I moved away from home at the age of fourteen, kind of. That is to say, I went away to boarding school at that time (by choice--my parents didn't want me to go). Until that fateful trip back to the East Coast, my bedtime was 8:30pm. Yep, at the age of thirteen, I went to bed at 8:30. And that was an upgrade from the normal bedtime of 8:00pm, which I had from a young age until around the spring semester of my eighth grade year. And I will tell you, I often couldn't stay awake long enough to catch the much-anticipated "9 at 9" radio broadcast on my radio alarm clock.
My one fear about boarding school, in fact, was that I wouldn't be able to get my homework done each night because study hall (7:00-9:00pm) ran later than my bedtime of 8:30. Oh Lordy, don't you just cringe for 13 year-old me? Little did I know that I would get less sleep during high school than I would during any other period of my life. I came home during one break and my father woke me up after I'd been asleep for 17 hours. He thought I was dead. I was annoyed he had spoiled a perfectly good stretch of sleep. =)
My point is this. I think that, as adults, we forget how much sleep kids need. Maybe you keep your kids awake longer so you can spend more time with them. Maybe you do it because all their friends are staying up late. Maybe you do it because you stayed up that late as a kid. I will tell you this-- I have learned that adults have zero control over when a child wakes up. Some of them rise an hour before dawn, and there is nothing you can do about that, no matter what. But all of them need a TON of sleep. They are growing at insane rates, physically, mentally, emotionally. They will sleep 14 hours at a stretch if you let them, but until they are teenagers, most of them won't sleep in in the mornings. So put them to bed earlier.
The darling girl I had for nine days of respite care slept 11 hours every single night, without fail. She woke at 7am, and would have no matter what time I put her to bed. Her foster parents were putting her to bed between 9 and 11 each night (it varied). I put her to bed at 8pm, and she was sound asleep by 8:05. That kiddo (and I would argue most kiddos) needed that amount of sleep.
There are two pieces of advice here. One, put your child(ren) to bed early. Earlier than their friends. Earlier than you went to bed as a child. And see what happens. Yes, as a 13 year-old, I didn't always fall asleep right away. But I fell asleep soon, and needed the sleep I got. I never got as many colds as the rest of the kids in my class, I had an easier time paying attention, and I certainly had fewer behavioral issues. Can I chalk all that up to extra sleep? Well, when I tell you that the boarding school I attended changed its winter term hours, extending the morning sleep time by just 30 minutes, thereby reducing campus-wide illness by 85%, you might start believing in the power of sleep.
Second piece of advice: keep it consistent. Put your child(ren) to bed at the same time every night, weekday or weekend. The ability to sleep later when you go to bed later only seems to manifest once you've started college. So keeping them up later on Saturday night does not guarantee a lovely lie-in on Sunday morning. Keep the bedtime consistent, and trade off morning duty with your spouse. If you're single, you may just have to deal with the morning duty (or teach your child how to make his own breakfast).
In all honesty, I wish I went to bed each night at 8:30 now. I think I could use the sleep, and having a consistent sleep routine sounds heavenly to me at this point in my life. Alas, I have so messed up my circadian rhythms that a consistent bedtime is something of a pipe dream. But try it with your kids... I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised!
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