A WOMAN has revealed that she sends her children to their room at 6:30pm for ‘quiet time’ so that she can get some alone time with her husband.
Claire Ghana, a mum-of-four, explained that her two youngest children, 16 months and four, go to sleep between 6pm and 6:30pm, whilst she will send her nine and 12-year-old kids to their room at 6:30pm to have the evening to themselves.
Opening up about her routine online, Claire explained that as parents and partners, she and her husband need to have time together, just the two of them.
It comes after Claire responded on social media to a comment from a follower that said: “No kids after 6:30pm, do you spend any time with them?”
To this, Claire said: “Do people realise that there’s 24 hours in one given day? If I have the children all day, whatever, yes, I’m gonna say ‘it’s now quite time for you to go to your room, have the evening to yourself.’”
Claire explained that nine times out of ten, her children would rather be in their rooms anyway.
She then added: “And rules like this are why my marriage is thriving – just because people have children, doesn’t mean that you should just not have a marriage also.
“Sometimes I do break the rules and maybe at 7pm they will go up, but yeah, we as parents and husband and wife have to have that time together.”
Clearly unphased by the haters’ stance, Claire concluded: “Every parent is different. Every family is different. And that is what works for us.”
The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @claireghana, just 22 hours ago, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 50,800 views.
But social media users were left totally divided by Claire’s confession.
Whilst some thought it was a great idea and revealed that they too have a similar routine, others weren’t keen on the set up.
One person said: “My kids go up at 7pm, my brain needs time to heal from the day.”
Another added: “My son goes to bed at 7 on a school night, weekends we’re not really fussed as long as it’s not too late! They need rules! We need our time!”
I admire you Claire, you need house rules and time for yourself
TikTok user
A third commented: “I used to do the exact same.”
Whilst someone else chimed in and wrote: “I admire you Claire, you need house rules and time for yourself, you are a brilliant Mum, bless you, ignore the negative comments.”
Bedtime advice for parents
THE question of what time children should go to sleep has many answers, and many parents take a different approach.
However, there is some consensus that a regular bedtime routine should be established when your babies are as young as 4 months old.
Child sleep consultants thesleepsisters.co.uk published their thoughts in a handy guide:
- Newborn babies (up to three months): Babies at this age don’t need a bedtime, and instead generally sleep in short bursts of two hours, day and night
- 1–4 months: 8–11pm – As young babies are still feeding regularly, this is the recommended time frame to put them down
- 4–8 months: 5.30–7.30pm – Along with regular daytime naps, an earlier bedtime can help babies get all the sleep they need
- 8–10 months: 5.30–7pm – The Sleep Sisters recommend that for babies at this age, bedtime should be no later than 3.5 hours after their second nap. The time frame is shorter as they’re likely to have cut out their third nap.
- 10–15 months: 6–7.30pm – As you may well be cutting down on your baby’s naps, it’s important to bring bedtime forward — but not more than 4 hours after your baby’s last nap.
- 15 months –3 years: 6–7.30pm – Again, once naps have stopped totally, bedtime should be brought forward to
- 3–6 years: 6–8pm – With children no longer napping, they’ll need an extra hour of sleep every night
- 7–12 years: 7.30–9pm – Now your child is in school, it’s very important to keep to a schedule to make sure they’re getting the sleep they need.
- Teenagers: It’s a different story with teens, and experts say you should count backwards from the time they need to wake up to ensure they’re getting enough sleep
However, not everyone was as keen on Claire’s evening routine.
One user shared: “Each to their own but where I live in the summer kids are still playing, I could never send them to bed to hear other kids playing.”
Sounds like boot camp
TikTok user
A second asked: “6:30pm is far too early for kids to go to bed! Why don’t you want to spend as much time with them?
“You will regret it when they are older enough and leave you. So your marriage comes before your kids?”
A third chimed in: “I can’t lie sounds like boot camp.”
At the same time, one user claimed: “More interested in spending time with a bloke by the sounds of it…”
To this, Claire clapped back and penned: “Someone is a little jelly.”
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