My kids are usually late sleepers. Maybe it is genetic because I am also a bit of a night owl. I just like the quiet of the night and having time to yourself after a day of doing what needed to be done.

Recently, my 5 year old daughter asked me why I went to sleep so late. I told her that there is a cascading effect based on our entire family’s sleep schedule. If my kids sleep late or they keep getting out of bed, my wife and I cannot get to bed earlier. There is also a wild card in the newborn as he is adjusting to being awake during the day. Safe to say that bedtime is a bit random at the moment.

My kids usually fall asleep around 10pm and while that’s late, at least they don’t wake up super early in the morning. My daughter wakes up around 8:30am-ish and my 3 year old son wakes up around 7:30am-ish most days. If they kept a consistent schedule, it would be easier (as I was explaining to my daughter), but the fact that some days, their bedtime routine starting at around 9pm can still drag on and on until they fall asleep closer to 11pm. Without enough sleep, the entire family is cranky and we repeat the cycle over and over.

After my daughter heard all of this, she told her little brother that they needed to try harder to stay in bed and go to sleep early. It was really sweet that she tries to immediately fix the problem and even though they don’t follow a consistent sleep routine, at least the thought is there. To me, that’s a good start!