Do you allow your children to choose their bedtimes?

Some parents, it seems,  allow a child to decide when he/she goes to bed. I wonder, does the child get cookies and soda pop for breakfast, lunch and dinner, too,  because she wants it? I always like to look at both sides before I state an opinion, but Jeanne Sager over at babble.com makes a case for no bedtimes, and I just can't see it. . Her daughter has no bedtime. They go to bed whenever they fall asleep. Jeanne says it's a way for her to spend more time with her child. My nearly 2-year-old  is in bed between 7 and 8 every night. Any less sleep for her and she turns into the devil child from you-know-where. Sure, because I work outside the home, there are days when I see her for only a couple hours before bedtime, but I’d rather raise a happy little girl and keep my sanity than suffer her hits, kicks and ear-piercing screeches.

 

When Jeanne’s kids are teens, will she not give them a curfew either? Don’t kids need some kind of structure? If you don’t give it to them, who will?

 

What do you think: Should toddlers be allowed to make the rules?

Comments

[Sana]

I can tell you that in many cultures, there are no set bedtimes for children. They sleep when they are tired and their parents take and put them in bed. In India, for example, bedtimes are non-existent. Somehow though, children manage to excel in school and have very few behavioural issues. So, although it seems like you are "right" in having a bed time for your child, there are many different ways of raising children!