How Much Sleep Does Your 6 Year Old Get?

About 8p-6:30, my 9 year old is staying up past 9 now and it is so frustrating but she just seems to need less sleep.

my girls got 12 to 13 hours at that age, until they were about 11, about that age they went down to 10.5 to 11 hours, and still they get close to that much now
yes, kids really really really DO need that many hours at night, you can see it in their behavior, their school work, long term my kids' friends who were getting under 11 hours a night fell behind slowly, inch by inch, and now at age 16 and 13 you can tell which kids routinely got less sleep

your child's health, brain development, memory, vocab skills and so much more are worth more than anything else - count backwards 12 hours from the time they wake up naturally or they must wake up for school and set that as your time for them to be asleep, make it work...

Sounds like you need to push bedtime back ...Or what about hiring somebody to get him ready in the AM, so he could sleep longer? If you are BOTH working, pay somebody to get your son off to school. If he is in FT school, he should not be tired during his school hrs....I could go on and on why it's important for kids to have adequate sleep and proper nutrition.....

I just read that u are having another baby...The baby will need sleep, too.
Luckily, a baby could fall asleep in the carrier.

My vote is that your 6 yr old gets at least one more full hr of sleep....Especially if he is tired (As you mentioned)

Can't you or your husband rotate going in later...Or coming in earlier?

Your son needs more sleep for learning, etc.....

You are right. 6 year olds need way more sleep than 9 hours. My 12 yr old gets more sleep than your 6 yr old. Need more info. What time and why are you getting home so late? Do you work 2 jobs? Is he at daycare? Are you married? You need to make some adjustments for your little guy.

Mine got 10-12 hours but didn't have to deal with the same issues as you are with getting in late from work etc. I would just allow him to catch up on weekends. That should help a lot. Not much else you could do.

At that age our son got closer to 14 hrs sleep per day and he napped regularly till he was about 7 yrs old.
(At 16 he'll catch a nap sometimes after school before dinner.)
He was growing rapidly (at 4yrs, 6 yrs and 8 yrs he shot up 4 inches each year- the growing pains were horrible!) and he just NEEDED that sleep.
I've always treated sleep as a necessary and vital need of his and up until he was in late middle school and high school I made sure he got plenty.
Now that he's older he sometimes has to work late on papers or projects so occasionally he burns the midnight oil.

At that age my kids got about 10 hours. Bedtime was between 9:30 and 10:00pm and they woke on their own by about 7:30am.

We had a crazy routine. Home, homework while making (easy) supper, eat, downtime, bath, story, bed. I didn't deviate from that too much because sleep was so important. Mornings I got up super early and got myself ready and let them sleep as late as they could. I had their clothes out and lunches made, bags packed. It felt like an assembly line. I made sure I just focussed on them until they were asleep and I made up for being rushed on weekends.

For us it was about 10 1/2 hours.

If you can skip some stuff every second day (like bath) and get him to bed a bit earlier that night, that helps. Letting him catch up on sleep on weekends too. Ours would doze in car.

Good luck :) I know it's hard when your schedule is like that.

Our boys (10, 7, 5) get 10-11 hours regularly. On school nights, they go to bed at 7:30 and get up at 6:30. On weekends, they are in bed by 8:30 and are still up at 6:30.

Every kid is different but here is a guideline: http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sleep.html

My DD got about 10 hours last year. She goes to bed around 9-9:30 (always been a night owl) and wakes around 7:30. If you find that your child needs more sleep than he gets, then do things like a bath every other night or a couple times a week to shorten the nighttime schedule. Pick out clothing ahead of time so you can wake him a few minutes later. If he wakes on his own, IMO, then he's probably getting enough, even if he's not raring to go first thing in the AM. If your child has breakfast offered at school, then perhaps trade time for money and let him eat there vs eating at home. Does he take a bus or go to childcare? What's the timeframe of everything?

I am likely to take a job where I must leave an hour earlier in the mornings. My husband will shift his schedule to pick her up in the afternoons, just in case my train is late. Can you and your DH adjust your schedules any to accommodate family time/sleep time? Even a half hour adjustment so he goes to bed sooner can help, if you feel he needs it.

When you say "late" what do you mean? Is there an issue with him doing HW at home and then dinner and bath and everything gets stretched out? What can you do to streamline home time? I will be asking aftercare to do HW with DD so we can roll right into dinner. When my DH was a single dad of 2, he used the crock pot often. You come home, voila! dinner. Made things easier. You can also consider the suggestion of someone coming to your home in the AM to see him off to school so he can sleep a little longer.

You are not alone. I am in the same situation as you are. My 6 year old only gets about 9 hours of sleep. I know she need more sleep but due to not being a stay at home mom, I don't have a choice. Her dad works overnight and often travels for work, so he is not able to help with this. We don't have any family near us that can help and we can't afford to pay anyone.
The only other may be to take a half hour lunch so you can leave work a half hour earlier. Even though it's only a half hour, it makes a big difference. You might already be this but it's the only suggestion I have.

at 6 my kids went to bed between 8 and 9, and got up at 6 or 7. so about 10 hours. 9 isn't bad, but if yours seems tired, there's a problem.
most things can be worked around, but sufficient sleep isn't one of 'em. you may need to make some hard decisions about your work schedule. which is way easier said than done, i know.
good luck, hon.
khairete
S.

All our kids go to bed around 9pm and get up at 7am pretty easily. That's 10 hours. They catch the bus at 7:30am so they can eat breakfast at school.

If your child doesn't need more sleep then don't worry about what others say.

My son goes to bed between 8-830 on week days and is up around 7am. So he gets almost 11!! On the weekends, we let them stay up until 830/9 but then he sleeps until 730-8. He definitely likes his sleep. My daughter is up earlier all the time so she gets closer to 9-10 hours and she's 8 years old. I think it depends on the individual.

I work until 430, kids have soccer 3x a week and 4 games a week, have a 2 year old but also am blessed to have a hubby home Mon-Thurs to keep up on house work, get the kids, feed them a snack, etc. Luckily he doesn't have much homework right now or else that would make time management a bit harder (I know it's coming!).