I tried searching for a previous post on this but couldn't find one. My DD6 has become a voracious reader and I've recently realized why she's been so quiet after she has been put to bed at 8pm. She has one of those constellation turtle nightlights which she likes to turn on initially and if she wakes up from a nightmare. I caught her reading her book with the colored light crammed up right against her book which we thought was amusing until we discovered she does this every night. I'm concerned about her eyes reading under these conditons. Should I get her a bedside light? With school starting, I am afraid she will read well past 10pm with a light on. She insists she can't fall asleep. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Sometimes a few minutes with a book is exactly what's needed to fall right to sleep. It's often the last thing DW and I do for the day, too. So, we allow it. DD can use the bedroom light, and she has a book light, too.

If you're concerned about reading too long, you can always check back later.

It may also be worth revisiting her schedule, because sleep needs do decrease as they age, and the sun isn't even setting until 8pm this time of year.

A LightWedge book light might be helpful, and possibly safer than a lamp.

Many gifted kiddos seem to sleep less than the norm.

maybe an electronic reader? the main reason I like those is I don't need a separate light since the iphone/ipad has built in light and I can read my books late into the night, but if there is no activity from me for a while (like no turning of the pages), it shuts off itself. I can remember using a flashlight for a while as a kid, and then when my parents finally just let me read, I had fallen asleep many nights with the lights on because I got too tired to remember to turn them off (I suspect my parents have turned off my light for me too in the middle of the night when they found me asleep with the lights on).

We gave our DD a flashlight, and negotiated a firm "lights out" time with her. We reminded her (if she was still awake at that point).

But this has been an ongoing thing at our house, too. I would probably NOT use an e-reader for a child this age, unless it is lacking gaming/internet functions entirely, and has a brightness setting that you can tamp WAY down-- screen lights can interfere with sleep regulation.

Even if your child goes to bed on time, there is no guarantee that he or she won't wake up and read in the middle of the night. We couldn't figure out why my DS was so tired all of the time when he was about 6 until he confessed that he had been having "midnight reading parties."

I have no idea how late my son would stay up reading if I let him. He does need a fair amount of sleep and does not self regulate well.

If he did self regulate better, I may let him, but I would look at a having a light source that had less of the blue light wavelengths which hamper melatonin production! I'm sure he would love to stay up in bed reading.... I wonder if I should try letting him.......

DD will fall asleep with a book, but we have also then caught her reading later (wakes up and starts reading again). This was particularly dangerous when she did this the week of MAP winter testing. Of course, by then, the PS had already done so much testing for the year, that I almost wanted to just let her read.

Good quality sleep is very important to learning and mood, though. So we tend to enforce "lights out" at a certain time.

This depends very much on the child. Some will fall asleep after a reasonable amount of time spent reading, and others won't. I have one child who has a "head on pillow" time, but no other restrictions. She will naturally get enough sleep, sometimes reading for a few hours, other times, falling asleep nearly right away. I have another child who has not been regulating himself well, and we've had to impose true "lights out" times.

I bring home books on CD for my dd. Lights out at 9 but listen as long as you like.

We do exactly this at our home. I used to read in bed well past bedtime in my youth and have ruined eyesight as a result. So, I am very particular about not reading in bed - something is wrong about the posture and the lighting when reading in bed.

DS9
Bedtime (meaning shower and teeth done and in bed) at one time, lights out 1/2 hour later. Maybe it isn't such a big deal with our house but I just walk by the door if I have to and turn the light out. Most of the time though he comes out to the kitchen and hugs me after the half hour is up, drinks a sip of water, pees one last time and then is asleep when his head hits the pillow.

DS14
Bedtime is later and he draws it out with his own routine and has given up reading before bed mostly.

Although this is relaxed in the summer, I have a time set when one must be ready for bed, and then a time after that which is for reading, then a lights-out time.

When I find DC reading late, I typically have a talk about how important getting enough sleep is, and my expectations that one takes care of oneself and of good and cheerful behavior. If I don't see the good and cheerful behavior, the natural consequence is a much earlier bedtime that night.

Typically, I don't have a long term problem. If it goes on another night, I probably would just take the book away. I am known for staying up a bit too late for an "exciting part" of a book from time to time too.

I must have the only morning reader! We enforce a firm bedtime for DS 8 because he gets up so darn early and reads then. We tried pushing back bedtime and letting him read but he just got up at 6am anyway - on the weekends we had institute weekend rules - has to stay in his room until 7!!! So we have a firm bedtime because otherwise he is exhausted!

DeHe

I was an after-bedtime reader, and I know that a good few kids in my class were, too.

My kids also read after they go to bed. We don't really mind it, unless it gets late. I agree with Dude that it can be a good way to relax before going to sleep.

Yeah-- we're ALL bedtime readers here, so I guess we've not really done a lot to limit it in DD, either. {sigh} I do know that she was a bit more problematic about self-regulation when she was little, though. We didn't really know what her reading level had turned into over just a few months, actually-- until we CAUGHT her reading HP1 in bed at night. I had wondered why it wasn't on the shelf anymore. She began to self-regulate much better about 9yo, I think-- those years from 5-9 were a little hard though. It always felt wrong to punish her for reading, YK?

Both my older two like to read after climbing into bed. After a few weeks of this Nathan realised one early morning during a soccer game that he was too tired and he asked if his bedtime could be shifted 40 minutes earlier to allow him to still read at night.

Aiden likes to read for at least 20 - 60 minutes per night and also hates to get into bed early. We are waiting for the same reaction as Nathan had - but since here he doesn't have to be up early he can sleep later.

I have solar reading lights for Nathan (he sleeps on the top bunk) and Aiden has a proper desk lamp. He likes to sleep with it on - so he just turns it away from himself when he is ready to sleep.

I'd rather give them a good light as they are likely to read anyways (I read by torchlight or half hanging out of bed by the passage light as a child and destroyed my eyesight by age 10)

Like HK, I don't want to punish the desire to read.

LOL - we do Maths (LOF) as bedtime reading and then they get in and do their own reading... haha how do you complain about either of those habits?

Thank you - it's nice to read all your experiences. Sounds like a bed light is in order. She does not self regulate well at all, but I don't think I'm going to be able to stop her from reading by the constellation nightlight.
She reads in the morning too, and reads when brushing teeth, in the bath, walking in the grocery store, pretty much all the time when she isn't doing something with family. She wasn't a particulary early reader so at first we let her read whenever but it's getting ridiculous. It takes her an hour to eat her meal, and she can't hear me when she's engrossed but boy it's nice to get a respite from the constant talking and needing interaction/stimulation!
And yes, I used to read under the covers too!

I've been known to remove the books at lights out time. Some kids need this help turning it off. Some kids need the reading to wind down. It's a matter of knowing your kid and doing what needs to be done.

We have been known to remove all lamps from the room if need be. I think we only had to do that twice; it provoked tears, but the lesson was learned.....

DD has a book light she uses when DS is ready to go to sleep and we turn the lights off. I avoid letting her use the iPhone at night because it really keeps me up so I agree it adds to the problem; I sometimes let her use my kindle with its light. Yes, sometimes she's up til ten but mostly she'll feel the need for sleep (early riser) and let the story go til morning. Had a hard time last night in the middle if the exciting conclusion of Prisoner of Azkaban! I helped her find a good chapter break with no cliff hanger but mostly she's in charge. We do follow a fairly early bedtime because we know she'll want a good chunk of reading time (and life is generally much happier all day long when she has a good book she's enjoying even just at night.)

I caught DD with her iPad on past bedtime. I thought she was playing a game but she was using the light from the iPad to read a book.


Kids these days...

THAT is HILARIOUS!

For the people in our family who have sleep issues (insomnia, trouble settling down, etc), we've found that using the bed only for sleep is best. It really does depend on the person and how well they sleep. So for DS, we discourage reading/working in bed (and yes, I will put books in time out at night if necessary). For DD, we don't mind as much (since she doesn't seem to have sleeping issues, and self-regulates better).

Several years ago we removed the light switch from DS's bedroom and replaced it with a timer. This way even if he does stay up late or wake up in the middle of the night, the light in his bedroom won't stay on for longer than an hour.

We got DS6 a booklight last summer to deal with this. We have a fairly strict bedtime but the kids can read for as long as they'd like. We did have to take the book away a few times when he was reading Harry Potter at 11pm and fighting us about going to school the next morning, but for the most part he passes out after a while.

Unless he is sick or really exhausted, we have to remove DS' glasses from his room to keep him from reading. Once they are gone, he doesn't really like to read.

A post I recently made on another thread may be of some significance:

"It may be worth noting that myopia correlates positively with IQ, and that this correlation is not extrinsic (i.e., not the result of cross-assortative mating). This is confirmed because studies have found that the correlation between myopia and IQ still exists among gifted and non-gifted siblings. One can not say the same for, e.g., the correlation between height and IQ, which exists in the general population but is nonexistent among gifted and non-gifted siblings. In other words, the correlation between height and IQ only exists because both height and intelligence are valued by society, and thus tall and intelligent people are more likely to procreate."

I should also note that myopia is essentially caused by a single gene that codes for the shape of the eyeball, which suggests that any such genetic relationship between myopia and high intelligence is pleitropic in nature. Classrooms allocated to gifted students, for example, show rates of myopia three to five times higher than that of the general population. The belief that excess time spent reading and the like results in a diminution of eyesight among the gifted has been essentially defunct since the 1980's, and the vast majority of extant researchers agree that the relationship is genetic, rather than environmental, in nature.