The Ideal School Night Routine For Kids In Elementary School

A good school night routine is pivotal for kids. Because if they don’t get enough rest… it can lead to issues with learning, socializing, and even behavior the next day. But, it’s also no secret that getting your kids in bed on time can be a challenge.

Which is why today I’m going to be covering everything you need to know about how to build, and maintain, the perfect nighttime routine for your kids.

How much sleep do elementary school kids need?

First off, let’s start with clarifying exactly how much sleep a child in elementary school should have as per the CDC’s guidelines…

Elementary school lasts from the time a child is about five years old, to the time they’re around eleven or twelve. And the CDC states that children who are between six and twelve years old should get around nine to twelve hours of sleep per night. Obviously the younger they are, the closer to twelve hours they should be getting.

This means that if your child needs to be awake at 6 AM to get to school at 8 AM, then they need to be asleep by 6 PM to 9 PM the night before.

What’s the perfect school night routine for an elementary school kid?

Now, with all of that out of the way, let’s take a look at the main components you’ll need to include in your nighttime routine. As well as some of the things you should avoid! Then we’ll end this section with an example of a good school night routine.

Things A School Night Routine Should Include –

On a school night, your kids will need to…

• Do their homework
• Bathe, brush their teeth, etc
• Have some time for relaxation and play
• And fall asleep on time

Things A School Night Routine Should NOT Include –

But on the other hand, your kids should not…

• Engage in high-energy activities that will make them too hyper to sleep
• Have sugary beverages or snacks too close to bedtime
• Look at screens, as the blue light will affect the quality of their rest
• Or stay up late

An Example Routine –

Let’s say that you want the lights out 8:30 PM every night, so that your children are (hopefully) asleep by 9 PM…

• Dinner 5:00 – 5:30 PM
• Homework 5:30 – 6:30 PM
• Bathing 6:30 – 6:45 PM
• Brushing Teeth/Getting Into Pajamas 6:45 – 7:00 PM
• Calm Play/Relaxing Activities 7:00 – 8:00 PM
• Last Trips To The Bathroom/Tucking In/ Bedtime Stories 8:00 – 8:30 PM

As you can see, this routine is structured in a way where the activities that require a child to be more energetic are scheduled for earlier in the evening. Because if you instead decided to put something like homework right before lights out… then you’re risking your child becoming stressed, and being unable to fall asleep on time.

So regardless of what you decide in terms of your schedule… Just make sure to work backwards from the bedtime you’ve designated, and decide which activities would be calming versus which ones wouldn’t. Then plan for those calming things to come right before bedtime.

What are some tips for making bedtime go as smoothly as possible?

Finally, I want to share some tips on how to make bedtime a more pleasant experience for everyone. Because I know that getting your kiddos to bed on time every night can be challenging…

• Invest in some blackout curtains if you don’t already them! Too much light is your biggest enemy when it comes to getting to sleep on time, and especially depending on your area (and how early your bedtime is), you might need a little extra help keeping your kiddo’s room dark.
• Keep the house as quiet as possible. Aside from light levels, it’s also very important to keep a child’s environment as quiet as possible when they’re falling asleep. So this means that instead of hanging out in the living room, watching tv… it might be best if you retire to your bedroom to complete some quiet activities and ask any older kids to do the same.
• Be mindful of your child’s individual needs. Various children might need various things to fall asleep, no kid is the same! For instance, some young kids are genuinely afraid of monsters and you may need to come up with something to help them through that fear. Other kids may be afraid of the dark, and you need to invest in a special nightlight for them.
• Be consistent. Consistency is key when it comes to maintain any kind of schedule, but this is even more true when it comes to kids. So even if your weekend night routines vary a bit in terms of activities, try to keep the bedtime approximately the same!

Final Thoughts

School night routines can be difficult to implement at first, but once your children get used to it… it will become much easier. And there’s no better time to start than the present.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you did, be sure to check out some of my other content as well. I talk about parenting, running a house, and managing finances every week.