I'm not a parent, but I have helped raise alot of kids, either in my babysitting years or, more recently, my younger cousins. For what it's worth, here are my impressions.
1. It definitely sounds like night-owl/not morning person behavior to me. I struggle with this myself. I actually get energized as the sun goes down.
2. K is used to Y being in the room with her. Also she might be missing something horribly exciting, like watching Y finish her homework. Both are possible points of mild anxiety that could be keeping her from sleep.
3. Not enough physical exercise during the day? She's a very energetic child and her energies at bedtime seem to be high still.
Maybe try letting them both stay up a little later, emphasizing that they need to get up in the morning and still get ready to go on the same time-table or it's back to the old bedtime. One or two nights isn't enough of an experiment time though, they both need time to adjust in various ways. That means, of course, you'll have to suffer through the adjusting too, but it's part of a family's growing pains. If K can't handle it and Y can, it's perfectly fair to say they have different bedtimes. It might be time to try the separate rooms again too as that would make it easier with the bedtimes. If K doesn't stay in bed, even a little quiet time would help - i.e. sending her to bed earlier than Y, but allowing her to read quietly until Y goes to bed (and not playing her game which could get too stimulating).
So again, just some ideas from kids I've known and what I know of yours. Hope it helps.
And one more thing, the more I seemed to care about a hard line on the bedtime, the more the kid (didn't matter who, was pretty universal) would work the tricks for a later bedtime. The challenge itself was entertaining. You must be inexorable without getting upset. Be doing something quiet and boring during the bedtime challenge process. Make it not a big deal.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 07:20 pm (UTC)1. It definitely sounds like night-owl/not morning person behavior to me. I struggle with this myself. I actually get energized as the sun goes down.
2. K is used to Y being in the room with her. Also she might be missing something horribly exciting, like watching Y finish her homework. Both are possible points of mild anxiety that could be keeping her from sleep.
3. Not enough physical exercise during the day? She's a very energetic child and her energies at bedtime seem to be high still.
Maybe try letting them both stay up a little later, emphasizing that they need to get up in the morning and still get ready to go on the same time-table or it's back to the old bedtime. One or two nights isn't enough of an experiment time though, they both need time to adjust in various ways. That means, of course, you'll have to suffer through the adjusting too, but it's part of a family's growing pains. If K can't handle it and Y can, it's perfectly fair to say they have different bedtimes. It might be time to try the separate rooms again too as that would make it easier with the bedtimes. If K doesn't stay in bed, even a little quiet time would help - i.e. sending her to bed earlier than Y, but allowing her to read quietly until Y goes to bed (and not playing her game which could get too stimulating).
So again, just some ideas from kids I've known and what I know of yours. Hope it helps.
And one more thing, the more I seemed to care about a hard line on the bedtime, the more the kid (didn't matter who, was pretty universal) would work the tricks for a later bedtime. The challenge itself was entertaining. You must be inexorable without getting upset. Be doing something quiet and boring during the bedtime challenge process. Make it not a big deal.