What time should your kid go to bed?
Start from the wake-up time you cannot move (school, daycare, your shift) and the sleep a child that age needs, and the bedtime works itself out. Naps included.
Your numbers
Result
Lights out between
-
Part of Body Kit, a free appSave your details once and all 7 tools fill themselves in. Installs to your phone, works offline, nothing leaves your device.Open Work backwards from wake-up
Bedtime is not a value judgment, it is subtraction. Wake-up time minus night sleep needed minus the time it takes to fall asleep. The recommended ranges are wide on purpose, so the tool gives you a window: the early end for the kid who is cranky by dinner, the late end for the one who reads under the covers no matter what.
Naps come out of the total
Guidelines for kids under 6 count naps in the daily total. A 4-year-old who still naps 90 minutes at preschool needs about 90 minutes less at night, which is why "bedtime got hard" often means "the nap should go." When the nap drops, bedtime moves earlier for a few weeks and then settles.
The wind-down is the actual bedtime
The 30 minutes before lights out do most of the work: bath, pajamas, one or two books, lights down. The tool shows when that block should start. The same routine at the same time is worth more than any specific hour.
Teenagers are not lazy
Puberty shifts the body clock later by an hour or two. A 15-year-old who cannot fall asleep before 11 and cannot wake at 6 is biology, not attitude, which is why later school start times keep showing up in the research. Protect the morning light, keep the phone out of the bedroom, and do not fight the clock more than you have to.
Sleep ranges follow the American Academy of Sleep Medicine consensus recommendations, which the AAP endorses. Every child is different; a consistently happy, alert kid on less sleep is fine. Talk to your pediatrician about snoring, night waking, or daytime sleepiness. General information, not medical advice.