i can still remember, when the boys were very young, having a conversation on children's bedtime with another young mom. she said that she would put her kids to bed by 7pm, because they were so young, maybe 8pm if they had a late nap. i can remember thinking how crazy that sounded to me. my boys and i were on a much less conventional schedule. but it was one that worked for us and our family.
still, i felt ashamed of my parenting choice. i ended the conversation quickly and it was never brought up again. because the truth was my boys would go to be about 3am and we would sleep in until about noon. but it worked for us!
now, i suppose, to fully understand, a bit of explanation is in order.
for those that don't know, my dear hubby works for a convenience store. it's actually how we met. he would work second and i worked third shift, from about 9pm to about 6am. most of the jobs i held were either third shift, or the dreaded swing shift, which means starting around 3pm and working until about 1am. but i loved it, i've always loved working overnight behind a counter. you always meet such interesting people. and on your days off, it feels completely normal to go shopping at 2am, when the stores are empty and you can just wander around or get in and get out.
anyway, when we had our boys, he was still working crazy overnight hours. so i adjusted the boys' schedule accordingly. if their dad didn't come home until 1 or 2am, we would stay up until then. i would have a hot dinner on the table, we would watch tv, and then we'd all go to bed. it was the same routine as any other family, just a few hours later.
and yet i was made to feel like i was abusing my boys, keeping them up so late. or that i would ruin them, and they'd never be able to get up for school or go to bed at a normal time. realize though, they were 1 and 2 years old at this point, so it's not like there was anything they really had to get up for.
fast forward six years and you'll find that my boys don't have any more problems getting up for school than any normal child. in fact, there are days that bumble goes to bed early "because he's so tired," and then he gets up an hour before his alarm. some days i would wonder how he can be my kid, except that he looks just like my family when we were young.
i, on the other hand, miss the days where i could stay up as late as i wanted and not get up before noon. i am much more of a night person than a morning person. unfortunately, unless i home school the boys (and i'm not crazy enough to attempt that), i have to keep the family on a socially acceptable sleep-at-night/wake-up-in-the-morning timetable.
i have thought about it, though. about how when the kids are all in school all day, and i can go back to work, i can start working third again. if i get off at 6am, i'd still have time to get home and get them to school before i have to sleep. then i wouldn't have to get up until it was time to get them off the bus! a perfect plan i just have to wait 5 years to execute.
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