We are on week 5 of our summer vacation and so far it has been wonderful! There have been afternoons and nights with stay at home movies and popcorn and late morning snuggling in bed with a good book! Spliced in with lazy days at the pool. I love summer, because it is a time where we can slow down, recharge and connect as a family. My kids love it too and truthfully they all are home bodies who like to spend time with the family.
There is one side effect to all of this though.
I remember the days where there were definite set bed times and that I knew by 8 p.m. every night I would be clear and free of the whole lot of them. Now with one tween and a teen in the house, bed times have gotten a little blurred….
Take for example last night. I had just gotten the 7 year old and toddler to sleep. It was 8:30 and I was dog eared tired, but the teen daughter came into my room and wanted to talk about “stuff” and that talk went on until well past 11 p.m. With the addition of my tween son at 10 p.m., because he thought he was missing a fun party. Sure they are both a lot of fun and there were laughs and giggles behind pillows so we wouldn’t wake up the younger kiddos. There is however a consequence to this late night giggle fest, because this means when the toddler inevitably stumbles into our bedroom after midnight, the hubs and I are too tired to put up much of a defense. Meaning, we go ahead and allow her to slip into our bed with us until the following parenting truth becomes all too painfully clear, once again….
So for this latest Mommy Reality Challenge, my compadre in crime Celeste, has asked up to share what we do when the kids go to bed.
Here is the Mommy Reality Truth about teen bed times.
If you have teens you already know this to be true and for those of you not yet initiated to this truth and still with a set bedtime in your house, I (all parents of teens) everywhere envy you. But know this, your time is coming and it will be sooner than you think. So take this piece of advice from a parent who has not slept soundly in over 13 years and who sees no end in sight, I urge you to seize the day and not fritter away the “after the kids go to bed” time with those cheesy Hallmark made for TV movies!
Just go to sleep! Like right now! I promise you there will be more than enough time later to watch those Hallmark movies as you sit waiting for your kids to get home from outings with friends or *cringe* from dates and such. Or just trying to get them to put down their electronic devices and go to bed already!!
So please repeat after me… Tonight I will go to bed at a decent time, and when I do I will thank my lucky stars I am not yet the parent of a teen who has not gone to bed before midnight for the past 5+ years.
That is all…
Even with my warning, I know you will still stay up late watching those cheesy Hallmark movies and such, because I did it too.
Just know you have been warned.
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s the first thing you do when your kids go to bed?
You have 1 more week to participate!
But don’t wait a week…
We get too antsy and want to hear from you sooner!
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