9 Yr Old Wont Go to Bed!

Tv, Computers, Electronic And Other Like Utems That Make Their Rooms Apartment Like Do Not Belong. A Bed, Books, Their Clothes..Thats It. A Fan Offer White Noise.

Bedrooms are for sleeping. Tv or family rooms are for watching tv.
Take the TVs out of the bedrooms.
TV watching should be limited.
My kids got 2 hours of screen time a day - that included the computer time.
You are going to be mighty unpopular when you insist that the TVs come out, but you need to stand your ground.

Dad needs to get his head out of his behind when it comes to electronics in the bedroom.
Taking Dad along to the pediatrician to discuss the kids lack of sleep issues is an excellent idea.
Since Daddy put the tv's in their room(s), every time the kids are up, wake Daddy up and let HIM deal with it - every - single - time.
(Really? Cable in the bedroom? WAY too many inappropriate things for kids to be watching.)
AND the kids have to get up their usual morning time and no napping during the day and I'd be finding hard physical labor for them to be doing - dig up a garden bed, spreading mulch, etc.
Any electronics beyond an alarm clock and a cd player in the bedroom are nothing but trouble.
I'd be taking the tvs out of the rooms and if I could not manage to do that, then I'd get plug locks and lock them (so they can't be plugged in - no power means no tv).

http://www.familysafemedia.com/powerstop_power_plug_lock....

As far as stealing the controllers from your room as you sleep - lock them up (along with batteries, cell phones or any other web surfing gadget) in a filing cabinet and hide the keys.
If worse comes to worse you could always go to the breaker box in your house and shut off the electricity to their rooms for the night (make sure you throw the right switch(es) (they should be labeled)- you don't want your fridge to be turned off over night).
When my son can't sleep at night, he gets out his book light or a flash light and reads a book in his bed.
There would be hell to pay if he wandered around the house turning on anything (tv/computer/etc) or taking anything from our room.

Additional:
Does Dad feel guilty over the divorce or is in some sort of competition with his ex?
Getting a bigger tv for his son's room almost sounds like he compensating for something either consciously or unconscionably.
The thing to do is for him to keep an eye on what's best for his son (sleep (about 10 to 11 hrs per day for a 9 yr old) is needed for growth and development mentally and physically) - and too much tv is not good for anyone.
Besides the insomnia it's causing his son, it might help if you can talk with Dad about why he's doing what he's doing.
Maybe the guys need to go fishing for some bonding time instead of Dad trying to buy his son off with stuff.

I would print out an article a day about putting tv in the kids room, the importance of sleep on brain development and memory etc. and let the research speak for itself rather than me nagging my husband. If you do discuss with your husband, stress the desire to spend more time as a family.
Good luck

Take the tv out of the bedroom. Keep him busy with a daily list of chores. He'll get sleepy.

My question is this:
If these are your husband's children, and this was his decision, let HIM deal with the consequences. Why on earth are YOU up at 4:30am? If I were you, I'd stay in bed and make my husband deal with it. I'd even go so far as to sleep in a different room until there was no chance I would be woken in the middle of the night because of this.

Have you tried talking with your husband? He is their father and he should be one helping to discipline them, set limits and back you up. He needs to know how bad this is for his son's overall health if he's not getting enough sleep. It's his fault for creating these horrible sleep habits in them.

At 9 years old there should certainly be consequences for waking you up in the middle of the night and stealing remotes. Personally, I would just take the TV out of their rooms, period. You can't shut it off at bedtime and keep it off? You don't get to have it.

If you can't get your husband to agree to this, schedule an appointment with the pediatrician and have your husband come along. Discuss the boy's "sleep issues" and let the pediatrician educate your husband, or discuss seeing a sleep specialist. As annoying as it is, there have been times my husband doesn't listen to or believe what I am telling him, but when he hears it from an "expert" third party, he's all ears.

Your husband needs to handle his son.

And since his son is not mature enough to respect the rules, these electronics need to be removed from his room..

Our daughter had a TV (no cable) just videos.. , CD/Radio, Gameboy.. but she knew that after a set time they had to all be turned off. She was allowed to read as late and long as possible.. But she needed to be able to function the next day by, getting up on time, with no grumbling. Pay attention and keep her grades up at school.. And have a good attitude.

I would pull this stuff out of his room and slowly allow him to earn them back..

I also grew up with a TV in my room. Sometimes, I would stay up and watch Johnny Carson.. This was not every week by any means.. This was fine as long as I was able to get up in the morning..

I loved to and still love to read in bed.. That can be a problem when I want to read. "one more chapter"..

Some children can handle this responsibility, but if you all feel this son is not able to handle this responsibility. Speak to him and explain.. until he can follow the rules.. they are out of there.

You should be able to get something that puts parental controls on the tv. If you can't let him know that if he's not goign to follow the rules he will loose his tv. Step son or not you are the mother in his life full time. You can't walk on egg shells just because he's a step. I know some say your husband should handle it I don't think that should be the case. Although it is in a lot of homes.

No electronics.Take it all away.Something that can distract him,gone.

Since this is your stepson and not your son, it really needs to be your husband's call. But if it were my son ...

I would take all electronics out of the bedroom. It is simply not conducive to getting a good night sleep. It might be an adjustment, but it will be much better for him long term if he learns to fall asleep without electronics.

Wake him up at a specific time each day, and make sure to stay active that day. Plan a couple of day trips - zoo, museum, amusement park. Just make sure you keep him physically busy so that he is genuinely tired.

Encourage him to read at night. Get a nightstand and a small lamp and put them next to his bed. Reading at night is a very healthy way to help the body and mind unwind and prepare for sleep.

This is what I would do if it were my son.

When I was younger I did not have a tv in my room, but remember having to fall asleep with my headphones on listening to music. When I became a teenager I was allowed a tv and still have one now as an adult. I have to fall asleep to the tv. If I don't it takes me forever to fall asleep. That being said I unconsciously turn it off at some point in the night because I can't take the sound/light. That said some nights when I have so much on my mind I wake at 2-3am or even 4-5am. I struggle to fall back asleep as I don't want to wake my husband by turning on the tv. Sometimes I lay for two hours and finally just get up. Sometimes I read a book and fall back asleep. All I know is when I have a lot on my mind I need the distraction of something to fall asleep.

What it sounds like to me is your stepson is waking in the middle of night and unable to fall back asleep on his own. Might i suggest getting him some headphones and ipod or something of the sort and letting him listen to music. I'd also suggest to your husband that he remove the tv if his son can not abide by the rules. That would be the easiest way out of this predicament.

But I also think you need to find out why he's waking in the middle of the night and try to figure out a solution to that. Good luck!

We have uverse in all the bedrooms in our house and our living room. Yes this includes our 15 yr old and our 9 (nearly 10 yr old) twins. We were having the same issues with the twins wanting to watch TV all night. First we tried telling them not to, then we tried grounding them from TV, then we took the remote out (they found another one, just like yours did), finally we just took the box out of their room when it's time for bed. BINGO, no more watching TV at night.
As for all the people saying the boys are your husbands children so let him deal with it, my personal opinion is: these kids are living with you and your HUSBAND. FULL TIME. They are also, essentially your children, too. If you don't start to set boundaries and rules with them, they're going to learn that they don't have to listen to you. What a great way to start the process that you are also their parental unit and they have to listen to rules you set, then with something small, like the TV at night! My husband is my oldest sons step father, and I know he appreciates that I expect all my kids to listen to rules he sets!

ummm your the parents right. you know what you have to do. and your husband has to be in agreement or it won't work. take the tv and electronics away from him.

sit down and have a family meeting. explain or really not explain just say this is the way it will be from now on

no tv / electronics in the bedrooms
"X" amount of screen time per day (this is your choice)
"X" amount of extra screen time can be earned by doing "X" (it is reading for us)
if you choose to get up in the night you will go to bed that much earlier.
give him some books on cd that he can listen to as he goes to bed. but no more screen stuff. and for goodness sake take the tv's out of his room and get rid of it.

light increases Serotonin production and dark Melatonin .... Paired together, the two neurotransmitters are what help to maintain the sleep cycle..
that said, I would imagine that if your son is constantly watching t.v. at night, it might very well be disrupting his ability to sleep.. The dilemma is a vicious cycle ... on the one hand, he watches t.v. because he has insomnia, but may have insomnia because he watches t.v.... it's kinda like which came first, the chicken or the egg.. I would suggest that for now, take the t.v. from his room. .Additionally, dim all the lights throughout the household about an hour before bedtime.. this way, his body can begin to properly produce the needed Serotonin and Melatonin... hopefully , after a time, he won't need to watch t.v. to help lull him to sleep..
As for white noise, we have a wave machine in our room.. this was to drown out snoring.. I will say, it definitely drowns out other noises while at the same time, there is something very calming about it..

When I was a kid I had anxiety at bedtime. I couldnt fall asleep, I did not have a tv in my room. My mom would let me fall asleep in the family room and she would walk me to bed every night. When I would try to go to my room and sleep I just couldnt, Music didnt work, fans didnt work. I still have that anxiety. I fall asleep to tv and my husband turns it off when i fall asleep. So my kids have the choice if they want it on all night so be it. If not they turn it off. I get it. I used to have night terrors. my son did too. Have you ever thought about anything that could possibly scaring him? I could go on and on.......

You know what, my oldest grandson had a TV in his room when he was younger and he always went to sleep with it. He would fall asleep by 9pm and sleep all night. When his dad messed up and he stayed with me for a while I didn't have a TV for him. He was waking up all night too. We put a radio in there and he would listen to it and that helped but it didn't fix the issue.

I found that it was the conversation, the feeling of other people being in the room, that he needed. I finally got him a small TV and set it where it would only go to certain channels. I had found him leaving it on the cartoon network when he fell asleep. Ummm, not going to go with that, adult swim isn't anything he should have been watching or hearing.

So I decided it was something he needed and that when he went back home he was going to have it again. I allowed him to have the TV on all night because I needed my rest and he was used to something that helped him sleep.

If your hubby allows this and this is his son you are going to have to accept it. Trying to make this boy change something that everyone else is okay with is only going to make you feel like they're ganging up on you to make you change your mind.

This is his son and he allows this. The boy isn't sleeping and you are going to have to allow this father to deal with his son and they do this.