What Time Should Children Go to Bed? A Bedtime Guide by Age

Bedtime can be one of those surprisingly tricky parts of parenting. One child is rubbing their eyes before dinner, while another suddenly has seventeen very important questions the moment you say it is time for bed. If you have ever wondered, “What time should children go to bed?”, you are certainly not the only parent asking.

The truth is, there isn’t one perfect bedtime that works for every child. Age matters, but so do wake-up times, naps, school schedules, activity levels, and your child’s individual sleep needs.

Instead of worrying about whether bedtime happens at exactly 7:30 or 8:00 every night, it can be more helpful to look at the bigger picture: Is your child getting enough restful sleep, and are they waking up reasonably refreshed?

Here is a simple, realistic guide to help you find a bedtime that works for your child and your family.

What Time Should Children Go to Bed?

For toddlers and younger school-age children, an evening bedtime between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. may be a useful starting point. It is not a universal recommendation: the right time depends on sleep needs, naps, and when your child must wake. Older children and teenagers may need a different schedule.

Younger children usually need an earlier bedtime because they require more total sleep. As children get older, their sleep needs gradually decrease, and bedtime often moves a little later.

One of the easiest ways to find your child’s bedtime is to work backwards from their morning wake-up time.

For example, if your school-age child needs around 10 hours of sleep and wakes at 7:00 a.m., aiming to have them asleep around 9:00 p.m. may be reasonable. Remember that “bedtime” and “asleep time” aren’t always the same thing. Most children need a little time to settle.

Rather than chasing the perfect number on the clock, think about bedtime as part of your child’s overall sleep rhythm.

How Much Sleep Do Children Need?

Before deciding on an ideal bedtime for children, it helps to understand approximately how much sleep children need at different ages.

Sleep requirements change considerably during childhood. Babies may spend much of the day and night sleeping in shorter stretches, while older children usually get most of their sleep overnight.

As a general guide, including naps where appropriate:

• Infants 4–12 months: about 12–16 hours in 24 hours
• Toddlers 1–2 years: about 11–14 hours in 24 hours
• Preschoolers 3–5 years: about 10–13 hours in 24 hours
• Children 6–12 years: about 9–12 hours in 24 hours
• Teenagers 13–18 years: about 8–10 hours in 24 hours

These are ranges rather than exact targets for every child.

Your five-year-old may naturally need more sleep than another five-year-old. One child may happily wake after 10 hours, while another functions much better closer to 11 or 12.

That variation can be normal. However, regularly getting less sleep than the recommended range is worth reviewing, even if your child does not complain of tiredness.

For babies younger than four months, sleep patterns vary widely and a fixed bedtime is often less useful than responsive care. The age-based examples below mainly concern toddlers and older children.

Bedtime by Age: A Simple Guide for Parents

A children’s sleep schedule by age can give you a useful starting point, but it shouldn’t become another parenting rule you feel pressured to follow perfectly.

The bedtime examples below assume a morning wake-up around 6:30–7:30 a.m. They are practical illustrations, not prescribed times or guaranteed matches for every child. If your child wakes earlier, needs more sleep, or no longer naps, bedtime may need to be earlier. Account for settling time too.

Toddlers Ages 1–2

Many toddlers are ready for bed somewhere around 7:00–8:00 p.m.

At this age, daytime naps still contribute significantly to total sleep. A toddler who has taken a long afternoon nap may not be sleepy at the same time as one who had a short nap or skipped it altogether.

Toddlers also seem to develop a mysterious burst of energy precisely when parents are hoping to wind down!

A predictable evening rhythm can help. Dinner, a little quiet play, bath time, pajamas, a cuddle and a familiar story can gently signal that the busy part of the day is finished.

Preschoolers Ages 3–5

Many preschoolers do well with a bedtime around 7:00–8:30 p.m., depending on their wake-up time and whether they still nap.

This can be an interesting stage because some children have completely dropped naps while others desperately need one. As naps disappear, you may notice your child becoming tired much earlier in the evening.

Don’t be afraid of an earlier bedtime on particularly exhausting days.

A busy afternoon at preschool, a birthday party or simply a day full of running and playing can leave little bodies needing extra rest.

What Time Should a 5 Year Old Go to Bed?

If you are wondering, “What time should a five-year-old go to bed?”, a bedtime somewhere around 7:00–8:30 p.m. works for many families, particularly when the child needs to wake between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning.

But watch your child as much as you watch the clock.

If your five-year-old regularly becomes tearful, wild, clumsy or extremely irritable in the evening, they may actually be overtired. Moving bedtime earlier by even 15–30 minutes can sometimes make evenings much easier.

On the other hand, if your child consistently lies happily awake for a long time despite a calm routine, bedtime may be slightly too early.

Children Ages 6–8

Once school begins, mornings tend to become less flexible. Children need enough time to wake, eat breakfast, get dressed and make it to school without every morning feeling like a race.

For many six- to eight-year-olds, bedtime lands somewhere around 7:30–9:00 p.m.

Homework, sports and after-school activities can make evenings busy, but children at this age still need plenty of sleep.

Try to protect a small pocket of calm before bed. Even 20–30 minutes without rushing can help your child transition from “doing” to resting.

If school mornings are becoming a struggle, it may help to revisit the whole evening routine. Our guide to preparing your child for going back to school shares practical ideas for easing into school schedules, creating calmer evenings, and getting ready for the next day.

What Time Should a 7 Year Old Go to Bed?

Parents asking what time a seven-year-old should go to bed can start by looking at the morning alarm.

If your seven-year-old wakes around 7:00 a.m., you might begin with an asleep time somewhere around 8:00–9:00 p.m., then adjust based on how your child is functioning during the day.

A child who is extremely difficult to wake, frequently falls asleep in the car or seems exhausted after school may benefit from an earlier night.

Remember, an earlier bedtime isn’t a punishment. Sleep is something growing children genuinely need.

Children Ages 9–12

For children approaching the tween years, bedtime often shifts later. Many children in this age group may settle somewhere around 8:00–9:30 p.m., depending on when they wake.

This is also an age when screens, homework, friendships and activities can quietly begin pushing bedtime later and later.

Your child may insist they aren’t tired, especially when there is something far more interesting happening on a tablet or television. A consistent wind-down routine still matters, even if it looks different from the bedtime routine you used when they were four.

Instead of bath and picture books, it might be a shower, reading independently, chatting with you for a few minutes and then lights out.

What Time Should a 10 Year Old Go to Bed?

So, what time should a ten-year-old go to bed?

If they wake around 6:30–7:00 a.m., a bedtime that allows roughly 9–12 hours of sleep is the goal. If your child needs about 10 hours and wakes at 6:30 a.m., aim for sleep around 8:30 p.m. and start the routine earlier. An asleep time of 9:30 p.m. with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up provides only nine hours, the lower end of the range. A child who needs more rest will need an earlier schedule.

The exact time matters less than whether your child is consistently getting enough sleep.

If mornings involve repeatedly dragging them out of bed and weekends involve sleeping several hours later than usual, take another look at their weekday schedule. Their body may be telling you that more sleep is needed.

A Simple Way to Calculate Bedtime

Start with the time your child needs to wake, then work backward using a sleep amount within their age range. Subtract naps when calculating overnight sleep for a toddler or preschooler.

For example, if a preschooler needs about 11 hours in total, naps for one hour, and wakes at 7:00 a.m., that leaves about 10 hours overnight. An asleep time around 9:00 p.m. would provide that amount; begin winding down and getting ready before then. A child of the same age who needs 12 hours and no longer naps would need to be asleep around 7:00 p.m. for the same wake-up time.

These are arithmetic examples, not instructions to keep a tired child awake. Use your child’s usual sleep pattern and daytime wellbeing to adjust the starting estimate.

How Can You Tell If Your Child’s Bedtime Is Working?

Children don’t always announce, “I’m not getting enough sleep.”

Instead, tiredness can show up in less obvious ways.

Your child might be unusually emotional in the evening, struggle to wake in the morning, fall asleep during short car journeys or have difficulty concentrating during the day. Some tired children become more energetic rather than quieter, which can make overtiredness surprisingly difficult to recognise.

Look for patterns rather than judging one difficult evening.

Everyone has occasional restless nights, including children. What matters more is what happens across several days or weeks.

If your child usually falls asleep without a major struggle, gets the recommended amount of sleep and wakes feeling reasonably refreshed, their schedule is probably working fairly well.

Build a Bedtime Routine That Feels Calm, Not Complicated

You don’t need a Pinterest-perfect nighttime routine involving special music, elaborate baths and twelve carefully arranged steps.

Simple and predictable is often enough.

Your family’s routine might be:

Dinner, quiet play, bath or wash-up, pajamas, brushing teeth, a story, cuddles and bed.

For an older child, it might simply be:

Shower, pajamas, teeth, prepare things for tomorrow, read quietly and lights out.

Doing roughly the same things in the same order each evening helps children know what comes next. That predictability can make bedtime feel safe and familiar rather than like an abrupt end to all the fun.

And if your routine falls apart occasionally? That’s family life.

One late evening won’t undo months of healthy sleep habits.

Start the Wind-Down Before Your Child Is Exhausted

One mistake that’s very easy to make is waiting until a child looks completely exhausted before beginning bedtime.

Unfortunately, overtired children don’t always become peaceful and sleepy.

Sometimes they become silly.

Or argumentative.

Or suddenly desperate to build an enormous block tower five minutes before bed.

Try beginning your wind-down routine before your child reaches that point. Dimming the lights, lowering household noise and choosing quieter activities can help make the transition easier.

You aren’t trying to force sleep. You’re simply creating conditions that make sleep easier to find.

Keep Screens From Taking Over Bedtime

Screens can make bedtime harder for some children, especially when exciting games, videos or conversations continue right until lights out.

Aim to turn screens off at least an hour before bedtime. A regular screen-free period helps separate daytime entertainment from nighttime rest, while keeping devices outside bedrooms reduces the temptation to keep watching or messaging.

This doesn’t need to turn into a nightly argument.

A simple family rule such as “tablets charge outside bedrooms overnight” can sometimes work better than renegotiating screen limits every evening.

Older children may push back at first, but consistency makes expectations easier to understand.

What If My Child Says They’re Not Tired?

This is incredibly common.

Sometimes your child genuinely isn’t tired yet. Other times, they simply aren’t ready for the day to end.

If your child repeatedly takes more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, look at the pattern rather than treating that number as a diagnosis. Perhaps they napped late, bedtime is too early, they’ve had an unusually quiet day or their schedule has gradually shifted.

Rather than turning bedtime into a battle, make small adjustments.

Try changing bedtime by 15 minutes for several nights and observe what happens. Tiny changes are often easier on everyone than suddenly moving bedtime by an hour.

What About Different Bedtimes on Weekends?

A little flexibility is part of real family life.

Movie nights happen. Grandparents visit. Holidays, sleepovers and celebrations don’t always finish conveniently at 8:00 p.m.

You don’t have to protect bedtime so fiercely that family life becomes stressful.

At the same time, dramatically different sleep schedules every weekend can make Monday mornings much harder. Keeping wake-up and bedtime reasonably close to the usual routine can help your child’s body maintain its rhythm.

Think consistency, not perfection.

Don’t Compare Your Child’s Bedtime With Other Families

It is surprisingly easy to start comparing.

“My friend’s six-year-old stays awake until 9:30.”

“My sister puts her children to bed at seven.”

“Everyone in my parenting group seems to do something different.”

They probably do, because their children and schedules are different.

The ideal bedtime for children isn’t determined by what the family next door does. A child who needs to wake at 6:00 a.m. may require a very different bedtime from a child who can sleep until 8:00.

Your goal isn’t to have the earliest bedtime.

It’s to help your child get the sleep their growing body needs.

When Should You Talk to Your Child’s Doctor?

Occasional bedtime struggles are a normal part of childhood. However, persistent sleep difficulties deserve attention.

Talk with your child’s pediatrician or healthcare professional if your child regularly struggles to fall or stay asleep despite having a consistent routine, seems excessively sleepy during the day, or if sleep problems are interfering with school or everyday life.

It’s also worth seeking medical advice if your child snores loudly and frequently, appears to pause or struggle with breathing during sleep, or you have any other concerns about their nighttime breathing.

You know your child’s usual behaviour better than anyone. If something about their sleep doesn’t feel right, it is reasonable to ask for professional guidance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thought

If you have been searching for the right bedtime for your child because bedtime has become stressful in your home, please remember that you don’t need to discover one magical bedtime that fixes everything overnight.

Children change constantly.

A schedule that worked beautifully at four might suddenly stop working at five. Starting school, dropping a nap, daylight changes, illness, travel and growth can all temporarily shake up sleep.

Use bedtime by age as a helpful starting point, then pay attention to the child standing in front of you.

Are they getting enough sleep for their age? Are mornings manageable? Do they have enough energy for their day? Are they generally able to settle at night?

Those clues often tell you much more than the clock alone.

And on the evenings when bedtime is late, teeth brushing involves negotiations and someone suddenly remembers they need to tell you a very long story after you’ve turned off the light, don’t be too hard on yourself.

A loving bedtime doesn’t have to be a perfect bedtime.

Sometimes it is simply pajamas, a sleepy cuddle, one last “I love you,” and the reassurance that tomorrow you get to begin again.

For more practical guidance on children’s sleep and everyday parenting, explore talesoftots. If sleep difficulties persist, your child’s pediatrician can help you find an approach suited to their needs.

For more practical tips on children’s sleep and everyday parenting, explore Tales of Tots to help you build a bedtime routine that works for your family. If sleep difficulties persist, your child’s pediatrician can help you find an approach suited to their needs.

Authoritative Resources

American Academy of Sleep Medicine: Pediatric Sleep Duration Consensus Statement

American Academy of Sleep Medicine: Recommended Sleep Duration for Children

American Academy of Pediatrics: Healthy Sleep Habits

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