunny's face on it and you set the alarm for the desired wake up time and say to the little person "don't get out of bed 'til the bunny's eyes are open". Instead of a sounding alarm, the bunny's eyes open. Fantastic. They are a bit pricey though. They are on a few kiddie websites for £20.00, not seen any cheaper.