I am all for kids getting themselves READY for bed by themselves as soon as they can. That is great for self help skills and independence. However PUTTING themselves to bed is absolutely sad. Parents should be with their kids when they climb into bed, do their bedtime ritual, tuck them in and kiss them goodnight every single night of their life. Why? Because you never know what tomorrow may bring and trust me - if your child dies and you didn't say Good Night and kissed them the night before you will regret this for the rest of your life. Tell them you love them every night before they go to sleep. It doesn't matter, how old they are.

I still read to my eleven-yeard-old for a half hour or so every night once she is in bed. She insists on it. Then she reads for an hour or so by herself before she falls asleep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't you read to your kids??? I'm flabbergasted at this.

My 6 yr old reads to himself before going to bed. Once the kid can read, why do you have to read to them?

Because it's a nice bonding experience and kids should be read to a lot longer than jsut age six. Just bc your child can read doesn't mean s/he doesn't enjoy being read to... sometimes at least.

No need to be rude.

Our 8 and 10 year olds hate when we read to them! They read to themselves, but we read to our 5 year old. We actually lay in bed with the kids for about 10 minutes and cuddle. One parent does DS and the other takes the two girls )one at a time) and then we alternate nights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't you read to your kids??? I'm flabbergasted at this.

My 6 yr old reads to himself before going to bed. Once the kid can read, why do you have to read to them?

Because it's a nice bonding experience and kids should be read to a lot longer than jsut age six. Just bc your child can read doesn't mean s/he doesn't enjoy being read to... sometimes at least.

No need to be rude.

Anonymous wrote:Don't you read to your kids??? I'm flabbergasted at this.

My 6 yr old reads to himself before going to bed. Once the kid can read, why do you have to read to them?

oh this is so reassuring. i have a six year old who i send upstairs after dinner to get ready for bed by herself. i dread hanging around while she takes forever taking a bath, etc. so i'm happy to hear others let them do this independently.

I still do prayers and goodnight kisses with the 9 year old. I kiss the 22 year old goodnight when she is here.

Such a sad question! My oldest is 14 and I still kiss her good night every single night.

Don't you read to your kids??? I'm flabbergasted at this.

I come in and kiss my 9 yo and close his shades, but he does it mostly independently. I still want to know he's in bed.

What do you mean???? No bedtime hugs and kisses????? What sad world do you live in....

I stay home with the kids (9 and 4), and we separate naturally during the day and do our own thing. They read while I wash up, they play while I work on the computer, etc. Obviously we talk and sometimes we read and play together!

Bedtime is when they put on pyjamas, I go up and floss and brush their teeth (they do their own teeth in the morning), I tuck them into bed. Occasionally, the older one reads and DH or I read to the younger one, but they read so much during the day that bedtime stories are not part of our routine. We're all exhausted by then anyway. We shower them with hugs and kisses, and go downstairs again.

My kid started around 6. We still read together occaisonalky but not as often at bedtime. I help with teeth brushing and sort of supervise showering bc I don't trust him to get all the shampoo out for example.

My 8 year old usually goes to bed by herself. Hugs and kisses downstairs, and up she goes. It has been years since I did more than a tuck-in with a kiss. I have a DH who travels a lot and an older and a younger child so nights are always a jumble of needs. I could never do a long, drawn out routine at that hour! We do our reading time earlier in the day.

Mine are 6 and 8 and after they clear the dinner dishes, they go upstairs, shower/shampoo, brush teeth and and get in bed, then call us up to read a story and tuck them in. I don;t always feel like reading but the fact that they now do everything else is pretty nice and the story takes 10 minutes tops. It's a nice time of day for us.

I was hoping 7 but still too early. I hate bed time, we get lots of togetherness during the day.