What time does your 3 year old go to bed?

[Anonymous]

Ou daughter, now 3.5yo, usually naps in the afternoon for an hour or so and has a late bedtime, between 9:30 and 10:30. We have tried to drop the afternoon nap (or misses it on "field trip" day at preschool), but she crashes at 5:00 or 6:00 for an hour or so and then is re-energized. Either way, she is up at around 7:30 in the morning. So she is getting 10-11 hours of sleep each day. I have succeeded, for some periods, to get her to bed closer to 9:30, but somehow it ends up drifting back to the later time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess may be I am, but I really think 11 for a 3 year old is nuts. Sorry, I just do. I have talked to many teachers who say they practically beg parents to get their kids to bed by 730 or 8. I realize some situations may make that impossible, but if not, I agree that should be the goal.

teachers??? at 3? begging the parents to put their kids to sleep earlier?

you're funny!

Interesting that you judge other parents and when they put their kids to sleep. But then you have your child in "school" at three.

Sorry, who is the one full of judgement? I am a SAHM, spend a ton of time with my kids, and in my social circles, church, etc. know a lot of teachers. Whew, are you full of venom. And the "you're funny" comment gives you way. You have spewed similar not nice messages before on this board.

[Anonymous]

I am the PP, also to be clear, teachers for young children (who have behavior and other issues that stem from lack of sleep) and teachers of older children. Most experts would say even for an 8 year old an 8 bedtime is appropriate if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A three year old up until 11 watching tv?

When my son was 3, he did not nap. Bedtime was a strict 8:00. He would sleep until 730 or 800. Sleep does beget sleep and it really is important for children at this age to get 11-12 hours if at all possible.

You are pretty judgmental and self-righteous. Get a grip.

To OP, my son goes to bed at 10:00 p.m., up at 7:45 for preschool. Has a 2 hour nap. (good enough for you, pp?)

DID YOU SAY SCHOOL??????? Oh my. . .the horror.

[Anonymous]

If she doesn't nap (my preference), she is asleep around 8 and easily sleeps until 8am the next day.


I am a nanny and a mom and nearly every family I've worked for wants me to cut out naps starting at age 2. Why? So the child will fall dead asleep early and the parents won't have to deal with them at night. Sad but it is the truth. So that makes for a lot of cranky tired kids starting at about 5:00pm on. My son is now 3 yrs old and I always put him down for naptime but he only sleeps 4-5 days per week. If he doesn't nap, I usually put him to bed earlier at 7:30 or so. If he had a nap, I let him stay up until about 8:30 after he has had a chance to run around w/ the neighborhood kids.

[Anonymous]

My 3 yr old DS is not napping anymore. He is asleep by 7pm and sleeps between 11-12 hours a night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my son was 3 he didn't need much sleep and he got naps at daycare. On weekdays he never went to sleep before 11 pm and was up with me at 6:40 am every morning. Fortunately, on the weekends, he would sleep in with me until 8 am. To save my sanity, I made a no talking rule starting at 9 pm. And, I relaxed my standards on TV. I still monitored channels, but from 9 pm to 11 pm, he had my blessing to watch whenever he wanted.

What??? That's insane and incredibly unhealthy. He probably needed a lot more sleep than 7 hours. he's 3!!!

At 3, we had no naps and asleep around 7:30. If she did miraculously nap, about 8:30.

[Anonymous]

My DD went to bed at 7:30 when she was 3. It slowly got pushed back bit by bit and now - at almost 4 - she's going to bed at 8/8:15.

She used to take a 1-2 hr nap daily until a couple weeks ago when we eliminated it - bedtime is still the same though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A three year old up to 11 pm watching TV. You're right it's funny.

I have to agree - a three year old watching tv for 2 hours up to 11pm is not going to earn anyway a parenting award.....

[Anonymous]

My almost 4 year old naps most days at daycare (not what I want, but we don't have much choice in the matter). On days that he naps, he is up until 10 or 11. I also let him watch tv, because frankly it is absolutely exhausting for us and there is no way any of us would survive if we didn't relax the rules a bit. It is a vicous cycle for us- he stays up until 11, then is tired the next day so he naps and then is up again until 11. On weekends, he doesn't nap and is happily asleep by 8:30 or 9 and up at 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We still do naps, and our DD goes to bed at 8pm but falls asleep closer to 9pm. When the nap is skipped, she is by 7:45pm and asleep by 8pm.

My 3 yr old is exactly like this too.

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old stays up late also. My husband don't work 9-5 shifts so we don't pick her up from the babysitter until 9:15. She doesn't have to get up for 'school' in the morning or anything like that so it doesn't bother us that she's up in the evenings when we're up also. We do understand though that we will have to transition to a more strict bedtime when it's time for her to go to school. But for right now, this works for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess may be I am, but I really think 11 for a 3 year old is nuts. Sorry, I just do. I have talked to many teachers who say they practically beg parents to get their kids to bed by 730 or 8. I realize some situations may make that impossible, but if not, I agree that should be the goal.

teachers??? at 3? begging the parents to put their kids to sleep earlier?

you're funny!

Interesting that you judge other parents and when they put their kids to sleep. But then you have your child in "school" at three.

Sorry, who is the one full of judgement? I am a SAHM, spend a ton of time with my kids, and in my social circles, church, etc. know a lot of teachers. Whew, are you full of venom. And the "you're funny" comment gives you way. You have spewed similar not nice messages before on this board.

As someone who used to work at a daycare center there were a handful of kids that would come in EXHAUSTED. Their parents keeping them up too late, probably watching TV like the lazy parent who lets her 3yr old kid watch whatever TV until 11pm. And yes, we would ask that they get their kids to bed at a reasonable hour. It is not fair to the child to have to be exhausted all day long, especially when going to a preschool or daycare program that is exhausting in itself. These kids were cranky and sick all the time.

[Anonymous]

to the previous poster- when you worked at the daycare- did you respect the requests of parents (like me) who BEG you not to let their child nap b/c they won't go to bed at night if they do? I know how incredibly demanding it must be to work with 3 year olds every day and when nap time rolls around I promise you my daycare teachers (whom I love) can't wait for those kids to settle down for an hour. It is horrible for me, b/c my son will not go to bed at night if he naps, and consequently is exhausted the next day. It is hard on both sides. Don't judge us as "lazy" for having our kids up later, sometimes that's just the way it works out and sometimes it is just the price you pay for being a working parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:to the previous poster- when you worked at the daycare- did you respect the requests of parents (like me) who BEG you not to let their child nap b/c they won't go to bed at night if they do? I know how incredibly demanding it must be to work with 3 year olds every day and when nap time rolls around I promise you my daycare teachers (whom I love) can't wait for those kids to settle down for an hour. It is horrible for me, b/c my son will not go to bed at night if he naps, and consequently is exhausted the next day. It is hard on both sides. Don't judge us as "lazy" for having our kids up later, sometimes that's just the way it works out and sometimes it is just the price you pay for being a working parent.

So, what are the teachers supposed to do to make sure your child doesn't sleep?? Miss their much needed break and entertain your child? Shake your child awake when he closes his eyes? I mean really, it shouldn't be difficult to get him on a schedule - if he's supposedly on a regular schedule on the weekend, then why doesn't that translate into the week? THe reason it doesn't translate is: he needs his nap!

I really wonder why some people have kids when they are viewed as such an inconvenience. I work too and I would never sacrifice sleep - or my child's teacher's sanity - for just one child. Your child isn't the only one in the classroom, you know.