How much sleep are your 6 year olds getting?

Hi Friends,

Just wanted to know how much sleep your kids are getting now that school is starting.

My girls are 6 and in the first grade. I wake my girls at 7:30 each school morning. School goes from 8:45-3:15. We usually play on the playground for an hour after school, go home, have a snack, do homework, eat dinner, take a bath and then spend a half hour reading before lights out. I try to have lights out by 8:30. They almost always stay up talking for another half hour or so and they usually do not get to sleep before 9:00. So they are getting between 10 and 10-1/2 hours of sleep a night. They seem soooo exhausted in the morning! I decided to try to push back bedtime to 8:00. I did this for 3 days in a row but they still stayed awake until their usual 9:00-9:30 time. I am wondering if I should keep trying or if their bodies don't necessarily need more then 10-10 1/2 hours.

I know every child is different but I just would like an idea of how much sleep your kids are getting.

TIA!!

Lisa

BTW- They did full day kindergarten last year so the school hours are the same as last year's.

Edit: extra word.

 

Hi Lisa,

My boys are 1 day younger than your girls and just started full-day K today (8:15-2:35). They typically get up on their own (so far anyway, we'll see how it goes this week) at 6:30 and we try to get them down by 7:30 (with lots of bedtime rowdiness between 6:30 and 7:30). I'd say they're getting about 10-11 hours depending on the day (averaging 10.5). I wouldn't be surprised if they start sleeping in a bit more with school underway or crashing earlier. My guys have never been the kind of kids that need waking up in the morning but maybe that will change this year!

By the way, according to a study on sleep habits, the data on 6-year-olds was:

Bedtime:

10% at 6:45 pm
average is 8:00
high end is 8:45

Total hours:

low end 9.5 hrs
average 11 hrs
high end is 12 hrs

Hope this helps! I bet your girls will probably start adjusting on their own to a slightly earlier bedtime as they settle in to the new routine (they have so much to talk about at night!) and also with seasonal change. Good luck.

 

Mine go to bed at 7:30 and get up by 6:45 (that is when I will wake them if they are not already up). One tends to fall asleep almost immediately, and she might wake by 6:15. The other takes longer, sometimes until 8:30 to fall asleep. I usually get her at 6:45, but she is waking up by then.

 

We shoot for 7:45-8:00 at the latest.
They both fall right asleep and then are up at 6:30 am.

So we are at 10 1/2 hours too.

They are so tired in the mornings...but then on the weekends they are up at 6:15 and raring to go. ack!

 

I'd go for the slightly earlier bedtime. My guys (all of them) have to get up by 6:30. The three youngest are in bed by 7. My goal is to have them already awake when I go in. My 9 yr old goes to bed at 7:30 because even 8 is too late and he won't be awake at 6:30. My oldest fluctuates. She typically goes to bed between 9 and 9:30 to get up at 6:30. If I'm having to wake her up she goes to bed at 8:30 for a few days. Even if they aren't sleeping, they are having much needed downtime without all the stimulation in the rest of the house.

 

Mine are on almost the same schedule as yours. They go to bed at 8:30, but they like to read in bed, so it's usually another 15 minutes or so before they turn out the light. They usually get up on their own around 7:15-7:30. School is 9:15-3:15.

 

My 8 and 10 year old are on the same schedule. Bed by 8pm up at 6:45. (Last bell is at 8am and they catch the bus at 7:15) That equates to about 10 hours of sleep after talking etc.
Monday and Wed my dd has soccer so she doesn't get into bed until 9pm.

 

Bedtime is usually at 7:30 here but that will be harder to stick to with Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and PTO starting. I wake them up at 6am so they have a half hour to get up, get dressed, hair brushed, teeth brushed, shoes, etc. to be ready to go out the door at 6:30 to go to my neighbors. So they get roughly 10.5 hrs. a night. On the days I don't have to get them up at 6, Connor is usually up at that time anyway.

 

My boys are 6, will be 7 in November and just started 1st grade. School is from 8:00-2:15.

They get up around 7:15. Sometimes they are already up, but one is usually still sleeping.
They ride their bikes to school at 7:45
Dinner is around 6:30pm (I am from South America and have never been able to eat at 5:00 )
Bath and Bed at 8:00pm

They seem pretty well-rested though there are days, mostly on the weekends, that one of them will fall asleep watching TV.

 

School runs from 9:00 - 4:05 here and Isabel hasn't been getting off the bus until about 4:45 (which is about 20 mins. late, but that's a whole other thread). She's been going to bed at her normal bed time which is usually around 8:15 after brushing her teeth and getting pj's on at 8 pm. She's usually up around 7 am give or take. Today, she was up at 6:45 and other days she may sleep until 7:30. I rarely have to wake her up. I know she's tired in the late afternoon/evening time though. So, she probably gets about 10.5 - 11 on average.

 

My 6yr olds (2nd grade) go to bed at 7 (probably asleep by 7:30) and are awake at 5:45 to be out of the house at 7am.

 

My guys turn 6 in November. They started K last week. We try to have them in bed by 7:30. Wake them up no later than 6:30. The bus comes at 7:15. School is 8-2:40. They are home by about 3:15.

 

Our boys are close to 6. They have been constantly sleeping 10.5 hrs/night for some time now (including the start of all day kindergarten a couple weeks ago) and seem well rested on that. Occassionally, they sleep more but not often.

We shoot for an 8:30 bedtime but it usually is closer to 8:45 or 9pm. They wake up on their own around 7:30am and have plenty of time to catch their 8:55am bus. They get back around 4:15 and oddly come home and DON'T stop!! (play with all the neighbor kids, ride bikes, play sports in backyard, soccer practice twice/week, etc). Someone told me its normal for boys to do that after having to sit all day.

I also feel that kids slowly adapt to their new schedules. After they get into the groove, if they are tired, they will fall asleep sooner. Getting dark earlier certainly helps the cause. At least, gets them in the house sooner.

 

Ally is in bed by 8, and has to be up by 7am, but she's usually awake at 6:30am. She really should sleep more because she gets crabby by the end of the day.

Jack has Autism, and goes through phases where he's up 3:30am and then doesn't go to bed till 10 the next night. I don't know how he keeps going some days. We're in a good sleep phase right now, so he's in bed by around 9:30pm and is up at 7:30am.

 

Nadia will be 6 in January, and just started kindergarten. Her alarm goes off at 6:20am, and she's allowed to snooze it once, LOL. School is from 8am to 3pm.

I send her upstairs to get ready for bed at 7:30pm, and we strive for lights out at 8pm. If she seems really tired, I try for lights out by 7:45pm.

On Wednesdays, she has a late morning -- school starts at 9am instead, so she gets an extra hour to sleep. That really helps!

So far, she seems to be doing okay on 10.5 hours, although I think 11 would be ideal. She definitely needs a little extra sleep on the weekends.

 

The boys are in 1st grade & have to get up aroung 6:15 everyday. A 7:30-8:00 bedtime would be wonderful, but there is football practice 3 nights a week & soccer on the 4th. By the time the get home & showered I am lucky to get them in bed by 9. They do ok with it but love a day off to catch up on some much needed rest.

 

my boys aren't 6 yet, but they sleep from about 8pm {bed at 7:30} to about 6:45-7am.

 

I just asked this same question to my singleton moms and they didn't understand what was the big problem.. I also wondered if my two were getting enough sleep.. they go down about 7:45/8:00pm and we wake them up about 6:15am. After reading the other post it seems like we are all doing the samething.

 

At our back to school night the teacher told us first graders need anywhere from 10-12 hours of sleep a night. Jack will be 7 in Jan. He goes to bed at 930 and wakes up at 730. School is from 845-330. He does well with that. Some nights I get him down at 9pm but he wakes up fine so I haven't changed it. We are night owls here and I try so hard to get them in bed earlier but it always ends up being 930.

 

have your girls gotten less tired over the past month? I know my boys are always just destroyed the first few weeks of school, no matter how much sleep they get. Then they get used to it and adjust.

Did you see this article: Snooze or Lose? Really interesting!

 

My oldest singleton is 5, turning 6 in January, and he has half day kindergarten in the mornings. I work full time, so he goes to daycare after school, where he has lunch and 'down time' for 2 hours.. .in which he may or may not sleep. On average he goes to bed at 8pm and I wake him at 6:15. I like the fact that he's having half day K, just because he gets that extra down time after school, where he can get some extra sleep if needed.

The above research info is very interesting.