I don’t know about you but I love the longer spring and summer days. Being able to sit in the garden, or have a run around the park after school gives me and the tiny 3 a lovely feeling, it is also nice to hear the other children in the street having fun outside.  A visit to the local beer garden, where there is a children’s play area is always welcome too at the end of a long Saturday.

Yes, summer nights are always my favourite time of year, however summer bedtimes are not. You see the tiny 3 have always been early birds, up even before the crack of dawn. In fact there have been times when I’ve joked that the dawn chorus is the birds complaining that they’ve been woken up too early by the tiny 3. Early rising means that by 4 or 5 o’clock in the evening the tiny 3 are absolutely shattered, and that is the time when they start being silly and mischievous. This means that by 6 or 6.30 pm they really need to be getting in to bed and going to sleep. You see it doesn’t matter what time they go to sleep they always wake at the same time, So a later night means grumpier children the following day.

With lighter nights however comes a problem the children don’t believe me when I say it’s bedtime, instead protesting that it’s still daytime and they don’t need to go to bed yet. You’ve all heard the line in Frozen ‘the sky’s awake so I’m awake’ well that’s exactly what the boys say to me. Then they complain that the room is too bright, or the sun is keeping them awake so this year I think we shall be investing in some VELUX blackout blinds for both the boys room and LA’s room, in the hope that we can make summer bedtimes just that little bit easier.

Do you have any summer bedtime problems like this and how did you solve them?