Bed Time!

When I was in Minnesota last month, I stayed with my aunt and we got to talking about back in the day when us kids would visit her kids. Her kids had a pretty set routine when it came to bed time. My family on the other hand... Let's just say my parents were more interested in getting a full night's sleep for themselves than worrying about when their kids would go to sleep. My aunt just didn't understand first of all how my parents could allow such chaos and second of all how my siblings and I managed to regulate ourselves without the supervision.

Now I have my own kid and up until recently he was staying up late with me every night. He usually fell asleep on the floor playing with toys or on the chair watching something on his Kindle. I even, on occasion a la my parents, just went to bed before him because I was tired and he wasn't. But recently, his mom instituted a bed time which I sort of adhere to. Every night at about 10pm I tell him to brush his teeth and go to bed. And he does. Cool. I think he argued on the first night and every so often he comes out to tell me he's thirsty or hot or something, but I have a kid with a bed time.

Is it necessary though? Do kids need to have a bed time? I've read a few articles on the matter and there are a couple of studies that link irregular bed time routines with problem behavior, but then a couple that counter with the amount of sleep rather than the time of sleep being the key to behavior issues.

I'm too laid back to care about this too much. I don't have a strict schedule or routine to my days, so I can accommodate whatever. But for now, I have a kid with a bed time.