A Touchy Subject
Well, I guess the way to wake up people around here is to question the status quo on parenting.
The results are in to yesterday’s poll question. To refresh your memory I asked, “How late is too late for a 2 or 3 year old toddler to be out?”
136 people have responded in the past 24 hours.
58% said 8:00 – 9:00 p.m.
27% said 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
9% said “It’s never too late.”
6% said 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
The comments I’ve received both here and at TheBlogfathers where I cross-posted this have been a combination of “I agree” and “There are extenuating circumstances”.
Of course there are extenuating circumstances. Many focused on the bedtime itself, explaining they needed to keep their kids up so they could spend time with them after work. I totally understand this as I get maybe 30 to 40 minutes of time with my kids before bedtime. My issue is with parents keeping their children out on the town at an hour that is generally pretty late for a small child.
But that’s me. That’s my circumstance. A set schedule, when parenting twins, is so important because one cranky child is bad enough. Two cranky toddlers makes one want to take an ice pick and jam into the ear canal to make the whining stop. We do all we can to make sure our children stay on schedule.
So that’s that. Perhaps I’ll try and steer clear of the judgmental parenting for the time being.
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hi matthew,
i am with you on keeping my kids on schedule.. my 18 month old twins are i suppose on one extreme that they go to bed early like 6:30 p.m to 7 p.m early.. it works for us because my husband and i like our evenings back and the times we pushed out our bedtimes to 7 or 8 or even 8:30, the wake up times didnt change!!! they still got up at 6;30! so we went with the approach of other than torturing ourselves (3 to 5x a year with after 7;30 p.m bedtimes), we strive to keep ours on an early bedtime routine. A personal observation that I have noticed with my many twin friends vs singleton parents that twin parents are naturally inclined towards a schedule driven lifestyle and most of my friends with twins have enforced an early bedtime routine… hm..m.m.m .m I wonder why this is!!!
Comment by archana — November 19, 2007 @ 10:49 pm
I agree with you that it’s one thing to have your kids at home relaxing in pj’s and reading or playing with you until a bit of a later bedtime. But, it’s quite another to drag them all around town and then expect them to wind down quickly, and be able to wake up on time the next day…For what it’s worth…
Comment by SS — November 20, 2007 @ 3:55 am
I actually know some people who keep there kids up to 1am. The reason they are up so late is because the father (or in some case the mother) is in the military and gets home at midnight. The child has a schedule that better matches the parents. So maybe all the children we see up very late at night have parents who work late, or at night, so they adjust to their schedule.
Comment by aunrea — November 20, 2007 @ 4:33 am
I agree with Archana. You are not being judgemental, rather, you are a sane parent with twin toddlers. I hear you loud and clear when it comes to having two cranky toddlers! Without the schedule in raising twins, it can totally get out of control. I wish we could be a little more leniant like my friend with a singleton the same age, but we can’t with two screaming kids that evening or even worse, the following day. It is enough to make your hair curl!
Comment by Dana - Mom to twin girls — November 20, 2007 @ 5:55 am
I wouldn’t worry about offending people, there will always be different opinions.
In our case, the boys are done napping (which is both good and bad) at home but daycare still gives them a long nap and so the days they are at daycare they are up much later than the days they are home with us. It’s a messy schedule but one we have to deal with until they are in school next year.
We all do what we have to do to make the schedule work.
Comment by Laurie — November 20, 2007 @ 6:53 am
It also depends on when the toddlers have to get up. I used to work at a daycare, and we had a mom who worked part time afternoons. In order to let her kids spen time with their dad, the kids didn’t go to bed until almost 10, but slept until almost 10 AM as well, I personally thing kids should go to bed early, but I guess it depends on the situation.
Comment by Heather — November 20, 2007 @ 7:40 pm
So THIS is how you get comments! I’m taking notes right now…
Comment by Deanna — November 21, 2007 @ 3:37 pm