5-year old's sleep habits

[alison]

The baby is sleeping better than my 5-year old. M has been waking up in the middle of the night usually around 1, turns on her big light, grabs a book, and starts reading. She comes over when she gets stuck on a word. 1:30am last night it was "mom?!?? MOMMM??? What is "the" with a Y and then a little line and then an RE?"

And then 4am, it was a different word.

She's exhausted in the morning, and I'm wondering what I can do to curb the overnight read-a-thons. It's a new skill she's acquiring. She couldn't read 3 weeks ago, and in typical M style, she doesn't go for the Bob books, but is trying to get through Ramona the Pest.

I just wanna sleeeeeeeep! I feel terribly for yelling at her to go to sleep, when it's clearly because she wants to read. . Any suggestions for getting her to turn her brain off?

[Pollyanna]

Seriously the coolest kid ever! Love that she is so excited about reading!!!
I don't know, I guess I would just give her time to read before bed and then tell her no more reading until morning. If she wakes in the night I'd say, " remember, no reading until morning." Then take the book, give her a squeeze and turn off the light. Beyond that, I'd ignore it. She will sleep again.

[alison]

I know! It's pretty cool to witness the learning happening, that's why I feel badly about trying to set a limit. It's not texting or tv or video games--it's reading. Boy, do I sound like a braggart! . In all seriousness though, it's becoming problematic for sleep and mama/dada sanity! I think we'll try giving her some dedicated time before bed. That sounds like a good idea.

[HouseofWool]

Sophie is also at the same point. She is determined to read Junie B Jones...

[alison]

Sophie is also at the same point. She is determined to read Junie B Jones...

What do you do? Just leave her alone? If it didn't have an impact on her sleep, I'd let it slide, but dd is at school for a looooong time and she gets so tired!

[spotty_dog]

We have a lights-out no-reading policy. If you wouldn't permit something awesome-fun like video games, why would you permit something awesome-fun like reading? Books are not broccoli! We definitely have reading time before bed though, and even if our routine is running late and we're close to usual bedtime I've learned that it's worth it to let them have at least 15 minutes with reading material.

[Ladybug]

Was she waking up before the reading started?

[HouseofWool]

Luckily she doesn't wake at night to read. Honestly? I'd let her know it cant keep happening. Explain that she will be to tired during the day.

Then, if she kept it up, I would take the light bulbs out...

[Thirteen]

I got grounded from "reading at night" and my book of choice was confiscated, regularly, for this offense. 😄
I'm zero help.


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[poky]

I wasn't supposed to read after lights-out, either. I remember having a fish tank and being able to prop the light from it up so I could read by it over the edge of my bed. I also remember hiding flashlights and even a nightlight on the end of an extension cord so I could read without it being obvious that I was. I never got in any trouble for it.

I always just read myself to sleep, though; I never woke up and turned on the light to read in the middle of the night, and DEFINITELY never woke my parents up! To me, that would be the line. You wake me up, your book gets taken away and the light bulb taken out of your light. I would think that if she doesn't nap during the day, eventually she'll start sleeping through the night just because she's too tired to do anything else, and as long as she doesn't wake you up, you'll be getting enough sleep to deal with her until then. Maybe?

Is she getting time to read to you during the day when you can help her with the tougher words?

[spotty_dog]

I wasn't supposed to read after lights-out, either. I remember having a fish tank and being able to prop the light from it up so I could read by it over the edge of my bed. I also remember hiding flashlights and even a nightlight on the end of an extension cord so I could read without it being obvious that I was. I never got in any trouble for it.

Yeah, and to avoid eyestrain it's better to provide a good-quality light than to encourage these shenanigans by permitting inadequate amounts of reading time! DD definitely used to pull out her flashlight before I started encouraging her to use her lamp.

I always just read myself to sleep, though; I never woke up and turned on the light to read in the middle of the night, and DEFINITELY never woke my parents up! To me, that would be the line. You wake me up, your book gets taken away and the light bulb taken out of your light. I would think that if she doesn't nap during the day, eventually she'll start sleeping through the night just because she's too tired to do anything else, and as long as she doesn't wake you up, you'll be getting enough sleep to deal with her until then. Maybe?

Unfortunately IME/observation kids don't always work that way. Later bedtimes and earlier wakeups can just end up with kids who crash in the afternoon, at which point they get sensory-seeking type behaviors as they are trying to stay engaged with the stimulus and activities around them so that they are grumpy or school behavior problems or inexplicably crying, etc. Much better IMO to enforce bedtime, and wait for daylight hours to solve the problems keeping them up. That said, *super* strict rules and enforcement doesn't work in my house. If my kids go to bed thinking I've been a meaniepants they will just stay up for an hour crying and/or obsessing so it backfires. Fortunately if I am just firm when it's important and flexible when it's not, I don't get any backlash (or midnight flashlight reading! That's so sweet, really, I love it! I just love sleep too and I think that discouraging reading sometimes makes kiddos crave reading the rest of the time. )

[poky]

Yeah, and to avoid eyestrain it's better to provide a good-quality light than to encourage these shenanigans by permitting inadequate amounts of reading time! DD definitely used to pull out her flashlight before I started encouraging her to use her lamp.

heh...I was just at the eye doctor, and unless I have diabetes suddenly (not likely, but he wants to rule it out to be sure), my distance vision has gone to hell in the last couple years (since my last eye appt). I'm realizing that unless I'm driving or actually walking outdoors, I'm almost always focused within about 3 feet of my face. Between working in front of screens on my work desk, my phone, my laptop, my tablet, my e-reader, and knitting, almost nothing I do requires looking very far away. I just recently started noticing that when I WANTED to focus further away, it wasn't working any more. At least I made it well into my 40s before really needing glasses?

And yeah, now that I think about it, I remember been a tween before I would get *tired* rather than *grumpy* if I hadn't had enough sleep.

[alison]

I'm loving the old reading by aquarium light memories and other ways you've snuck reading in.

Dd1 was up at 10:30p and 5am.
Dd2 was up at midnight, 2, and 6am. 2am to read, and 6am for "help with my nightlight," which means she couldn't get the thing on to read. Arrrrgh!

I'm not getting any sleep around here! Dh worked overnight and I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

ETA: messed up the dd1 and 2 above, 1 is 2 and 2 is 1.

[spotty_dog]

I used to be the queen of hearing footsteps, turning off the light, then carefully regulating my breathing so it would seem I was sound asleep.

So, in my house you know we didn't do sleep training, we just kept letting kiddos sleep with us or come to us whenever. But about age 4-5 is when I find they are plenty old enough to understand, "Mommy needs her sleep too." As well as, "You feel much better the next day if you sleep well."

Hopefully, like the excitement of learning to crawl that keeps babies up, the excitement of learning to read will ease up soon.