Originally Posted by Scout:
My just recently turned 5 year old had no set bedtime until last week, the week before he would start Kindergarten. He was a fully functioning, happy kid, but, he also had nowhere to go early in the morning (no wake up time either). He just woke up when he woke up. As soon as I knew he was going to be waking up at 7 for school, we began a nightly routine. We have been reading early readers nightly around 8:15-8:30 and then he is allowed to watch a little tv or his kindle until 9. He has been putting his kindle down after a few minutes each night when he is ready for sleep. He used to nap at 5 pm if he did
and I was ok with it because he is a good kid and will entertain himself in our room (his and mine
) while I watched tv and got sleepy. He always cleaned up his toys because I instill in him it's important to clean up the floor so I don't kill myself in the morning!
While, I agree that a lot of kids don't get enough sleep, I also think that putting a toddler to bed only a few hours after they get picked up from daycare is too early. When I worked outside the home, our son's bedtime was 8:30 when I got off work at 4. No way would I have put him down earlier because that was our time together. Kids don't get enough time with parents these days because the work day plus commute is too long. 
It always saddens me that some kids spend 10 hours with me and 3 with Mom and Dad and then are put to bed. I do see how it can be an issue though for the following day. I would probably also do a short morning nap and a longer afternoon if that were the case here.
I totally agree!
Except my kids still went to bed a couple hours after I picked them up from care.
Instead we got up earlier and had our facetime in the morning.
This eliminates the issue the next day.
All parents have the same 24 hours in a day.
