A Day Turned Upside Down

[billroper]

Katie didn't want to go to bed last night, so we told her to go ahead and stay downstairs and watch TV if that was what she wanted to do. She claims that she spent the whole night awake.

We then proceeded to demonstrate that staying up all night was its own punishment, as we told her that she could not go to bed at 10 AM; instead, she needed to come out to lunch with us. The sulk was tremendous.

I think she caught a nap after lunch while I went to the park to play Ingress. I ran up 100K AP and made it to level 7. Level 8 will be much harder to reach. :) It was warm and humid enough that I was really pretty much ready to sit for a while when I got home. This worked well, as it gave daisy_knotwise a chance to go out and do some shopping that she wanted to do while I drank a lot to rehydrate.

(The good news is that I've walked over 50 km this month playing Ingress, which is a good 50 km more than I would have been likely to have walked otherwise.)

When Gretchen got home, I suggested that we go to the pool to cool off and so we did. A good time was had by all, although getting the girls to leave was a bit of a challenge...

And now the girls have gone to bed.

Katie is out like a light. :)

Comments

[katyhh.livejournal.com]

I honestly do think that Katie is too young to be given choices like that, but then again, it is your kid and your call.
I understand wanting to give up fighting if you are tired yourself and want to go to bed, but it eludes me why there is free TV and "do whatever you like" for not listening to anything mommy and daddy say ... (And yes, if it had been me, there would have been no nap either, and you'd have had a kid that goes to bed at actual kid bedtime (9 pm latest?) for once.)
I know this sounds harsh, but don't you think you are making it a lot harder on yourselves, too, if there is no firm boundaries? It has worked for her, now, once. So - what is her incentive to go to bed the next time she does not want to?

[billroper]

Katie occasionally asks to stay up late on weekends and if there is no critical thing going on the next day, we have let her do this. Yesterday, she outdid herself. :)

The good news is that we were able to use this as a Valuable Learning Experience (TM) in a controlled environment rather than having her, say, get to college and suddenly decide to try this strategy when it will be A Really Bad Idea (TM).

Trust me, there are times when it has been "Get in bed. Now!" And she's done so.

But because the girls don't have to be in school until 9 AM, a normal bedtime for them in the 10 - 10:30 range seems to work well. They get up around 8 AM, giving them 9.5 to 10 hours of sleep, which is right in the correct range for their age. If we made them go to bed at 9 PM, they'd be up at 7 AM and dawdling around rather than having to directly get breakfast and get ready for school.

If school started at 8 AM, bedtime would be earlier. :)