Sue wrote:

Thank you Ericka. I feel much better about not letting them stay up to all
hours in the summer. For some reason, I was feeling bad about having them in
their rooms at 10 pm during the summer, but as long as they are quiet and
don't keep hubby and myself awake, I don't mind if they read or listen to
music. I work at home, so they don't necessairly have to be up and about at
any certain time, but as past summers have been, it seems everything is just
so chaotic because we don't have our routines in place. My oldest sometimes
says that she can't wait for school to start because then we have a good
routine. So that's my clue that I still need to have our routines in place.
I was allowed to sleep in until I wanted and so far I have let the girls
sleep in until they want. It usually goes that dd1 is up first, then dd2 and
finally dd3 gets up much later than everyone else.

Hey, at least you know there's at least one meaner
mommy than you out there ;-) My kids' bedtimes are 7:30 (2yo),
8:00 (8yo), and 8:30 (11yo) and they don't change all year!
They get up about 7:00am, and despite the early bedtimes I
still have to sometimes haul out the 8yo and 11yo for
school in the morning, so I have no temptation whatsoever
to move their bedtimes later or even suggest they can stay
up a while reading or chatting. Clearly, they need the
sleep. In the summer or on days when they don't need to
get up in the morning, I might allow a special occasion.
For instance, they're up late sometimes for concerts or
for special dinners with family/friends or during sleepovers
or whatever. Like as not, they'll still wake at about
the same time the next morning (though the 11yo is starting
to sleep in a bit after a late night), so it means a rough
day the next day, but sometimes special occasions are worth
it. But in the summer, there are lots of times they're
going to bed at their regular times with their friends
still outside playing and raising a ruckus. And really,
they don't even complain because they know as well as I
do that the next day is not good when they're out of
sorts. Plus, if we're having a morning when there's not
a lot to do, they might get pancakes out of the deal or
a trip somewhere fun before we have to take care of other
business ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka