Pam Hartley

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>From: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Digest Number 2868
>Date: Tue, Jan 14, 2003, 1:54 PM
>

> My children get ready
> for bed and are in bed between 8:00 and 9:00. I have let my daughter and son
> stay up later because they wanted to several times, but the next day is
> usually a disaster. They are 3 and 4 years old and don't seem to understand
> or care that when they stay up late at night it makes them feel terrible the
> next day. I have decided to wait until they are little older for them to
> decide when to go to bed.


My daughters (8 and 5) go to sleep whenever they want to and have almost
their whole lives (there was a brief period of actual bedtime, agreed upon
by all of us, when each of them went through a phase where being the last
one awake in a quiet house was frightening to them). These days, that's
later than either my husband or I are up (1 a.m. ish).

Neither one of them is ever cranky or difficult in any way the next day.
Most days, they simply sleep themselves out and get up at 10 or 11 or Noon.
On the days when we have to go someplace earlier, I let them know the night
before. Sometimes, they then choose to lay down and try to sleep earlier,
sometimes not. In either case, though it can be a bit difficult to wake
them, I just keep at it gently (stroking their hair, talking nicely) and
they wake up and remember what we're doing and cheerfully get up and get
ready to go. Then they sleep in the car. <g>

Pam