Summer Bedtime for 8 Year Old

i have a 1 and 2 year old and they also like to play. i would let them go out at 1pm and make them come in at 2pm. since they are babys they go to sleep at 9pm. but if they were older then i would have a firm 10pm and no later the nwhen school is coming closer then you can start making her go to bed at 8:30pm and through out the year you can let here go on to going to bed at 9pm and each year let her have 30 more minutes but stop at 9:30. that is what my mom did with me.

My free-spirited 7yr old is the same way. What I have done with my 3 on weekends and school breaks is not make them go to bed at the normal time for school days, but they do have quiet time. They can read books, watch TV, or draw, but no up running around or playing. They usually drift off within an hour anyway because they are used to the school schedule.

My daughters are 5 and 9 and do the same thing. Most nights it is still so light it's very hard to get them to bed...I can sleep in with them in the morning, but my husband has to get up early. But we let them stay up till 9:30 or so..8:30 is their bedtime normally. Weekends, special days it may be 10 or later. BUT, when I need quiet, I just tell them to go to their rooms/bed and they can play quietly read whatever till they fall asleep as long as they are in their rooms and quiet. Works good for us. The pool also helps wear them out:)

I have a 7 yr. old daughter and we made a deal with her. If she goes to bed when she is supposed to and takes care of her responsibilities (i.e. homework, personal hygiene, her room, etc) then one night a week on Friday she can stay up as late as she wants to. As late as she wants to tends to be around 10:00 or 10:30 at the latest. We might lose time that one night, but the trade-off is that she goes to bed at a decent time the rest of the week and she feels like a big girl who has been given extra freedom.

Another thing that we have started doing is, if she is not tired, letting her read in her bed. It is good for her and she ends up lasting about 5 minutes once her body is still.

My daughter likes to play like yours does, and this has really helped us out and is teaching her compromise.

Generally for my own kids, unless it is a special occasion, it is 1/2 hour later than usual. So if your granddaughter is used to 9 pm / 9:30 pm, I would do a 9:30 bedtime on weeknights and 10 pm on weekends. She is too young to be setting this for herself and too young to be sleeping the day away.

I would explain that summertime also comes with a lot of 'exeptions' and special occasions, so if she wants to be able to participate in the staying up very late (like July 4th, etc) then she needs to abide by the bedtime you have set.

Good luck,
S.